The Orange County School Board is considering a settlement that would give the historic Hungerford High School property to an Eatonville community trust in exchange for a small compensation and end the legal battle over the land.
The school site, owned by the school district since the 1950s, is in the heart of the historically black city just north of Orlando.
The city and the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, which sued the school district in 2023 to stop the sale of the property to a private developer, have proposed a settlement that would include a lease-purchase plan so that a trust — run by city residents — obtain of the 100 acres at a nominal price, said Karen Castor Dentel, who left the school board this month after serving six years.
The deal could resolve a dispute between local activists, the city and the school district, which acquired the land cheaply and under controversial circumstances 70 years ago. The largely vacant land, which borders Interstate-4, was recently considered for a state museum of black history, and resolving ownership could be a key to the city’s revitalization efforts.
Castor Dentel said the board has met several times — behind closed doors, as with all lawsuits — to discuss the proposed settlement.
A resolution is unlikely before January, she said.
The property serves as a de facto gateway to Eatonville and an important piece of history for a city founded by freed slaves. The site was once home to the Robert F. Hungerford Normal and Industrial School, a private boarding school for black students when segregation-era white school districts would not educate them.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the association by the Southern Poverty Law Center, sought to halt the planned $14.6 million sale of the property to developers. Many in Eatonville, including Mayor Angie Gardner, objected to the sale, arguing it could gentrify the area and drive out some residents.
The land is located at the western entrance to downtown Eatonville, at the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Wymore Road, and is visible from I-4.
The sale fell the same month the lawsuit was filed, and the school board announced at the time that it was no longer looking for a buyer and would work with the city to decide the future of the land. School advocates have said the district cannot donate the land to Eatonville, as some residents want, although others have questioned that position.
Since then, Castor Dentel and others have been working to resolve the dispute. Castor Dentel, who was elected this month as Orange County’s next elections supervisor, said she hopes the school board will reach an agreement.
“This property is not only an asset to OCPS, it represents a most sacred and important piece of history, resilience and self-determination,” she said. “That’s worth more than we could sell it for.”
Michael Ollendorff, a spokesman for the OCPS, said the district had no comment on the proposal because it does not comment on pending litigation and that board meeting minutes where details were shared are exempt from disclosure before a vote.
Eatonville Mayor Gardner said she wants the school board to accept the settlement and let the city decide the future of the property. City leaders, she said, have been working with an architectural firm to develop a master plan — an effort to show the district how Eatonville will benefit from the land.
“There’s really no reason for the school board to say no to this,” she added.
While details are still developing and public hearings are planned, Gardner said one idea would be to develop a black history museum with classrooms, shops and hotel rooms.. Earlier this year, the city made a strong effort to designate the land for the state’s proposed Black History Museum in Florida, though a site in St. John’s County ousted Eatonville in a contentious lawsuit.
Orange County Public Schools purchased the 300-acre property in the early 1950s for $16,000 and established public Hungerford High, a segregated public school for black students. After the schools were desegregated, the district continued to operate the school until 2009, when it closed. The buildings were demolished ten years later and the property now largely consists of an empty field surrounded by fencing.
School district and city leaders had been trying to sell the property to developers for more than a decade, hoping to expand Eatonville’s now limited tax base and spark a revitalization of the city, which has struggled economically . The school district does not pay taxes to the city, while a private owner would.
City leaders have discussed and debated new projects for the Hungerford estate, and city officials initially supported the sale, which was ultimately scuttled in February 2023.
OCPS has previously sold hundreds of acres of land and also donated some to Eatonville to build a public library. Now 100 hectares of the Hungerford estate remain.
Ruthi Critton, a fifth-generation Eatonville resident, urged the school board earlier this month to resolve the Hungerford issue.
The Hungerford property is of great value to residents, she told the board, and returning the Hungerford land to Eatonville could secure the town’s future for generations.
“When you plant the seed, sometimes you’re not around to see the shade that the tree provides,” Critton said. “This is an opportunity to plant that seed.”
