Charter school plans laid out

The county receives five applications, the same number as last year, some from the same groups.

By KELLY RYAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 3, 2000

LARGO -- The Pinellas School District on Monday received five charter school applications, including one from the city of Oldsmar to run a middle school with a fine arts focus.

Applications were due Monday for groups that want to open new schools by fall 2001. The number of applications turned in by the 4:30 p.m. deadline matched the record number of applications the district received last year.

Charters are operated by private groups but receive public money, so they are considered public schools. Through 2007, the school district will be bound by a negotiated settlement to end court-ordered busing for desegregation. The settlement limits the size and racial makeup of charter schools.

Pinellas County now has three charter schools: the Athenian Academy and Acadamie Da Vinci in Dunedin and Whole Child at UPARC in Clearwater.

Of the five applications to open charter schools last year, four were turned down or withdrawn, and one, Bay Village Center for Education, is proceeding forward. A charter has been negotiated for Bay Village to open in fall 2001, and the board will consider it next month.

Charter school applicants go through a two-step approval process. Two months after the applications are turned in, the School Board decides whether to approve the application. Charter applications likely will be considered at the board's Dec. 12 meeting.

If an application is approved, the district staff has six months to negotiate a charter.

This year's applicants are:

Oldsmar, which wants to run a 360-student middle school at the former Community School of Oldsmar, 300 St. Petersburg Drive W.

The not-for-profit school would feature astudent-teacher ratio of 20-to-1, with an emphasis on enrolling sixth-, seventh- and eight-graders who live in the city limits. The principal would be considered a city department head and would report directly to the city manager.

The Marcus Garvey Academy, whose application was turned down last year, has reapplied. The application was turned down because the school, run by the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement at 1245 18th Ave. S in St. Petersburg, would have violated a federally required cap on African-American student enrollment.

This year's application includes drop-out prevention and an African heritage curriculum for 20 fourth-graders and 20 fifth-graders. Though the application says the school would be open to anyone, priority would be given to students who live in predominantly African-American neighborhoods in the 2 miles surrounding the school.

The application says the school would abide by the federal court order, though it acknowledges the school likely would be mostly black. A predominantly black school would violate the court order.

The Love of Learning school, which withdrew its application last year, has reapplied. The school for emotionally mature and creative students would be for grades 4 through 8, though initially the school would serve 50 students each in grades 4, 5 and 6.

The school's dean would be Terry Schlesinger, a third-grade teacher at Ridgecrest Elementary School. The school does not have a permanent site, though it would like to use the former community school in Oldsmar, which the city also wants to use.

The Coconut Grove-based Chancellor Charter Schools wants two 600-pupil elementary schools. The schools would offer basic academic courses, with character education and six computers in each classroom.

The Learning Excellence Foundation of Pinellas County, as the group would be called locally, does not have specific locations, but is looking for property in Palm Harbor and Pinellas Park. The application does not indicate that the school has any local support or ties.

The Richard Milburn Academy in Salem, Mass., is seeking a charter for two schools for at-risk high school students, ages 13 to 20. The proposal includes traditional academic instruction, plus courses in life skills and vocational training.

The academy wants to open in two locations, though no specific addresses were provided. Like the Learning Excellence Foundation, the application does not involve Pinellas County residents.

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