Northpinellas: Leader: Push for charter school goes on

OLDSMAR -- A legal objection to the city of Oldsmar's proposed charter school caught city officials by surprise last week, but the project's chief supporter said he plans to continue trying to create a middle school for the city.

"I won't take one shot at it and miss and then forget about it," Council member Ed Manny said. "That's not my style. If it doesn't fly, we'll just have to try again."

City Council members were notified last week that NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney Enrique Escarraz objected to the proposal because Oldsmar's application did not specifically guarantee to abide by a recent settlement of Pinellas County's long-running school desegregation lawsuit. The settlement requires race ratios in every school.

"We are amazed that we would be cited for not saying that we will follow a court order," said Manny, who spearheaded the proposal. "I can't imagine that any of us would even consider not doing that. It's not only a court order, but a moral law as well."

Escarraz's position guarantees an uphill struggle for the city.

If the School Board approves the application despite the objection, the settlement requires that the matter be resolved by a negotiation process that could end in a formal hearing.

"I take a very careful look at charter schools because there is so much potential for abuse, bias and prejudice against my clients," Escarraz said. "From my standpoint as an attorney, I want to make sure (charter schools) do right by my clients." One of the key concepts of the Oldsmar Charter Middle School is that it would give enrollment priority to students who live in the city, which has few minority residents. That could pave the way for a school that lacked racial diversity, Escarraz said.

School Board attorneys also have some concerns with the proposed priority for Oldsmar children.

"If they are drawing a line with the city limits . . . that may not be appropriate under state law," said Jim Scaggs, assistant School Board attorney. "It just looks like it is organized to defeat diversity, and once you start doing that in districts like ours, then you really have problems. I don't think Oldsmar intended to do that, but it could be an unintended result."

Last year, charter school applicants were able to make changes up until days before the board voted. But board members decided to end that practice this year.

Instead, applicants were given the chance to receive technical advice from school district officials before they turned in their applications.

Oldsmar officials met with Superintendent Howard Hinesley and Steve Swartzel, who handles charter school applications for the district, but those discussions were mainly about the proposed school building.

"Oldsmar chose not to use the technical assistance that we offered," Scaggs said. "They submitted the application, and said, "Now we want to talk to you,' and the board told us not to do that."

Manny said the city was unaware that it could meet with the district staff before turning in the application.

"We never had the opportunity, to my knowledge," Manny said. "You would almost have to be invited to meet with them. We have done everything that we could think of to do without going in to find out what their hot buttons are, and to me, that's what they are."

District officials are in the process of reviewing the city's application along with four others and will send their findings to Hinesley, who will submit his recommendation to the School Board. The board is scheduled to consider the applications on Dec. 12.

Escarraz has objected to four of the five groups that applied to open a charter school in August.

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

The city's hurdles may not end with Escarraz's objections.

Plans for the Oldsmar charter school call for students to maintain a 2.5 grade point average or higher. Parents also will be encouraged to attend all meetings and conferences. Failure to meet either requirement, according to the plan, may jeopardize the student's enrollment.

But those stipulations may not be allowed, Scaggs said.

"They can't just expel kids," Scaggs said. "You have to use our code of student conduct on how to dismiss students."

Further complicating matters is the competition for a district-owned vacant building that the city proposes to use for its 360-student charter school. The city has requested leasing the former Oldsmar Community School building on 300 St. Petersburg Drive W for $1 a year for five years.

But another charter school applicant, the Love of Learning school, has requested the same building for its home. The Love of Learning school would be for emotionally mature and creative students in grades 4-6.

Unfortunately for the city, Escarraz did not object to the Love of Learning application.

"They seemed to say three or four times in their application that they would do whatever is needed under the court order," Escarraz said. "I did not have any reason to object."

According to the city's application, Oldsmar's charter school would have an emphasis on fine arts that would allow students to participate in different levels of band, chorus, hand bells, dance, theater, painting, clay sculpting and other courses. The school also would feature a student-to-teacher ratio of 20-to-1.

Although the school would be financed by public money -- about $3,400 per student -- the city's coffers would not be used, Manny said.

If the School Board denies the city's application, Oldsmar can appeal the decision to the state or it can reapply next year after making any necessary improvements.

That's exactly what the city would do, if Manny has anything to say about it.

Manny said that perhaps the city could have come up with a better application if there had been more time. City Council members began discussing the plans for a charter school in July and wanted to submit the application this year so the school could open in August.

"We put this thing together in a hurry, and we just did the best we could," Manny said. "If we could have had six months more, we probably could have done a better job."

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

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