What's new across the company and the schools it serves.
September 20, 2026
Crestwell School is at capacity, and the next chapter is a 25,000 square foot middle school expansion with a STEM lab, an art lab, and a music studio. Read more
September 19, 2026
Most of the questions we hear from founders and boards are the same questions, so we wrote the answers down. Read more
September 17, 2026
The family company behind Central Florida Preparatory School and Crestwell School now has a name families and schools will see more often. Read more
August 2026
Central Florida Preparatory School opened the center for the 2026-27 school year, named for the school's founder. Read more
March 11, 2026
Fourteen middle school students became the founding members of the school's first NJHS chapter. Read more
March 6, 2026
The school's annual spring gala, held April 11 at Plantation Golf and Country Club, funds campus improvements and the STEM and arts programs. Read more
February 19, 2025
WGCU covered a field trip that put Crestwell students at the controls of Da Vinci surgical robots at Lee Health's Gulf Coast Medical Center. Read more
July 2020
After thirty years in Gotha, the school moved to a new 40,000 square foot campus built for it on Marden Road. Read more
2018
In 2018 the school's board engaged Clear Direction Schools to run the school's operations. The school kept its name, its campus, its board, and its character. Read more
2009
A device for every student and a digital curriculum, a decade before it was common. Read more
2001
The name changed to reflect what the school had become: a college preparatory institution. Read more
1994
With 65 students and 15 staff, the Flanders signed a long-term land lease and moved out of the warehouse. Read more
August 27, 1990
Bob and Rowena Flanders opened the school on Hempel Avenue with seven students. Read more
Coverage of the schools and their students by local and regional press.
Clear Direction Schools is a family company that builds and operates independent schools in Florida. Founded in 1990, it works with two schools, Central Florida Preparatory School in Orlando and Crestwell School in Fort Myers, nearly 1,000 students in all, and with other independent schools on acquisitions, management, and campus development. Press and company inquiries: [email protected] or 407-625-6207.