Villages Elementary School of Lady Lake will be replacing the old modular units in the back of the school with a new permanent structure, with construction beginning in fall of 2024 and completion expected during the 2025 school year.

In addition to the new building, the school will also be adjusting the car pickup line, which often causes traffic bottlenecks on Rolling Acres Road.

We talked with Lake County Schools’ Kelly Randall, the Executive Director of Facilities & Growth Planning, who says, “We just finished with the design team and are getting things in motion for construction to start in the fall of 2024. The existing modular units, which have been there for many years, will be replaced with a permanent structure that will begin construction in the fall of 2024. We will also be renovating the car pickup line and moving the bus pickup further back to allow more cars to enter, as we hope to alleviate the traffic congestion on Rolling Acres Road when school is in session,” says Randall.

Anyone who has driven on Rolling Acres Road during the school season knows that the mornings and afternoons create bottlenecks of traffic getting in and out of the school. A Lady Lake Police officer is usually there to direct traffic during these times, but getting in and out of the school has been a big challenge as the school size has increased.

“Most of our schools, including high schools, were built around 20 years ago, so they are all still relatively new. However, as the population continues to increase, we are having to adapt some of the schools’ with additions to handle the influx of people and children in our area,” says Randall.

That is exactly why Villages Elementary School is getting this renovation. “There will be around 12 new classrooms added approximately with this new building,” says Randall.

Villages Elementary School has needed this for a while. Most parents agree that some type of permanent structure needed to be added to the school, and we are happy to report that this is indeed happening. With the renovation to the car pickup line, these are all positive plans for the future. While we have not been given a rendering of what it will look like, we are hopeful that Lake County School’s will provide a rendering soon which we will update this post with when we know more.

And who knows? Perhaps further expansion is possible down the road. There are more apartments, townhomes, and houses being built daily in Lady Lake and the surrounding communities, but for now this is a positive step for Villages Elementary School in receiving this much needed renovation.