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Twice as many applicants as slots at charter school

The hybrid between high school and college can take only 150 in grades 10 through 12.

ST. PETERSBURG - The application deadline for the county's first charter high school has just passed, and the school has twice as many potential students as seats.

After Monday evening's deadline, principal Linda Benware was thrilled to count 311 applications submitted by students who are now candidates for St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, a cooperative venture between the Pinellas school district and St. Petersburg College.

Those accepted into the program will earn a standard diploma and a two-year associate's degree in the time it would take to graduate from high school.

The students pay no tuition because St. Petersburg Collegiate High is a public school.

Benware knew there was substantial interest in the school based on the response of about 2,500 parents and students who attended a series of informational meetings in January and February. Still, she was unsure how many incoming 10th- through 12th-graders would actually apply.

"I'm very optimistic," she said. "Judging from the type of applicants we have had and the students who have come in and met with me, we will be providing an exceptionally good service for students who come to the collegiate high school. They will have every opportunity to be successful here."

Program secretary Judy Hartman said that more than half of the applications were submitted in the past five days. The volume of phone calls also increased as the deadline grew nearer. Hartman found anywhere from nine to 17 recorded messages every time she checked her voice mail on Monday.

In the eight weeks she and Benware have been working out of a portable at the far end of the Gibbs-St. Petersburg campus, they have heard from hundreds of parents. People have called from Tennessee, New York and Minnesota to inquire about the program. Two or three parents called to see whether children who have dropped out of high school can re-enter the system by attending the charter school.

Because the school will initially serve only 150 sophomores, juniors and seniors when it opens in August on SPC's Gibbs-St. Petersburg campus at 6605 Fifth Ave. N, applicants will enter a random lottery monitored by the school district later this month. Those who are selected will have about five days to accept the seat once they receive their invitation letter on or about April 1. Those who are not selected will be placed on a waiting list.

Benware said that in addition to letters the college sent to all current ninth- and 10th-graders, word of mouth did a lot to promote the school. Students attended an information session and then went back to their schools and spread the word to other students.

"I think they just needed some time to make that decision," she said, commenting on the large number of last-minute applicants.

Among those who made a mad dash before Monday's deadline was Arthurene Williams, who arrived at Benware's office at 5:45 p.m. to turn in an application for her son Brandon. Mrs. Williams, the wife of Area II superintendent Lew Williams, said Brandon had made a decision much earlier to apply for a seat at the charter school. The 15-year-old, a freshman in the Center for Advanced Technologies at Lakewood High School, had second thoughts when he learned of a district policy that required magnet students who applied to the new school to give up their seats at the end of the school year whether they secured a spot in the charter school or not.

A Feb. 24 School Board vote overrode the administrators' rule regarding magnet students, changing things for Brandon and close to 50 other magnet students who applied to the charter school. At least for this year, magnet students were able to apply without forfeiting their seats. The board plans to review its policies for magnet schools later this year.

Overall:311

Breakdown by grade:

Incoming 10th-graders: 123

Incoming 11th-graders: 169

Incoming 12th-graders: 19

Black:55- Nonblack:256

Magnet:47 - Traditional:264

Private school:26 - Homeschool:6 - Public school:279