Avatar Goes to the Head of the Class
March 28, 2005
Avatar Properties Inc. has been named the 2004-2005 winner of the Florida Education Commissioner’s Business Recognition Award for its on-going commitment to improving the academic performance of Florida students and for its outstanding service in the field of education.
The coveted award will be presented to Avatar representatives by Florida Commissioner of Education John L. Winn on Thursday, April 14 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando. The 18th Annual Commissioner’s Business Recognition Awards is expected to attract approximately 800 education and business leaders.
Recognized for building homes and developing family neighborhoods in the award-winning master-planned communities of Poinciana and Bellalago, Avatar has built an even greater relationship with school districts in both counties over the past 20 years.
“We embrace the importance of educating today’s children and tomorrow’s future leaders,” said Tony Iorio, Avatar’s vice president of land development. “As a builder and developer we are just as committed to contributing to the quality education of our children as well as to the overall quality of life in our communities.”
Avatar’s educational contributions are myriad.
The company has donated several school sites in Poinciana and another in Bellalago to the School District of Osceola County (SDOC), a feat that earned it kudos from Orlando Sentinel columnist Mark Pino. Avatar also is the first developer to donate a school site to the School Board of Polk County on the Polk side of Poinciana.
Recognizing the SDOC’s on-going need for prime school sites, Avatar is engaged in a land swap that gives the SDOC, “a more valuable piece of land that was much better suited for a school,” Iorio said.
Holder of a Champion for Education award from the SDOC for its community involvement and continued financial support of local schools, Avatar also supports the Foundation for Osceola Education, the county’s leading non-profit education foundation which sponsors several charter schools and provides college scholarships to deserving high school seniors.
Avatar also established Osceola County’s first Educational Facilities Benefit District (EFBD) for Bellalago Academy, a K-8 charter school in Bellalago that also is the state’s first charter school to be managed by a school district (SDOC). The school is leased by the EFBD to the SDOC with whom the Foundation for Osceola Education has contracted to operate and manage the school.
Avatar executives also regularly attend school board meetings, sit on various school advisory councils (SAC) in Osceola, and periodically bring in consultants to assist with improving the company’s relationship with the school districts and to explore ways in which to better meet their needs.
“We’re not done yet,” said Iorio. “We continue to look at ways in which we can partner with the school districts and improve the quality of education for our young people.”
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For additional information, contact Avatar’s Tony Iorio at (407), 933-5000, Mary Johnson with the School District of Osceola County at (407) 870-4080, or Florida Commissioner of Education John L. Winn at (850) 245-0505.
