About 200 possibilities were suggested, but in the end, the Pasco County School Board chose to name a new 6-12 magnet school rising in Central Pasco after the community where it is being built.
The board also decided to use the phrase “academy of innovation” as part of the name because it’s in keeping with the description the board gave to the most recent school the district opened, the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation.
Both schools, board members reasoned, prepare students for future careers — albeit the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation, a magnet school in Wesley Chapel, has an emphasis on technical careers. Angeline Academy of Innovation will have a greater focus on careers aligned with science and medicine.
The Angeline Academy is under construction on an 18.8-acre site, south of State Road 52, north of the Ridge Road extension and west of Sunlake Boulevard.
The school will be situated in a community that will be home to H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center’s planned Pasco County 775-acre campus. The campus is entitled for up to 24 million square feet of planned clinical and research facilities.
Moffitt’s footprint is larger than downtown Tampa, and the multi-year, multi-phase project ultimately is expected to generate 14,500 jobs.
It also is expected to attract leading-edge cancer researchers and life science companies.
The Angeline Academy of Innovation will be in the heart of the community, which will officially become known as Angeline Florida, Ray Gadd, the school district’s deputy superintendent, told the school board.
Gadd and other school district officials have been working closely with Moffitt on a partnership to create world-class learning opportunities for students.
Suggested names for the new school included naming it after various singers, scientists, politicians, place names, educators and local leaders.
Choices included Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, Charlie Daniels, Johnny Cash, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Ronald Reagan, Ron DeSantis, Central Pasco High, Serenova STEM school, Suncoast Academy, Land O’ Lakes STEAM School, Ambition Academy of Angeline, and scores of others.
In another action relating to Angeline, the board amended an agreement with Dayspring regarding a new elementary charter school for the community. It is planned for a site in an area just south of State Road 52 and west of Sunlake Boulevard.
Dayspring and the school board have agreed to fund the project through impact fees. The school will serve 600 kindergarten through fifth-grade students.
The school district and charter school are working together to blend the charter school program and curriculum to prepare students to attend the 6-12 STEM magnet.
The goal is to open the elementary charter in 2024.
At the school board’s Sept. 12 meeting, the board amended its agreement with Dayspring to include construction of athletic facilities at the site, noting that the charter school and school district will share use of the facilities.
Published September 21, 2022
