Duval Plan in Lake Cawood Cove by Ashton Woods
Windermere, FL 34786

The administration at this school is horrible! I have had kids there for 5 consecutive years now and have continued to have issue after issue. My first son there was always saying how the administration is mean and made him feel like he was a bad kid and does not listen to him. He is a straight A student and never got into trouble so I didn't understand why he was saying that. Then my middle child started attending. He had an IEP for speech and accomodations for severe ADHD. He never got speech classes and none of his teacher even knew he had an IEP or accomodations. When his lunch table got in trouble at lunch for tossing water bottles and trying to land them they got sent to the deans office. The dean gave him a referal and marked it as severe (the same level as bringing a weapon to school). When they told him to sign the 2 page paper and the punishment he politely told them he wanted to bring it home to go over the document with his parents before signing (something I teach my kids to do before signing anything). The dean refused and forged his name on the document. My husband and I went to discuss the matter with the dean, she was rude and dismissive and would not listen to us. We told her we felt unheard and and she refused to talk with us. We had to have campus security come in. I then understood why my kids were feeling unheard and dismissed, she was doing it to us as adults. This year they changed the policy for sending computers home and stated that they could check them out at night if they didn't have computer access at home. My third child a straight A student in the gifted program who doesn't have access to a computer was denied each time she tried. She got her first b's and c's on her first quarter report card because she is unable to complete her homework or study for her tests and quizzes at home. After sending our daughter to advocate for herself and being shut down we stepped in, and of course were disregarded by several of the admin. After a trail of emails from admin we had a phone call with the principle and again felt unheard and dismissed. They can care less that our straight A student is now suffering and doesn't have the tools available to succeed. They have unused computers at night time and they still won't let her take one home. I am sure there are plenty of other students who may not be A students or have parental support at home who are suffering. The bad leadership stems from the top, the students feel it and parents too.

The gifted program is a joke as is the new principal. The "gifted" classes contain averge (& sometimes below average) students. These classes should be fast paced, but have to be slowed down for the non-gifted kids (who then feel bad because they can't keep up with their gifted peers). There is no difference in the curriculim between gifted and non-gifted classes. The principal only cares about the special education students (& the money the school receives for them). She does not care about the rest of the students. If you are zoned for this school, use other options - home school, virtual school, charter school, private school, school choice - anything but this school. Stay away.

This school is absolutely awful. The teachers are amazing but the staff and administration, not so much. I’ve went to west orange as well as windermere and I’d pick west orange any day, although I do have amazing teachers, The administration besides some exceptions is horrible. I am a senior student and since september i’ve asked for mental help multiple times and accommodations and They CONSTANTLY ignore my emails, I have quite literally begged for help so i can exceed as I used to and again my emails get ignored. They don’t care about kids graduating they care about money.