July 15, 2024
Andrea Nelson Appointed Principal Of New K-8 Minneola School Opening In 2025
By Kyle Coppola
Andrea Nelson Appointed Principal Of New K-8 Minneola School Opening In 2025
Andrea Nelson has been appointed as the Principal of the new Minneola K-8 School opening in August 2024. Nelson has been the principal at Sawgrass Bay Elementary. She started her educational career as a graduate of Ball State University, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Teaching. Upon graduating in 2005, she began working in Osceola County.
While in Osceola County, Nelson worked as a teacher and instructional coach. She received her Master’s of Education from Stetson University in Educational Leadership and Administration in 2011. Nelson joined Lake County Schools in 2015 as a school specialist at the district office, where she provided support to schools and teachers. Nelson was later appointed assistant principal at Sawgrass Bay Elementary and then, in 2020, she was promoted to Principal.
According to Lake County Schools, “Gary Locuson, assistant principal at Mount Dora Middle School, will replace Nelson as principal at Sawgrass Bay Elementary. A product of Lake County Schools, Locuson has worked as a paraprofessional, teacher, instructional dean and assistant principal.”
(Principal Nelson is coming up on her 20th year in education in 2025. She has been named the new principal for Minneola K-8 opening in 2025.)
This is an exciting time for Lake County education. Clermont Elementary School has been closed and will be replaced with Lincoln Park Education Center, slated to open this fall. Also opening soon will be the new Fruitland Park Elementary School.
Meanwhile, the new Minneola K-8 School will certainly be a big help to the community. Clermont and Minneola continue to experience rapid growth, which has brought up the need for new, larger, and more advanced elementary schools. The new Minneola K-8 is being built next to a subdivision of at least 10,000 new homes. The need for this was clear, and we look forward to its opening next year.
Congratulations to Andrea Nelson, who will lead the new school. We know the program will be in good hands with her at the helm.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
