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More than academic

While the students at this school learn much in class, they're learning more about being good people and good citizens.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published December 23, 2005

V.M. YBOR - At Academy Prep Center, seventh-grade boys chose as their class name that of the world's largest venomous snake, the King Cobras. They aim big. They want to be powerful.

Yet sometimes they envy kids in public schools.

The free private school education valued at $12,500 a year carries a hefty responsibility: 11-hour school days and strict standards of achievement and discipline.

"Sometimes I get mad. Even furious," said Billy Gaines, a seventh-grader.

But he sticks it out for his grandmother, Carrie Penix, who is raising Billy and his two younger siblings.

She wants more for them than what public schools offer.

"There's too many kids falling through the cracks," she said. "I don't want him to grow up in that environment."

Since the school opened two years ago, Academy Prep's 72 students are proving that race and income aren't blockades to academic success.

Despite their backgrounds - most are black and qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches - the students' grades have soared since coming to the school on Columbus Drive north of Ybor City.

In Hillsborough County schools, 34 percent of black children and 42 percent of Hispanic children read at or above grade level compared with 65 percent for white children.

But Academy Prep students consistently outscore the averages, says principal Lincoln Tamayo. Billy's class of 30 started fifth grade at Academy Prep with fourth-grade skills in math and reading.

By the end of sixth grade, 70 percent of the students read at or above level and 77 percent scored at or above level in math. Nearly half - 14 - had high school senior skills.

"It speaks volumes about the human spirit," said Tamayo, a Cuban immigrant who learned English as a child at a nearby Historic Ybor school. There is no excuse for the achievement gap, he says.

Tamayo sees a challenge where others label inner-city students as hopeless because they arrive with fewer skills and more behavior problems.

"It's a beautiful struggle," he says from his office.

The school enrolls up to 15 girls and 15 boys each year as fifth-graders, through donations from local individuals, businesses and foundations.

Their days start at 7:15 a.m. with breakfast and a convocation in the school auditorium.

On a recent school day, students greeted each teacher and Tamayo with a handshake and a "good morning."

"All through the day there's a lot of respect going on," says seventh-grader Paris Roberts.

Standards are high.

"They don't let us slouch around," fifth-grader Mikeisha Wilks says.

Students line up at 7:30 a.m. in five rows on the wood floors of the restored two-story building, formerly the Y.M. Ybor Grammar School, where Cuban and Italian immigrant children learned from 1911 to 1971.

"It's like a family meeting at the dinner table," Tamayo says.

That day, Tamayo instructed them to work hard, and teacher Ted McNair read from Proverbs 15. They ended with a chant: Standing in this room are the greatest, most responsible people the world has ever known. . . . We are the greatest!

They clapped three times and dispersed to classrooms, one wing for boys, another for girls. Classes have no more than 15 students each.

Their school days end at 5 p.m., or 6 p.m. for those not on the honor roll. Some Saturdays, they take field trips to round out their education with cultural events and service projects. Students also take three hours of art each week.

Academy Prep's 12 teachers are like extra parents, says Audrey Davis, whose son Lawrence and daughter Cassandra attend the school. Five AmeriCorps volunteer teachers live on campus in second-floor apartments.

"They love the kids," Davis said.

McNair, who teaches history and language arts, grew up on welfare in the College Hill projects. In class, his students read We Beat the Street, a true story about three boys who grew up in a tough neighborhood and made a pact to make it out. Now the three men are doctors.

The students relate to the characters' journey and to McNair's. He is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, holds a master's degree in education and was the 1995 World Karate Champion. He knows he's one of the few men in some of the children's lives.

"I'm just walking a certain walk and I want them to follow my example," said McNair, who also teaches the students chess and karate.

He can be strict when it comes to students holding up their end of a bargain.

"It's more what I call old school," parent Syblie Washington says. She wouldn't have her 10-year-old daughter Ageis anywhere else.

In math class recently, teacher Ralph Moore told students to line up straight. "I want to see one head," he said in his gentle deep voice. "Gentlemen, make sure your hands are open to the world in front of you."

Single parent Selena Williams, who lives near the school with her son Jordan, says Moore is a perfect role model. Since coming to the school last year, she's noticed a difference in Jordan's attitude, and so has Jordan.

"If I wasn't in Academy Prep, I think my grades would be good, but my behavior wouldn't," Jordan said.

The school grew from the Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg, which opened in 1997. Another is planned for Lakeland. The schools are modeled after the Nativity Mission School in New York City, an inner-city middle school founded in 1971 for disadvantaged boys.

To be accepted, students must qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, pass an interview and attend a summer program. Students come from all over the area and must provide their own transportation. Parents must volunteer 50 hours the first year, 40 hours the second year and so on.

When the first class graduates next year, students already have scholarship offers lined up from Tampa Preparatory, Jesuit and Berkeley Preparatory.

Billy, the seventh-grader, concedes that his grandmother is probably right about Academy Prep.

"At this school, you have opportunities," he said.

He's mulling over his future now. Maybe Full Sail media arts college in Central Florida. Maybe Florida State University. He dreams of one day becoming a forensic scientist.

- Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3321.

[Last modified December 22, 2005, 09:27:09]