Cunningham Creek Elementary showcases STEAM, ESE programs in district visit

St. Johns County Superintendent Dr. Tim Asplen visited Cunningham Creek Elementary School this week for the latest installment of the district's "All Access" school tour series, spotlighting programs that range from exceptional student education to robotics as the fast-growing county continues adding school seats to keep pace with residential development.

Principal McCool guided the superintendent through classrooms demonstrating the school's instructional approaches: an ESE (Exceptional Student Education) class serving students with specialized learning needs, a STEAM class where students worked with robots, a second-grade science class exploring magnetism, and the school's SOAR Store—a rewards center where students redeem points earned through positive behavior.

What's happening

The "All Access with Dr. Asplen" series takes the superintendent into individual schools across St. Johns County to observe day-to-day instruction and student programs. This edition focused on Cunningham Creek Elementary, located in the western part of the county near the rapidly developing World Golf Village and CR 210 corridor.

During the visit, documented by the school district, Dr. Asplen and Principal McCool stopped in four distinct learning environments. The ESE classroom serves students who qualify for specialized instruction under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—services that range from speech therapy to modified curriculum delivery depending on each student's individualized education plan. The STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) class featured hands-on robotics work, part of a broader push in St. Johns schools to integrate technology and engineering concepts into elementary curricula. The second-grade science lesson on magnetism represented core academic instruction, and the SOAR Store visit highlighted the school's approach to behavior management through positive reinforcement—students accumulate points for meeting behavioral expectations and later exchange them for items or privileges at the store.

The district has not released enrollment figures specific to this visit, but the tour comes as St. Johns County—one of Florida's fastest-growing counties by percentage—continues opening new schools and adding classroom wings to existing campuses to absorb students from new subdivisions.

School capacity and the growth challenge

Cunningham Creek Elementary sits in a part of St. Johns County experiencing sustained residential construction. The CR 210 corridor, running west from I-95 toward the Nocatee and SilverLeaf master-planned communities, has become a focal point for new housing. World Golf Village, originally built in the 1990s, has seen infill development and nearby land converted from rural to residential zoning in recent years. Each new subdivision adds students to the district's enrollment projections.

St. Johns County routinely ranks among the top school districts in Florida for academic performance, a reputation that itself drives in-migration—families moving from other parts of Florida or out of state frequently cite the school ratings as a reason for choosing St. Johns. That creates a feedback loop: high-performing schools attract buyers, new construction follows buyer demand, and the district must build or expand schools to maintain the class sizes and program offerings that underpin the reputation.

Florida school districts operate under a concurrency framework that requires adequate school capacity before residential development can proceed, though the specifics—what counts as "adequate," how impact fees are calculated, whether a school is at or over its designed student station count—are sources of ongoing tension between builders, county planners, and the school board. St. Johns has opened multiple new elementary, middle, and high schools in the past decade and has additional schools in its capital plan to serve areas where zoning approvals have already locked in thousands of future housing units.

STEAM and ESE: program investments under enrollment pressure

The programs highlighted in the superintendent's visit—STEAM instruction and ESE services—represent two areas where growing enrollment intersects with resource allocation. STEAM education, emphasizing hands-on problem-solving and technology integration, has become a staple of elementary curricula nationwide as school systems attempt to build foundational skills for a technology-driven economy. Robotics kits, 3D printers, coding software, and maker-space materials all carry per-student costs, and spreading those resources across more students and more schools requires budget planning several years out.

ESE services are a legal mandate under federal and state law: school districts must provide a free appropriate public education tailored to each eligible student's needs, which can include smaller class sizes, paraprofessional support, specialized equipment, or contracted therapies. As overall enrollment grows, the absolute number of students qualifying for ESE grows proportionally—and sometimes faster if demographic shifts or improved identification processes bring more students into programs. Managing ESE staffing, classroom space, and compliance with individualized education plans becomes more complex at scale.

The SOAR Store—representing social-emotional and behavioral programming—is part of a broader trend in education toward proactive behavior management. Schools using positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) frameworks typically see fewer disciplinary removals and office referrals, which keeps students in instructional time and reduces the administrative load on principals and deans. The approach requires consistent staff training and a budget line for the tangible rewards students earn, but proponents argue it pays dividends in school climate and academic outcomes.

Transparency and community connection

The "All Access" series serves a dual purpose: it gives the superintendent direct observation time in schools, and it offers parents and taxpayers a window into how instruction actually happens day to day. St. Johns County has a politically engaged parent base that closely follows school board meetings, curriculum decisions, and facility planning. Showcasing what occurs inside classrooms—whether robotics projects, science experiments, or individualized support for students with disabilities—helps connect the often-abstract budget and policy discussions to the tangible work of teaching.

For a district managing rapid growth, maintaining program quality while adding capacity is the central challenge. The visit to Cunningham Creek Elementary underscores that the district is running both operations simultaneously: staffing ESE classrooms and equipping STEAM labs even as it plans the next round of new-school construction. How well that balance holds will shape whether St. Johns can sustain its academic standing as its student population climbs toward 50,000 and beyond in the coming years, driven by the same residential development boom reshaping the rest of Northeast Florida's built environment.