A Warehouse, A Vision, A Family
Robert and Rowena Flanders opened Central Florida Community School in a converted warehouse in Gotha, Florida. Their five children made up most of the student body. Bob, a lifelong educator, believed that engaging curriculum, hands-on learning, and strong character values were the foundation for raising joyful, well-rounded students.
Growth Beyond the Warehouse
With 65 students and 15 staff members, the Flanders signed a long-term land lease and moved to Citrus Oaks Avenue. The Montessori Program launched. Community traditions took root: International Night, the Fall Festival, and R.E.D. month became part of the school's identity.
Central Florida Preparatory School
The school was renamed to reflect its deepening commitment to academic rigor and college preparation. What started as a community school had become a true preparatory institution, producing graduates ready for the most demanding intellectual challenges ahead.
Pioneering Innovation
CFP became the first private school in Orange County to adopt a 1:1 instructional technology model and digital curriculum. By 2011, roughly 75% of graduates were completing at least two AP courses or earning college credits through dual enrollment with Valencia College.
A Campus Built for What's Next
The school relocated to a permanent 45,000+ sq ft campus on 5 acres in Apopka. Two STEM labs, culinary facilities, agricultural gardens, and modern classrooms designed to serve over 650 students. A home worthy of the community Bob and Rowena built.
The Legacy Continues
Over 650 students. A 10:1 student-to-staff ratio across the school community. Programming in biomedical technology, robotics, farm-to-table culinary arts, entrepreneurship, coding, and aeronautics. Alumni at Stanford, Columbia, Embry-Riddle, and the Naval Academy. The Robert A. Flanders Athletic & Performing Arts Center opens August 2026. The best is still ahead.
Robert A. Flanders
Bob Flanders was a treasured husband, father, friend and mentor. But above all, he was a man who believed that every child deserved to be seen. Not as a test score or a seat in a classroom, but as a whole person with their own talents, their own unique learning styles, and their own path forward. He built this school on a simple conviction: that if you give each child what he or she needs to be successful, they will become something extraordinary.
He was an avid golfer and a sailor who loved the open water. It was that love of the sea that gave us our mascot, the Mariner.
On June 27, 2002, Bob lost his battle with kidney cancer. He was 51 years old.
What began in 1990 as one man's belief in a better kind of education has now touched the lives of thousands of students and families. His fingerprints are on every part of this place. In the values we teach. In the way we treat each child. And in the simple, radical idea that a school should feel like a family. The Robert A. Flanders Athletic & Performing Arts Center opens in August 2026 as the next chapter in that story. It is a promise that his legacy will continue to shape the lives of students and families for generations to come.