History

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The Villages Charter School History & Timeline

The Villages Charter School has a relatively short history, but since 1999 has been a leader in educating students. Here are some key events & milestones along the way:

1999-2000

• September, 1999 The Sumter County School board grants approval for The Villages to develop a charter school.
• October, 1999 Florida Commissioner of Education, Tom Gallagher, attends a groundbreaking ceremony for The Villages Charter Elementary School.
• April, 2000 The first parent-teacher meeting is held at the Savannah Center. Enrollment for the start of classes in the fall is expected to be 300 students.

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2000-2001

• The Villages Charter Elementary School opens for grade PK-3 through 5th Grade on August 7, 2000 for 341 students and a teaching staff of 22.
• May 2001 The Villages Charter Elementary School completes its first year with 50 fifth-graders successfully completing elementary school.

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2001-2002

• August, 30 2001 Gov. Jeb Bush is on hand to help dedicate The Villages Charter Middle School.
• November, 2001 The Early Childhood facility opened for 6 classes of 3 and 4 year-old students
• VCS has enrollment of 622 students in grades K-8 to start the 2001-2002 school year.
• May 2002 Forty-one 8th grade students celebrate the first promotion from The Villages Charter Middle School.

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2002-2003

• August 2002 The Primary Center for grades K-2 opens. The original elementary school building is converted to house grades 3-5.
• August 2002 The first class of high school students (9th Grade) is held at VCMS for the year
• VCS has enrollment of 911 students in grades K-9 to start the 2002-2003 school year.
• October 2002 The groundbreaking ceremony is held for The Villages High School.
• June 2003 The Villages Charter Elementary School and The Villages Charter Middle School both earn an "A rating" from the Florida Department of Education.

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2003-2004

• August 2003 The Villages High School opens. Also, The Villages Lifelong Learning College holds classes in the new high school.
• VCS has enrollment of 1,217 students in grades K-10 to start the 2003-2004 school year.
• June 2004 The elementary, middle school and the high school all earn an "A rating" for FCAT student performance.

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2004-2005

• September 2004 The Villages High School football team wins its first varsity game 43-13 against Jacksonville Providence. The team would go on to a 7-2 record.
• VCS has enrollment of 1,442 students in grades K-11 to start the 2004-2005 school year.
• June 2005 Both the elementary school & the middle school again earn an "A rating" with the high school earning a B for FCAT student performance.

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2005-2006

• August 2005 The first ever "senior class" for VHS begins their final year at the charter school.
• VCS has enrollment of 1,640 students in grades K-12 to start the 2005-2006 school year.
• August 2005 The Villages High School now competes in 22 varsity sports.
• January 2006 The VHS dance team "Golden Girls", in its first year of varsity competition, wins first-place trophies in the hip-hop, high kick and pom categories and the Grand Championship trophy & choreography award at the state-wide contest in Melbourne.
• May 2006 Expansion plans are announced to add 49 classrooms across the K-12 Villages Charter School campus.
• May 2006 Gov. Jeb Bush delivers the commencement address at the first-ever VHS graduation.
• June 2006 The elementary, middle school and the high school all earn an "A rating" for FCAT student performance.

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2006-2007

• August 2006 VHS incorporates the "academy" approach to teaching. VHS has 5 academies (Entrepreneurship, Communications, Health Occupations, Engineering & Advanced Placement).
• VCS has enrollment of 1,730 students in grades K-12 to start the 2006-2007 school year.
• November 2006 The VHS girls' cross country team earns a trip to the state championships--becoming the first team to qualify for state.
• June 2007 The elementary, middle school and the high school again all earn an "A rating" for FCAT student performance.

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2007-2008

• August 2007 The latest construction project is completed expanding enrollment capacity of the K-12 Villages Charter School to 2,600.
• VCS has enrollment of 1,852 students in grades K-12 to start the 2007-2008 school year.
• Our new expansions lead to reconfiguring the location of our students: Primary Center: Pre-K 3's through 1st Grade; Intermediate Center: 2nd through 4th Grades; VCMS: 5th through 8th Grades; and VHS 9th through 12th Grades.
• Our newly re-organized K-12 Villages Charter School earned an “A” from the Florida Department of Education.

