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City to cite private school director
By STEPHEN HEGARTY, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- The city is taking legal action against a woman improperly operating a private school in the old Rutland mansion south of downtown. City code enforcement officials were to inspect the property Friday for code violations after making an appointment with Angela Sweet, the director of Excellence Academy. But when they arrived at the mansion Friday morning, Sweet was not at the school, which also serves as her home. Inspectors were faced with a rope across the driveway bearing a "No Trespassing" sign. "We sat out front for 10 or 15 minutes," said code enforcement supervisor Gary Bush. "We called and got voice mail." Now the city attorney will be asked to draw up a complaint against Sweet, citing her for failing to obtain a certificate of occupancy for the business and for failing to get a special exception to run the school in a residential area. Sweet also must take care of several code violations that were supposed to have been fixed this week. Sweet still could get back in the city's good graces by getting the necessary city licenses and correcting several city code violations. She could face fines if she does not. In brief interviews, Sweet has said she would take care of the problems. The code violations are only part of the problems surrounding the school. For weeks, white vans pulled up at the residence each morning, dropping off about 25 children. The Florida Department of Education has withheld voucher payments to the school under the McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities. Four students at the Excellence Academy were attending with McKay Scholarships, which enable students to leave public schools and attend private schools with their tuition paid by the state. The state gave Sweet until next week to comply with all local health and safety codes or risk losing state money. McKay voucher money is distributed in quarterly payments. The school received $7,118 for the four students in the first quarterly payment. The state is withholding the second payment, which was due Nov. 1. The city fire inspector also has discovered problems at the house on Sunrise Drive and has scheduled a reinspection at the end of the month. The school received McKay Scholarship money for six children last school year at another location. It received $28,323 for those students last year. This year, the school has notified the state of threeaddresses. Sweet said that is because their plans fell through at one location at the start of the year, and then they had a temporary home until they relocated to the former Rutland estate on Sunrise Drive.
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