Charter school to remove leader
The board of the Academy of Environmental Science thinks change is needed to expand offerings.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published March 31, 2005
CRYSTAL RIVER - Citrus County's only charter school has thought about expanding its curriculum and widening its student base.
This week, the school also decided it was time to change leadership.
The board of the Academy of Environmental Science voted Tuesday to remove Lisa Merritt as school director after this school year. The board also recommended that the school district not reappoint Merritt to the academy as a teacher for the 2005-06 school year.
Because Merritt is tenured, school superintendent Sandra "Sam" Himmel can transfer her to another public school in the county if she chooses to take a transfer. Merritt, who has been director at the academy since it opened in 1999, had previously worked at Crystal River High School.
On Wednesday, Himmel said she would honor the academy board's recommendation and offer Merritt a job at another school.
Merritt and academy board chairman Gary Maidhof could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but other board members confirmed the action taken by the group.
"It was not an easy decision. Miss Merritt has been there since before the inception of the academy," said board member Bob Gill. "Like any other growing company, the future will be better served with a new direction from new leadership."
The decision was not based on anything Merritt had done wrong, he said, "although not all may perceive it that way."
Merritt attended Tuesday's meeting and presented a prepared statement to the board.
"She said she strongly supported the school and would be willing to work as a teacher without being director. She pointed out that she had worked very hard for the academy," Gill said.
The board rejected the idea of keeping her on as a teacher for two reasons. The academy must be very tight on finances and could not afford to have an additional teacher and also look for a director, since Merritt served in both positions simultaneously.
He also said that it was not wise to involuntarily transfer someone and then appoint him or her a new supervisor. That relationship would likely be rocky from the very start, Gill said.
Academy board member Chris Lloyd said he thinks Himmel and her district staff share the board's ideas for a new direction for the school. They "share a common belief that the academy must widen their breadth and depth of offerings to the customer set which we seek to serve."
In the business world, that often means a change in leadership, Lloyd said.
The charter school has struggled to draw enough students. Recently the board has talked about making the program there year-round for students, expanding curriculum, and welcoming noncollege-bound students who still have an interest in the environment. The academy's operating money is based on the number of students attending.
As it stands, high school students who want to attend the academy do so for one semester in each of their sophomore, junior and senior years. The programs offered there now are primarily for college-bound students, and the subject matter is largely environmental-based science and English classes.
Gill said the board had previously discussed Merritt's future with the school. But because the decision was so difficult, they put the final vote off until this week's meeting.
He said the board's message to Merritt was that the school's future had to be more important than any individual's situation. "We had to view it not from the personality side. We had to do what we believed was best for the academy," Gill said.
Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com