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2008-2009

• VCS has a record enrollment of 1,949 students to start the 2008-2009 school year.
• VCS was awarded a large "Charter School Dissemination Grant" to develop documentation and training materials to assist other charter schools in Florida. The Florida Department of Education awarded the grant to VCS due to our tremendous success. As part of the grant, VCS has developed a web-based program with hundreds of high quality lessons & hands-on activities that VCS teachers use. These lessons will be available to all schools in Florida when the project is completed.
• The Villages Charter School again earned an “A” from the Florida Department of Education with our highest overall academic performance in the charter school's 9 year existence.

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2009-2010

• VCS has another strong enrollment of 2,015 students to start the 2009-2010 school year.
• VHS Girls' Golf repeats as District champion for the 3rd straight year and later wins Regionals and becomes the first VHS team sport to compete at State (finishing 14th).
• VCS celebrates 10 years with the completion of the 2009-2010 school year!
• The Florida Department of Education has officially released the 2009-2010 school grades for high school & combination schools that include grades 9-12 and The Villages Charter School has again earned an “A”!
• For the past 3 years, VCS has received a “K-12 grade” (all “A’s”)—also,
• The Villages High School has now earned 5 straight A’s (2006 – 2010)
• The Villages Charter Middle School has now earned 8 straight A’s (2003 - 2010)
• The Villages Charter Elementary School has now earned 8 straight A’s (2003 - 2010)

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2010-2011

• VCS sets record opening day enrollment of 2,110 students to start the 2010-2011 school year.
• VCS begins construction on a new Early Childhood Center that will house 12 Pre-K classrooms (4 PK3 classes & 8 PK4 classes). The new school will open in August, 2011
• VCS begins construction on a new elementary gym and multi-purpose facility.
• VCS begins construction on a new Fine Arts wing at The Villages Charter Middle School. The Fine Arts area will have new band, choral and dance rooms.
• VCS begins construction on an expansion of the middle school cafeteria.
• The Florida Department of Education has officially released the 2010-2011 school grades for high school & combination schools that include grades 9-12 and The Villages Charter School has again earned an “A”!
• For the past 4 years, VCS has received a “K-12 grade” (all “A’s”)—also,
• The Villages High School has now earned 6 straight A’s (2006 – 2011)
• The Villages Charter Middle School has now earned 9 straight A’s (2003 - 2011)
• The Villages Charter Elementary School has now earned 9 straight A’s (2003 - 2011)

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2011-2012

• VCS sets record opening day enrollment of 2,245 students in K-12 to start the 2011-2012 school year.
• The Villages Early Childhood Center opens in August with 237 PK3 & PK4 students in their beautiful new facility
• The Elementary Gym and multi-purpose facility along with Fine Arts wing & new cafeteria at The Villages Charter Middle School open to rave reviews
• VCS is 9th ranked K-12 school in Florida
• VHS Class of 2012 has largest graduating class thus far (126)

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2012-2013

• VCS sets record opening day enrollment of 2,459 students in K-12 and 232 in PK-3 & PK-4 to start the 2012-2013 school year.
• VCS was awarded full district accreditation (K-12) from the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools (SACS)
• VCS begins construction of the latest expansion (Phase VII).
• The Villages High School is awarded "Early College" site status by SACS and partners with Lake-Sumter State College to offer a full Associates of Arts (AA) degree.

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2013-2014

• VCS completes construction of the latest expansion (Phase VII) with a ribbon cutting & open house on July 25, 2013.
• VCS sets record opening day enrollment of 2,660 students in K-12 and 243 in PK-3 & PK-4 to start the 2013-2014 school year.
• VHS Class of 2014 sets record of 143 graduates.
• VCS earns our 12th "A" in a row!

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2014-2015

• VCS sets record opening day enrollment of 2,962 students in K-12 and 258 in PK-3 & PK-4 to start the 2014-2015 school year.
• VCS breaks ground on the latest expansion (Phase VIII) to include a new high school choir room, new Computer Science Academy, expansion @ the VHS athletic fieldhouse & football stadium, renovated VCMS science lab and several other smaller projects. 
• The VHS Drama Department has the honor of the first performance in the new Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center. The group performs show tunes to three sold out shows.
• VHS Class of 2015 sets record of 153 graduates.
• VCS earns 13th "A" in a row!