Original Research by School Decision on Pinecrest Lakes Middle/high Academy
Pinecrest Lakes Middle/High Academy is a charter school in Clermont, Florida, serving students in grades nine through twelve. Though its name includes "middle," enrollment data show no students in the middle grades, and all enrollment is concentrated across the four high school grade levels. The school is small relative to most high schools, which shapes everything from class sizes to the range of extracurricular options a student might encounter. No program information was available in the data we reviewed, so the specific curriculum, academic focus, or college-preparatory offerings Pinecrest Lakes provides could not be assessed here. A parent considering this school would want to ask directly about course offerings, AP or dual-enrollment access, and any specialized pathway the school is designed around.
State assessment results and graduation rate data were not available for this school. This is not uncommon for smaller charter schools, where reporting lags or enrollment thresholds can affect public data availability. The comparison fact-set for Lake County districts also could not position this school on proficiency, graduation, or chronic absenteeism, as values were missing across all three measures. Parents who want academic performance benchmarks should ask the school directly for state assessment results or Florida School Report Card data.
The student body reflects a mix broadly representative of Central Florida's demographics. White students make up a majority, Hispanic students make up roughly a third, and Black, Asian, and multiracial students account for the remainder. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a smaller share than many neighboring schools in the region. Data on English learner populations and students with individualized education programs were not available, which makes it harder to assess how well the school is set up to serve students with those needs.
Clermont itself is one of the fastest-growing cities in Central Florida, publicly reported to have nearly doubled in population over the past decade. It sits about twenty miles west of Orlando and functions as a residential suburb within the broader metro, though it retains a walkable historic downtown along Montrose Street that distinguishes it from most of the surrounding development. The local economy leans on healthcare anchors like Orlando Health South Lake Hospital and AdventHealth, retail corridors along Highway 27, and tourism-adjacent hospitality. For families weighing a move, the housing market here sits above the Florida statewide median and well above the national median, with home values having softened slightly year over year. Rents have held nearly flat. A publicly reported wave of new residential and mixed-use construction, including a large project on the 12th Street corridor and the broader Wellness Way growth area in south Lake County, signals that the region will keep expanding.
Pinecrest Lakes feeds into the broader Lake County Schools context even as a charter. That district recently saw voters renew a dedicated property tax supporting school safety officers, nurses, counselors, psychologists, and social workers across Lake County schools. A new, potentially larger measure is headed to voters in November 2026, which if approved would add funding for teacher pay on top of the existing safety and mental health levy. Separately, Florida's statewide phone ban during instructional time took effect for the 2024-25 school year and applies to all public schools, including charters, changing the day-to-day classroom environment.
Given how thin the available data is for this school, especially the absence of academic performance results and program details, a parent's best next step is a direct conversation with the school about its academic model, its four-year outcomes, and how it serves students with specific learning or language needs.
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