It hopes to open an elementary school and a middle school on Old County Line Road near Mariner Boulevard.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published September 4, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - A new not-for-profit charter school organization has applied to open an elementary and middle school in Hernando County, which only recently saw its first charter school debut.
Academies of America, based in Ormond Beach, filed its application just five minutes before the Tuesday deadline. It made similar proposals in Pasco, Polk, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
Earlier this summer, Academies of Excellence - a sister company with the same registered agent and lead director - was denied its bid to open charter schools in Flagler County, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. It withdrew applications in Volusia County, the News-Journal reported.
Also in May, Academies of Excellence submitted proposals for charter schools in Marion, Osceola and Seminole counties, according to the News-Journal. Neither Academies of America nor Academies of Excellence has any charter schools in operation, group director Jay Braden said.
Vickie Marble, advocacy director for the Florida Consortium of Charter Schools, said she never had heard of the group, which draws heavily from the Daytona Beach area. Three team members are affiliated with Stetson University.
The team did not include anyone from Hernando County, and it did not show any proof of local interest as required by state law.
Hernando County officials, still fresh from a year of lengthy and often contentious negotiations that led to the district's first charter school, said they welcomed another candidate.
"We will rise to the challenge," School Board member Jim Malcolm said. "Sure, I'd like to be able to assess the existing charter school first. . . . But I can't stop another charter school from applying."
The School Board tentatively has scheduled a workshop on the application for Oct. 7, chairman John Druzbick said. He expected the board to thoroughly review the proposal, just as it did for Gulf Coast Academy of Science and Technology, which opened for classes on Aug. 27. Finances will be key, he added, noting that charter schools seem to fail because they don't have enough money.
If the program passes muster, he said, it could win approval, too.
"This is a school that might be able to take some of our children from the STAR Center," Druzbick said, referring to the district's alternative education program. "I don't have a problem with a charter school if it's done correctly, and it's going to be beneficial obviously to the students and hopefully to the district."
The proposal for Hernando County would place an elementary and middle school in portable buildings on two 4.6-acre tracts on Old County Line Road near Mariner Boulevard. According to the application, the school would enroll up to 550 children in kindergarten through fifth-grade, with average class sizes of 20 students.
It made no mention of the projected middle school enrollment.
According to the documents submitted, the school would target students who are "not finding success, desire a smaller setting or are not meeting their potential in their traditional classroom." It also will seek students in homeschooling and private schools.
The curriculum would focus on core subjects, according to the proposal, with fine arts and music, technology and foreign languages integrated into the program.
Douglas Jackson, listed in state documents as the registered agent and director of Academies of America, also runs C2T2 Educational Systems, according to state records. Braden said the proposed charter schools would use a program called ActiveClassroom, designed by C2T2 Educational Systems.
Academies of America has requested a five-year charter in Hernando County and proposes to begin classes in August 2004 with 200 children. It anticipates revenue of $1.146-million in its first year, with expenditures of $1.138-million.
- Staff writer Rebecca Catalanello and staff researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
