Casselberry Elementary in danger of closing

The potential closing of a local elementary school may not only mean struggles for attending children and their parents, but future UCF interns as well.

Casselberry Elementary, which has been long-time partners with UCF in providing teaching internships and jobs, may potentially be closed for next year due to Seminole County Public Schools facing a $20 million budget deficit.

With the Seminole County School Board looking to close two elementary schools to cut costs, Casselberry Elementary is a candidate due to its enrollment exceeding the 750 student mark set by the school board.

With Casselberry Elementary and UCF both benefitting greatly from past internship opportunities, Dr. Bill Vogel, the superintendent of Seminole County Public Schools, hopes that the relationship between Casselberry Elementary and UCF will be preserved.

"We have an exemplary relationship with the University of Central Florida, not only at Casselberry, but in all of our schools; it's very important," Vogel said. "We want to certainly continue that if we're able to do it and keep this school open."

Sara Cajigas, a senior double majoring in elementary education and psychology, is one of six UCF elementary teacher interns currently at Casselberry Elementary and feels that with the loss of the school comes the loss of great opportunities for future interns.

"You go into this internship looking for opportunities, and we were given a wonderful opportunity at our school; I'm blessed for it every day," Cajigas said. "I love this school that I'm at and I want other interns to have the same experience I did. What makes the school so great is not just the faculty or the students, it's how easily they work together as a team."

Cajigas also stated that all of the supervising teachers overseeing the senior interns are UCF graduates, revealing a long history of job opportunities between Casselberry Elementary and UCF.

Gretha McCandele, a UCF alumna who volunteers in Andrea Stone's third-grade class at Casselberry Elementary, felt that the closing of Casselberry Elementary would not only take away a potential internship location, but would sever relationships that interns have already established with teachers and students.

"Right now there's no definite day when they'll close the school; it could be this month or it could be in a couple of months, so they'll have to pretty much find not only a new place to intern, but you form a relationship with the teachers and even the kids, so they'll have to start all over again," said McCandele, who graduated from UCF in December 2011 with a degree in creative writing.

Cajigas stressed the importance of the children above all else in the matter of the school potentially closing.

"It's tough, because, in the end, it's about the children and the students and they're faced with it more than anyone," Cajigas said. "No school should even have an option of closing. What you're doing to the children and the community as a whole is what you're really affecting."

With hundreds of parents and Seminole County citizens writing letters to state lawmakers to fund the county school district, the local community is doing its part to protect the school.

The Seminole County School Board is expected to making a final decision about the school closing by Feb. 28.

"As far as education is concerned, the moment that I walked through those doors I felt like a family member, and that was my day one," Cajigas said. "If that's the way I felt walking in my first day, imagine children who have been there for five years being told that they won't be able to go to their school again."

To learn how you can play a part in saving Casselberry Elementary, visit the Save Casselberry Elementary Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SaveCasselberryElementary.