Windermere Elementary reaches golden milestone

Fifty years ago, the community’s elementary school opened in a new and larger facility. It previously operated in downtown Windermere in what is now the municipal center.

By Amy Quesinberry Price
| 11:20 a.m. December 20, 2017

Southwest Orange
News

Just a handful of schools in West Orange County can say they have been serving students for a half-century. Windermere Elementary is among them.

The community school recognized its 50th anniversary in a festive ceremony that included current students and administration, former teachers and staff and guests from the town of Windermere and from Orange County Public Schools.

Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn, OCPS Board Member Pam Gould and Greg Moody, superintendent of the West Learning Community were invited guest speakers. The WES chorus sang, and Cub Scout Pack 225 led the Pledge of Allegiance. A Mustang Memory Museum was set up in the media center that provided guests a school history lesson.

As part of the celebration, fifth-grade students created tiles that will be added to one of the school walls. A new plaque for the building was dedicated to commemorate 50 years of learning at the current location.

In 1968, teachers, administrators and students moved into their new school at 11125 Park Ave. They had access to 16 classrooms, air-conditioning, a library and cafetorium. The library was staffed by a librarian who shared her time between Windermere and Tildenville elementary schools, and the music teacher served Windermere and Ocoee elementaries. Mothers who had been trained in first aid staffed a clinic on the campus.

EARLY EDUCATION

Early Orange County records indicate there was a school on Lake Floyd, east of Windermere, in 1887 and a school named #75, between Lake Butler and Turkey Lake, from 1890-93.

A school was approved for Windermere in 1890. The 15-foot by 21-foot building offered orange crates as seats; the teacher was paid $25 a month if an average attendance of seven school-age students could be maintained.

In 1916, the County School Board constructed the first building with two rooms at Sixth Avenue and Main Street. A second building went up in 1922.

In the 1940s, a school for black students was built and remained in Windermere until the school board had the two buildings moved to Winter Garden around 1952.

High school students were taking a bus to Orlando High School by the 1930s. In the years of segregation, black students rode a bus to Jones High School in Orlando.

The 1916 school complex, with 11 classrooms, remained at Sixth and Main until 1968, when the current Windermere Elementary site was constructed. The 1916 building has served as the Town of Windermere Complex since then.

SOURCE: “Windermere Among the Lakes, History of the Town of Windermere, Florida”

In 2005, a two-year, $17 million redesign project began at Windermere Elementary. The first step was to relocate the 65 portables from the west side of the campus to the northeast near the ball fields. The west end was converted to a car-rider circle, and a bus loop was installed in front.

Three classroom buildings, a media center, administration offices and a physical education pavilion were added for a total facility size of 95,000 square feet to accommodate 830 students. The technology infrastructure was upgraded in the existing building, as well.

A rededication ceremony was held in January 2008, and previous principals, past faculty members and other local dignitaries attended. Among the special guests was Mildred Rosser Grice, 90, who attended Windermere Elementary in the wooden schoolhouse.

Principal Diana Greer addressed the attendees at the 50th anniversary celebration.

“Since 1967 there have been comprehensive upgrades in construction to include the new buildings and renovation of the original buildings, but one thing has remained constant, and that is the commitment to excellence as a school institution for the past 50 years,” she said. “Windermere Elementary facilitates a school community in which every child will succeed by providing tools that allow our students to innovate. Whether they are creating a digital presentation, developing a 3D model of a prosthetic limb (or) solving S.T.E.A.M. challenges integrating visual designs and music, our students are preparing for the future.

“Today we celebrate a tradition of excellence and look to the future as we continue to educate, excite and engage the growing young minds of our ZIP code,” Greer said.

32 YEARS AND COUNTING

In a true mark of longevity, Cherie Ruhle is in her 32nd year of teaching at Windermere Elementary School. The second-grade teacher began her WES career in 1986 under Principal June Lynch.

Cherie Ruhle (above, with Bobby) has taught 32 years at Windermere Elementary.

How has the elementary school changed since she first walked in the doors?

“We have grown and shrunk (opened many schools so our population has gone up and down),” she said. “The building itself has changed. Changes in our borders – we use to pull from children as far away as Disney property. The layout of the school itself is much more easily accessible.

“The library was on the second floor when I started and second grade was up there, as well, at one time,” she said. “I assume, due to fire safety regulations, primary age children are now located on the ground floor.”

And how has teaching changed?

“When I was in my second year at WES, the whole language method of teaching was the rage (students were taught cross curriculum and immersed in language: charts, posters, books, etc.),” Ruhle said. “We also taught by themes (September – apples, October – scarecrows/pumpkins). The curriculum was not as rigorous.

“Students today are keeping up with the 21st-century world by being challenged with a quick-paced and rigorous curriculum. (Orange County Public Schools) ensures that all students across the county are receiving the same instruction through a scope-and-sequence set by our top-level administration. Teachers now rely on technology instead of mimeograph machines to produce daily lessons that stretch the brains of all our learners everywhere.