Pine View School for the Gifted, or simply known as Pine View School, is a public, college-preparatory, coeducational school located in Osprey, Florida. Pine View serves students from 2nd through 12th grades. History In 1969, the school was founded as the state's first school for the intellectually gifted. The first director was John D. Woolever, an educator who had written numerous scholarly articles on education throughout his career. During the school's early history, many feared it would be closed, particularly when the school moved to its current campus, designed by Carl Abbott, FAIA, in 1994. In 2007-2008, the Florida State Legislature considered abolishing the Exceptional Student Educational (ESE) label "gifted." On this occasion, Pine View was included in a statewide comprehensive policy assessment completed by the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability (OPPAGA), which determined that gifted programs were thriving and that the ESE label "gifted" had more advantages than disadvantages. At the end of the 2012–2013 school year, Steve Largo, Pine View's principal of 25 years, retired. Stephen Covert took Largo's place as Pine View principal on July 1, 2013. In 2022, the class president's graduation speech went viral on social media and received national attention. After being told by the school principal that he could not mention LGBTQ rights in his speech, the class president instead euphemistically referred to his "curly hair" and thanked his classmates for their support. Academic recognition Nation rankings During the 2003–2004 school year, Pine View School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive. In 2014 Pine View was ranked the number one school in Florida and the sixth-best school in the Country. In 2013, Pine View was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the sixth-best public high school in the nation. The previous year, Newsweek ranked Pine View the 15th best public high school in the nation. Out of public and private schools, Pine View was rated the 6th best high school in the nation in 2007, 11th in 2008, 14th in 2009, 30th in 2012, and 6th in 2013 by U.S. News. Due to its average SAT score of 1335 for 2005, the school was listed among Newsweek magazine's 21 Public Elite American high schools. It was the only Public Elite school in Florida. Pine View's U.S. News