In first-of-its-kind deal, Florida school sold to Chinese education company

Florida Preparatory Academy has been sold to a Chinese education company making its first foray into the United States.

Newopen USA, a subsidiary of the Chongqing, China-based Newopen Group, is the new owner of the private school, which opened as Florida Air Academy in Melbourne in 1961. Newopen is planning to create a network of schools throughout the country.

No sales price was given, but Florida Prep President James Dwight said the new owners had made a "significant investment" in the school and would invest more in upgrading facilities and academic programs at the 11-acre campus.

"It is going to be opening up tremendous opportunities," Dwight, who will remain Florida Prep's president, said of the sale.

The school plans an increased focus on a STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics — curriculum. The school said it also expects to expand its faculty.

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Florida Prep's location on the Space Coast and its close ties to Florida Tech were part of the attraction for the new owners.

“Florida Prep is located in one of the fastest growing locations for advanced technology companies in the USA," said Newopen USA General Manager Marshall Willman in a statement released by the school. "The Space Coast boasts not only a booming economy, but a strong infrastructure and business community that align well with our plans for a network of schools throughout the United States.

Dwight's father, Jonathan Dwight, founded Florida Air Academy in 1961, in what had once been the Lincoln Hotel. Originally an all-male military-style college prep school, it went co-ed in 2005. In 2015, the school was renamed Florida Preparatory Academy and its military focus, such as mandatory Junior ROTC, was de-emphasized.

Dwight said that after the change, he was contacted by international firms interested in buying American educational facilities, with the first inquiry coming from Spain.

The Newopen Group operates three universities and a network of primary and secondary schools in China, Dwight said. The sale came after extensive due diligence by both parties, he said.

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The group had been looking to expand its operations into the United States and internationally for some time, and decided on Florida Prep for its first American property after making a half-dozen visits to the campus, Dwight said.

Currently about a third of Florida Prep's 200 students are local "day" students who commute to classes, a third are boarding students from within the United States and a third are international students from more than 30 countries.

That diversity was part of the attraction for the Newopen Group, Dwight said. "This is not going to become a school full of Chinese kids," he said.

“We considered many schools elsewhere in the USA,” Willman said. “But with its solid record of enrollment, and its student diversity, Florida Prep offered an ideal that fit well with our vision of an outstanding 21st century college preparatory education.”

The school has boasted a 100 percent college acceptance rate for its graduates since 1976.

The school's administrators have already begun working a new three-year strategic plan that will maintain the Mediterranean-revival style of the campus' architecture while constructing new facilities.

In a letter to parents dated Dec. 8, Dwight described the sale to Newopen as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Major renovations are planned as well as construction of new, state-of-the–art buildings and facilities campus-wide," he wrote. "These improvements will set new standards for secondary schools of the 21st century as we expect to completely transform the campus to support innovative learning opportunities for students at every level."

Contact McCarthy at 321-752-5018 or jmccarthy@floridatoday.com.