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Schools

District seeks big changes at academy

Rather than recommend that Richard Milburn Academy shut down, it wants the school to do some major reorganization.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published May 16, 2006

School district staffers will not recommend closing down Richard Milburn Academy in New Port Richey. But before the troubled charter school opens next school year, the district wants it to make a host of changes. Among them:

Hire a professional guidance counselor.

Detail how money is being spent and prove that it's going toward programs for which it is earmarked.

Make sure every teacher on staff is certified.

Provide Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test remediation during the summer.

The Pasco County School Board will consider the staffers' recommendation at its meeting today. A district audit earlier this year found numerous problems in the 170-student academy for at-risk high school students. There were outdated textbooks and a Spanish teacher who doesn't speak the language. The school owes more than $141,000 to its parent corporation in Massachusetts, on top of the audit's findings that the district overpaid the school by more than $210,000 for the 2005-06 school year.

"Our recommendation would be for the corrective action," Sandy Ramos, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said Monday. "It is very detailed, what we are asking. They would need to develop the plan."

Ramos and other district staffers met last week with Robert Crosby, the academy's Florida president, as well as administrators and teachers at the school. They identified other issues that the school will be given more time to address.

For one, the district wants a repayment plan for the overpaid money.

Also, Ramos said, the school appeared to have no plan to track students' attendance.

"Of course, for at-risk kids, coming to school would be real critical," she said.

Sufficient information was not provided for students regarding course selection and graduation, and teachers were uninformed about state curriculum standards, Ramos said. Services have been lacking for students with exceptional needs, such as learning disabilities and emotional problems, she said.

Other minor problems surfaced, such as in food service and a lack of regular emergency drills, Ramos said.

She said the school will have to weigh the demands of the corrective action plan to decide its own future. The academy, which opened in August 2002, has had a high turnover of both teaching and administrative staffs. It has other Florida locations in Bradenton, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa and Brevard County.

"I think they're going to have some decisions to make," Ramos said. "They realize that the finances are very serious. They, too, would have to make some decisions as to whether they could afford to open for next year."

[Last modified May 16, 2006, 01:50:15]