- January 8, 2026
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When Lakewood Ranch’s Kait Paligraf envisioned building a house within Shellstone at Waterside, she had a clear idea of what the future would hold.
She thought she would be seeing kids riding bikes to school together and families being able to connect.
Paligraf currently lives in the Mallory Park neighborhood with easy access to B. D. Gullett Elementary School and she was looking forward to having the same type of neighborhood if she moved to Waterside.
With Sarasota County Schools planning an elementary school in Waterside, Paligraf figured that would be the case. But that vision might be delayed.
Diane Cominotti, director of planning for Sarasota County Schools, said the 2025-2026 Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan did approve funding for an elementary school (K-5) in Waterside with construction to begin in the 2026-2027 school year with a budget of $77 million.
However, the need for the elementary school is being reevaluated and might not be included in the 2026-2027 plan.
That irks Paligraf.
“You can know your neighbors better (when there is a school in the neighborhood) because you're talking to them as your kids are going to school together,” Paligraf said. “It's a much better sense of community and it's disappointing that they (Sarasota County) are now kind of bait and switching us like, ‘Oh yeah, we are going to put up an elementary school ... oh wait, actually we're not.’ That is very disappointing.”
Jody Dumas, the executive director of facility services for Sarasota County Schools, said his guess is that the project (elementary at Waterside) will most likely be pushed off at least one or two years, maybe more. He said nothing has been presented to the board and it will make the final decision.
Dumas said Waterside residents are currently zoned for Tatum Ridge Elementary School, McIntosh Middle School and Booker High School. From Waterside Place, Tatum Ridge is six miles away, McIntosh is 7.6 miles away and Booker High School is 11.8 miles away.
Schools of Hope has been a prevalent issue and topic in which nonprofit charter schools are permitted to take over unused space in public school buildings. Jody Dumas, however, said that is not a factor in this case.
"The Schools of Hope could come into some place we have capacity and they could elect to utilize some of our seats," Dumas said. "At the end of the day, it doesn't affect the decisions we're making right now in terms of where we're building. Our decisions on where and when we build are based on our current capacity."
Country Club East's Arielle Monserez is planning to move to Kingfisher Estates sometime next year in Waterside and has three children. She said Lakewood Ranch is no longer a "sleepy retirement community" and the children of the community should be a priority.
"It sounded like a new school was a done deal and already in the works," Monserez said. "It would have been nice to know a more firm timeline. I have elementary aged kids now. A new school in five years won’t do us much good."
Laura Cole, the senior vice president of Lakewood Ranch Communities, said the news that Sarasota County Schools is considering a delay to the project took her by surprise. She has scheduled a meeting with Sarasota County Schools officials for later this month.
Cominotti also said funding for a previously discussed K-12 school in the Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park is not in the five-year plan and is not planned at the moment.
Paligraf said she was a public school teacher in Indiana and Orlando for eight years, so she is a big supporter of public education. However, she is unsure what decision she will make in terms of schooling when her kids reach middle and high school since the zoned schools (McIntosh Middle and Booker High) are so far away.
“I would assume that a lot of people who live in that area are also not going to want to drive or rely on buses to take their kids that far for middle school and high school,” Paligraf said. “I just don't foresee a lot of people opting to do that.”
Dumas said staff members within the school district are working closely with the finance department as well as developers to try to project populations and student growth.
“At this point, we're still seeing capacity but we're working closely and diligently with the developer to make sure we're being proactive and want to understand the flow of kids into our district as closely as we possibly can,” Dumas said. “Like I said, it's a bit of a crystal ball, because it's not set in stone. We try to make sure our projections make sense with what we're seeing.”
Karli Campbell is a Lakewood Ranch realtor with The Campbell Group who often sells Waterside properties. She said from what she has seen, there is a mixture of families, retirees and young professionals who are buying homes in Waterside.
She said her clients do their own research in terms of schools and said that whether or not new schools are built in Waterside, she believes the demand will still be present.
“I think that's kind of good to know that it is a multi-demographic and multi-generational community,” Campbell said. “There's a reason why Lakewood Ranch is the No. 1 multi-generational community in the country. It's because it doesn't serve just one purpose. It's very fluid in the opportunities that it offers.”
“We are providing capacity when we need it, not overbuilding, because that becomes too costly to taxpayers,” Dumas said. “We make sure we do provide seats when needed. We want parents to choose Sarasota County Schools as their option.”
