Sarah Sprinkel
T H E E L EC TA B L E E DU C ATO R Principal, Florida Virtual Elementary School; City Commissioner, City of Winter Park
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INTER PARK CITY COMMISSIONER SARAH Sprinkel is a kindergarten teacher at heart. But she’s also apparently Winter Park’s most popular — or at least its most formidable — citizen-politician. In a city where municipal elections are often highly contentious and closely contested, Sprinkel won her first two terms with more than 60 percent of the vote, and drew no opposition earlier this year in her bid for a third term. During her eventful tenure, there have been numerous major issues of the sort that rile up voters — including a debate about the procedure for forming historic districts, adoption of a revised comprehensive plan, and passage of a hotly debated bond issue to build a new Winter Park Public Library and Events Center in Martin Luther King Jr. Park. You can’t please everyone — especially in Winter Park — but Sprinkel, 69, has earned respect for doing her homework (she was a teacher, after all) and for her common-sense style. Sprinkel started out corralling kindergartners in Polk County before becoming an administrator specializing in governmental affairs and community outreach with the Orange County Public School System. She retired in 2003, but almost immediately joined the YMCA of Central Florida as a vice president. There she spearheaded a joint venture that resulted in the debut of two large child-development centers at Walt Disney World. In 2009, Sprinkel became an administrator at the Florida Virtual School. And in 2015, she launched Florida Virtual School Elementary, which serves youngsters statewide and is growing by leaps and bounds. Today, she’s principal of the online K-5 school, which recently won an “Innovate to Educate” award from Xirrus and eSchool Media. Sprinkel has chaired, or been a member of, dozens of boards and task forces related to education, and among her many accolades was being named 2017’s Florida Virtual School Principal of the Year. She also enjoys teaching Sunday School at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park. “In 2020, I’ll celebrate 50 years of serving families and children,” she says “I was put on this Earth to serve, and that’s my mantra.”
W H AT S H E S AYS :
“I want to drive through town in 10 years and know that some of what I see and feel is a result of what we worked so hard to create, maintain and love about our valued city. Any effectiveness I have is in making life better for one person at a time — and that’s my lifelong goal.”
W H AT T H E Y S AY:
“Sarah is about as apolitical as anybody who’s ever been elected to office … she’ll describe herself as just a schoolteacher who loves Winter Park, but she’s very savvy … an incredibly accomplished woman who has really made life better for Florida’s children.”
52 W I N T E R P A R K M A G AZI N E | SUMM ER 2017
Sarah Sprinkel next to Winter Park City Hall.