June 11, 2025
Lake-Sumter State College Approved to Offer Exceptional Student Education Program
By Kyle Coppola
Lake-Sumter State College Approved to Offer Exceptional Student Education Program
The State Board of Education approved Lake-Sumter State College to offer a Bachelor of Science in Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program at its June 4 meeting.
The program will launch in Fall 2026 and is designed to address the need for certified ESE teachers in Lake and Sumter counties, one of the highest-demand teacher certification areas according to data from the Florida Department of Education.
“This is a significant milestone for Lake-Sumter State College and our community,” said Dr. Laura Byrd, interim president of LSSC. “We are proud to expand our role in preparing the next generation of educators, and especially to meet the growing need for certified ESE teachers. We are grateful for the partnerships with Lake and Sumter County Schools to build a strong, local pipeline of ESE educators who are trained in real classrooms and ready to make an immediate impact.”
The college’s program will offer a hybrid of in-person and online coursework, including required reading and ESOL endorsements, and will use Lake Hills School in Lake County as a model site for hands-on training. The program will prioritize enrollment from local high school teaching academies, paraprofessionals, and current school employees through a registered teacher apprenticeship pathway.
“We’re excited to use Lake Hills School as a lab site for this program,” said Superintendent Diane Kornegay of Lake County Schools. “Students will gain practical, on-the-job experience while working toward their degree, and our K-12 students will benefit from teachers who are passionate about exceptional student education.”
“We have a 12 percent higher ESE student population in Sumter County than the state average and face challenges in staffing ESE classrooms,” said Superintendent Logan Brown of Sumter County Schools. “We are excited that through this partnership we’re giving local paraprofessionals and aspiring educators the opportunity to become certified ESE teachers while serving in our classrooms. It’s a win for our schools, our students, and our community.”
This new ESE bachelor’s program will utilize LSSC’s innovative “earn while you learn” model for teacher education, integrating paid, embedded clinical experiences throughout the curriculum. This is the college’s second bachelor’s degree in education. The Bachelor of Elementary Education program, launched in 2024, has more than 45 students enrolled with its first cohort graduating in Spring 2026.
Enrollment information on this new program will be available soon. Visit www.lssc.edu to learn more.
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.
