Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Charter School Set for Construction on Florida College Campus

  • By Matt Jones
  • 02/16/21

The construction of Pinecrest Lakes Academy Middle/High School, a Florida charter school, is set to begin this year on the campus of Lake-Sumter State College in Clermont, Florida. The school is scheduled to open its doors to students in August 2022.

Pinecrest Lakes opened in 2017 as a K-8 school and has a current enrollment of about 750 in those grades. Additionally, 67 high-school freshmen have begun taking classes on the college’s campus. The school plans to admit tenth grade students during the 2021-22 school year and eleventh grade students in 2022-23. The first senior class is slated to graduate in 2024.

The charter school connected with the college about a year to a year and a half ago, according to Pinecrest Lakes Principal Cristina Alcalde, when it became a member of the Health Sciences Collegiate Academy. The lease is part of a STEM education partnership among the college, Lake County Schools, Montverde Academy, the University of Central Florida, and South Lake Hospital.

According to LSSC President Stan Sidor, “Together, we will create pathways for secondary students to work toward credentials and college credit that will accelerate their degree completion and improve the health and wealth of our local economy.”

Pinecrest Lakes is a member of Pinecrest Academy Inc., a charter school network with locations in five Florida counties and one Nevada county.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Compton High School

    Compton High School

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Compton High School has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • A digital silhouette works at a computer, immersed in a glowing, interconnected world

    How Will AI Transform Learning Space Design?

    For years, higher education has designed learning spaces around technology as a tool for display, capture, collaboration, and connectivity. AI changes that equation.

  • Designing Third Spaces That Do What AI Can't

    In 2026, education is evolving faster than ever. With AI reshaping everything from lesson planning to personalized instruction, schools and universities are turning their attention to what AI can’t replicate: spaces that foster collaboration, community, and creativity.