Villages HS football moving 20 miles south of Southern Trace for 2023.
 

I saw this today in The Villages Daily Sun that future football games involving the Buffalo will be at their new high school which is 20 miles south of Southern Trace. Their last game is tonight in their old home.

I suppose this applies to all HS sports?

If the school is moving to Middleton, I would expect that all of the sports would be played there also. It looks like they will have some really nice facilities at the new school.

Schools - Middleton

Yes. The new expanded high school will be in Middleton. In 2023, there will be pre-k, elementary and middle schools in the northern and southern campuses and high school will be in the southern campus.

You are correct, it’s absolutely great news. The Villages high school swim team will no longer be using the Laurel Manor sports pool, freeing up lots of valuable lap swimming time for amenity fee paying residents.

I don’t swim laps. The swim team was swimming on my amenity fees. And that hasn’t bothered me at all!

ME either

The new campus rivals that of university's. So happy young people in our area will have access.

Anyone know what happens to the existing facilities? Who owns them? Is it the taxpayers, the Developers or some private entity. Thought that the existing facilities were quite nice and certainly seems to be room to expand if necessary.

Did our taxes pay for any facilities, repairs etc? How do our taxes come into play? Impact to students (Families) going to existing school and then having school move 20 miles away. Would seem that some families might have made home procurement based upon current location.

Appreciate anyone who can help us understand the process and impact.

I believe the developer has actually funded the physical buildings. The county school district fund the operations. The old schools are not being shut down - both the new and old campuses are needed.

The current campus will continue to be used for grades K-8. Middle school grades will be in the old high school after some revisions are finished. These grades will also be at the new southern campus.

High school will only be offered at the south campus.

These facilities were expanded several times. But with the tremendous growth of the Villages, the need for the schools has also boomed. There is a waiting list. The new campus is a good answer to the need for lots more space.

The Developer built all the schools out of his own pocket. No taxes were used. This is a fantastic benefit that he can offer to attract and retain good employees.

As a suburb grew in Chicagoland and a new high school was needed they were two separate schools independent if each other but in the same school district. Here it would be the Villages North High School and The Villages North High School. To relate to here, in Glenview IL there were two high schools, Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South. And each had their own teams. Make more sense than what appears to be planned.

I agree, mainly because it will allow more students to participate in sports, orchestras, choirs, etc. You can only have so many members on a sports team, for instance. That leaves a lot of kids out.

Our district in Michigan started with one high school, ended up with three. The teams played each other as well as playing other schools.. The orchestras and choirs were a manageable size for competitions, performances, and transportation to events.

Look at the bright side. This applies to approximately 10 games a year for football. I have to drive 20 miles north to go to any decent restaurants or get to Target. And to get there I have to go on multiple single lane roads outside of The Villages.

[QUOTE=mtdjed;2154701]Anyone know what happens to the existing facilities? Who owns them? Is it the taxpayers, the Developers or some private entity. Thought that the existing facilities were quite nice and certainly seems to be room to expand if necessary.

Did our taxes pay for any facilities, repairs etc? How do our taxes come into play? Impact to students (Families) going to existing school and then having school move 20 miles away. Would seem that some families might have made home procurement based upon current location.

Appreciate anyone who can help us understand the process and impact.[/QUOTE

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The Villages football team lost their final home game. Wiregrass Ranch won 40-24.