Charter school idea takes shape

Heeding parents' pleas for a middle school, the City Council has approved a study of the venture. An empty building adjacent to Oldsmar Elementary may house the school.

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 16, 2000

OLDSMAR -- A city-run charter middle school has been deemed innovative, responsive and doable.

The City Council in Oldsmar has agreed to move forward with a study of such a school. Council member Ed Manny, who introduced the charter school proposal, will convene a committee and present a conceptual proposal by early September.

The school, if opened, would primarily serve students in this North Pinellas community. But some accommodations might be made for Hillsborough students as well.

For years, Manny said, Oldsmar parents have pleaded for a middle school closer than Joseph L. Carwise Middle School in Palm Harbor.

Pinellas County School Board member Susan Latvala said she, too, has heard from Oldsmar residents about the desire for an Oldsmar middle school, and she's all for it. "It's an opportunity to come forward and show strong support for the school," Latvala said.

Sometimes called "schools without rules," charter schools are free of many state regulations, said Cathy Wooley-Brown, the state's charter school coordinator.

"Charter schools are really an effort to reform education," Wooley-Brown told Oldsmar officials Tuesday. They are operated under a performance contract with the school district. If they don't perform, they are closed.

City-run charter schools are not unprecedented, Wooley-Brown said. In such cases, city leaders enjoy full contractual and budgetary autonomy over the school. Revenues come in the form of state allocations of $3,400 per student.

One question in Oldsmar's bid for a charter school may be whether the school district is willing to lease the city its empty building next to Oldsmar Elementary School on Dartmouth Avenue, previously home to an adult community education center and an elementary school.

Latvala said the building is available and that the district has no immediate plan for it. But it is unclear if Oldsmar can secure a long-term lease.

Latvala said the capacity for the abandoned school was 600 elementary school students. Although far fewer middle school students could be accommodated there, she said, it could easily handle 350 middle school students.

Most charter schools in the state have waiting lists. If the school could not accommodate all the Oldsmar applicants, she said, spots would be filled by lottery.

The city would have to have an approved application by Oct. 1 to open by the fall of 2001.

- Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or at farley@sptimes.com.

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