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Schools

Private school wants new site

A small Christian school seeks formal City Council approval to open at 8021 60th St. N.

By Times Staff Writer
Published February 13, 2008

PINELLAS PARK - Council members on Thursday are to consider a proposal to allow a 350-student, K-12 private school to open on the site of a former Salvation Army Church.

If the council agrees to land-use and zoning changes, the Veritas Preparatory Academy would be established at 8021 60th St. N in the middle of a residential area of the city.

The Salvation Army began developing the site in 1970. It now holds the boarded-up church, a recreation center, ball fields, playgrounds and paved parking areas.

Pinellas Park staffers and members of the Planning and Zoning Commission have signed off on the proposal, and the council has given tentative approval.

City staff members note that the Veritas request would return the zoning to what it was historically, and they say it would not disturb the neighborhood.

Final city approval is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 5141 78th Ave. N. The meeting is open to the public.

Veritas is also the topic of a public hearing Tuesday in front of the County Educational Facilities Authority. Veritas is asking that it be allowed to sell up to $3.5-million in tax-free bonds to, among other things, buy the Salvation Army property.

The county would act as a conduit to allow the school to issue tax-free bonds. The school would be liable for repayment. No public money would be at risk.

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Veritas is a nondenominational Christian school that opened in 2005. It operates on the "university-model," describing the concept as "a unique educational model in which two proven elements of educational success are combined.

"The classroom instruction of a teacher and the home mentoring of a parent are combined into a single, unified, college simulated program. Students are taught in the classroom by qualified teachers for two or three days per week while parents remain central in the character formation and education of their child by working with them on the alternating days."

Parents and students must sign a document saying they believe and support certain ideas, such as the inerrancy of the Bible. Those beliefs are incorporated into the school's teachings. The school believes in creationism and teaches that evolution is an erroneous theory that runs counter to the Bible's teachings.

The school has an average class size of 12 and allows no more than 16 students in a class.

Kindergarteners through sixth-graders attend classes from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Students in grades 7-10 also meet then and from 8:30 a.m. until noon Fridays.

The school's Web site, veritasprepacademy.com, provides more information.

The school was closed Tuesday and officials could not be reached for comment.

[Last modified February 12, 2008, 23:28:06]