New Uhuru plan baffles schools, USF

A funding request for the Uhuru Movement's proposed dropout prevention program is pulled from a Juvenile Welfare Board meeting.

By KELLY RYAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

As Uhuru Movement leaders continue their fight to open a charter school, they have turned some of their attention to another educational venture: a dropout prevention program.

But the way they have described their plans has drawn quick criticism from their would-be partners.

In a request for money from the Juvenile Welfare Board, Marcus Garvey Academy founders gave the impression that the program would be run through the University of South Florida and had a commitment from the school district to provide a teacher.

USF and district officials say both impressions are false.

At the request of William Heller, dean of USF's St. Petersburg campus, the funding request was yanked from Thursday's Juvenile Welfare Board meeting. His letter said the "proposal has not yet received full review by the university."

School district officials said they had several meetings with program founders but never received a formal application or committed funding. In a memo to School Board members, board attorney John Bowen said they should steer clear of a program that sounds just like the academy's failed charter school application.

"This was seeking to circumvent the problems they faced with the charter school application," Bowen said. "The statement that there is a commitment is totally false."

The National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement applied last year to open the Marcus Garvey Academy for 45 African-American students. School Board members turned down the request because the academy would be all black, which violates required race ratios in schools through 2007.

Academy founders have appealed the district's decision, saying they were treated unfairly. Amina Camara, the academy's administrator, said the founders decided to pursue a dropout prevention program as an interim solution while the charter dispute continues.

The Marcus Garvey Academy dropout prevention program would be for 32 fourth- and fifth-graders. The students would attend the school both years then attend public middle schools. Like that of the charter school, the curriculum would include African studies.

One key difference between the charter and the dropout prevention program: Dropout prevention programs do not have to adhere to race ratios.

Founders asked the Juvenile Welfare Board for $54,483 this year, plus $163,448 a year for three to five years. They told the board that they would seek $252,607 per year from the school district.

Dee Burns, the district's director of dropout prevention programs, met several months ago with the academy and even visited the Uhuru House, where an after-school tutoring program is held. When she didn't hear from the group again, she thought the proposal was dead.

This week, Superintendent Howard Hinesley, a Juvenile Welfare Board member, saw the funding request on the agenda. He asked Bowen to research the matter and asked the board to pull the item from the agenda.

Camara said she did not know Heller had questions about the program; she thought it already had his support.

She said Doug Tuthill, who works for the university's urban initiative program, prepared the application. She said she thought the district had already gotten a copy, adding that she knew money had not been allocated by the School Board.

"We knew that we had to go before both JWB and the School Board as far as the funding," Camara said. "We felt pretty confident."

Tuthill did not return calls.

James Mills, Juvenile Welfare Board executive director, said the application indicated that both USF and the school district already had committed to the plan. He found out this week that Heller had not even seen the application.

Mills said he had no reason to doubt what he read because the board already has a good working relationship with USF and the district.

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