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Polk County Public Schools broke ground Dec. 4 on a new high school in fast-growing Davenport.

The new school, located adjacent to Davenport School of the Arts, is scheduled to open in August 2021 and will accommodate 2,500 students, providing enrollment relief to nearby Ridge Community and Haines City high schools. It will offer programs in the fine arts, hospitality and hotel management, technology, computer modeling and gaming.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd thanked the voters of Polk County; the new $85 million school is being funded through impact fees and revenue from the county's half-cent sales tax for education, which was renewed in 2018.

"There is a chill in the air, which means new things are coming," Byrd said. "This project is on an aggressive schedule because we know the development is coming."

Added School Board chair Lori Cunningham: "We are so blessed to be here for the groundbreaking on this project," she said. "This has been a dream for Northeast Polk for many years."