Northpinellas: 2 groups vie to use old school

OLDSMAR -- The clamor of children's voices no longer fills the hallways and classrooms of the plain, light blue building known as the former Oldsmar Community School.

Built in 1971, the building served as a grade school and then an adult education center until about three years ago, when the Pinellas County school district closed it to save money. Since then, the building on Chestnut Street and St. Petersburg Drive has been vacant and largely forgotten.

That could change soon.

The building last week became an important piece of two competing plans to open a charter school in Oldsmar. The proposals mark the first time in Pinellas County that two groups have requested to use the same school district property for a charter school.

The city of Oldsmar and a group wanting to open the Love of Learning school both submitted applications requesting to use the same vacant building for a charter middle school. Both applications still have to go through the district's approval process, but if the two survive, the Pinellas School Board could face having to choose between the plans.

"I wish them all the luck, but I don't want them to have all the luck down here," said City Council member Ed Manny, who started the city's effort for its own middle school. "It would be nicer if they decided to go somewhere else."

Charter schools typically are operated by private groups but are considered public schools because they receive public money. The same state legislation that allows private groups to operate charter schools through agreements with school districts, also gives local governments the same opportunity.

The school district and Superintendent Howard Hinesley will review the proposals along with the three other applications turned in last week. Hinesley will submit recommendations to the School Board, which must vote on the application within 60 days of its submission.

When asked what would happen if both applications survive the review process, Steve Swartzel, who handles charter school applications for the district, said that would be unfamiliar territory.

"I can't even begin to guess the outcome of that," said Swartzel, the school district's director of governmental services. "This is unique to have two applicants on their own just turn in applications asking to use the same facility. It's brand new to us in Pinellas."

Currently, there are three charter schools in Pinellas County: the Athenian Academy and Acadamie Da Vinci in Dunedin and Whole Child at UPARC in Clearwater.

The Love of Learning school, which withdrew its application last year, would be a school for emotionally mature and creative students in grades 4, 5 and 6. The school is proposing to have 50 students in each of the three grades and eventually expand to include seventh and eighth graders.

"We believe in what we are doing so we are convinced that it will be successful," said Ronald Lipton, chairman of the school's board. "Teachers will be encouraged to run class differently so the creativity is laid on top of the basic requirements."

Lipton said the organizing board of the school was attracted to Oldsmar because of the empty building. About a month ago, Lipton met with Manny and City Manager Bruce Haddock to see if the two groups could join forces instead of competing for the same property.

"They said they would get back to me and they didn't," Lipton said. "I just figured if we both want the same building, we ought to try to have a partnership. I would have liked to have worked together with them so it didn't put the School Board in a bad place and by "bad place' I mean putting them in a position to make a decision they shouldn't have had to make."

Manny said the city was not interested in a partnership because the two proposed charter schools would have little in common. The city is proposing a middle school with 360 students and a fine arts emphasis.

"They are just looking at something entirely different and that's not to say that one is wrong and one is right," Manny said. "I'm sure what they have to offer is very good and there are probably a lot of parents who would like to be involved with that. It was just we didn't feel that we were talking apples to apples."

Lipton said the Love of Learning board is willing to change the proposed site of the school if another location becomes available.

"If someone gave us a building in Largo, I don't think we would have a problem with that," Lipton said. "It is what works best with the kids, everything else is flexible."

But the two could be competing for more than just the building, said School Board member Susan Latvala. Earlier this year, the School Board signed an agreement with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund limiting the number of students allowed to attend charter schools.

"This is much more than the building," Latvala said. "We can probably have only one (charter) middle school north of Ulmerton Road. This will be interesting."

Oldsmar is the first municipality in Pinellas to submit an application for its own charter school. But it is not the first in the state. About a half-dozen governments have already started operating their own charter schools.

Oldsmar is proposing to lease the building for $1 a year from the district for three to five years. After that, the city would build its own charter school.

There were five applications to open charter schools last year, but four were turned down or withdrawn. A charter has been negotiated for the Bay Village Center for Education, and the board will consider it later this year.

Latvala, who also is a member of a state panel that reviews charter schools, said the vacant building in Oldsmar would benefit if it were filled once again with students.

"We don't have any justification for not letting them use it," Latvala said. "It's just been sitting there empty, which is not good for the building, and it's a shame if it isn't used for something."

- Staff writer Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or at quioco@sptimes.com.

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