ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Superintendent Jon Prince on Dec. 11 provided an update on St. Lucie Public Schools’ plans to potentially merge four campuses located within a short distance of each other along Virginia Avenue, saying long-term enrollment trends, aging buildings and future growth patterns are driving the discussion.
“We also have to imagine, our public school landscape is going to look like 10, 20 years from now,” Prince said. “Things are changing so fast.”
Prince said the district is seeing fewer children in the community overall.
“In this community, there are fewer and fewer children being born. The birth rate is down,” he said. “Fewer children are staying in our community. All the growth we are seeing is in the south and in the west of St. Lucie County.”
The four schools under consideration — St. Lucie Elementary, Longwood Elementary, Dale Cassens and Dan McCarty — sit within what Prince described as a “highly desirable” area.
“We literally have four schools located within a one mile radius block,” he said. “It’s so desirable, that we have an agreement in writing with the county for them to purchase that property from us.”
He said the agreement also includes a plan to lease the land back to the district while construction of a new school is completed.
“With the sale of the property, it will be cost neutral to our taxpayers, and what they plan to do with the property is build parks,” Prince said. “So we’re going to have a brand new K-8 school surrounded by green space.”
The proposal calls for construction to begin as soon as the summer of next year.
“Construction will take two years, that is our proposal,” Prince said. “We want to start construction August of 2026. We want that school to open in August of 2028.”
Prince said the new facility is expected to offer improved learning environments and updated infrastructure while reducing operating expenses.
“The cost to operate those schools are significantly higher in those old buildings,” he said.
The new K-8 campus would mirror Tradition Lakes K-8, another school opening next year in Port St. Lucie. About 1,900 students would be able to attend. A principal has not yet been selected and will be chosen later, district officials said.
Prince said no employees or programs would be cut under the merger.
“No one is going to lose their job, because we can’t find enough good people that want to work with our children to begin with,” he said.
Start times for the proposed school have not been decided, citing recent statewide changes and the long timeline before opening.