Admissions Lottery Planned for Winthrop Charter Schools USA Site

The Bridges was packed to over-capacity for the second of two information sessions hosted by Charter Schools USA since the announcement of the Winthrop Charter School set to open in time for the 2011-12 school year.

Hundreds of parents, many with kids in tow, attended the March 22 meeting, prompting Rebecca Dinda, director of education for Charter Schools USA, to say selection by lottery is forthcoming for the upcoming school slated for 640 students in kindergarten through grade 6.

As of March 22, there were 608 applicants, Dinda said, and hundreds more were expected in light of the crowd in attendance at The Bridges retirement and assisted-living facility across the street from the Winthrop Town development.

The was held March 8 at the Barn Theatre at Winthrop.

The charter school is under construction there, behind the Publix grocery store in the Winthrop Town Centre shopping plaza, at the corner of Blooomingdale Avenue and Providence Road.

“We’re going to a lottery with this school, I can tell you that,” Dinda said, “just with the amount of people here tonight and the amount of people signing up” after the first information meeting, held March 8 at the Barn Theatre at Winthrop.

The computerized lottery will select students by random and is expected to start May 1, with selections chosen by May 15, said curriculum resource teacher Pat Hampton. Preference will be given to active military and families with multiple children, if one child gets in. The children of employees will be given preference as well.

Dinda told the attendees not to give up hope if their children don’t get selected in the lottery. 

“People pull out up until the first day of school,” Dinda said. “So don’t lose hope if you’re on the [waiting] list.”

As Dinda put it: People “are putting [their] kids in a place that doesn’t exist right now and it’s a big change.”

The second of two Charter Schools USA offerings in the Tampa Bay area is scheduled to open in Temple Terrace, also for the new school year.

The data-driven, research-based school, with an emphasis on rigor and all children reading by the end of kindergarten, will operate as a charter school under the auspices and oversight of the Hillsborough County School District.

“It is a very aggressive program,” said Darlene Wykert, a charter Schools USA administrator. “We have high expectations. We believe success breeds success.”

As a district school, but with its own board, curriculum and instructional initiatives, the Winthrop School will adhere to all state testing requirements, including the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).

“We do believe in the FCAT, we believe in the accountability,” Wykert said of Charter Schools USA, whose president and chief executive officer is Jonathan Hage, who assisted in the early development of Florida’s first charter school, the Liberty City Charter School, a collaboration between Jeb Bush and T. Willard Fair, president of the Miami Urban League.

FCAT was instituted when Bush was governor of the state.

Stacey Regan said she attended the meeting to see if the school would be a good fit for her son.

“My interest has been peaked for sure,” she said. “I like that it seems like it has more individualized instruction. I like the idea of a lot of parent involvement.”

Any concerns?

“Just that fact that it’s a first-year, growing program,” Regan said. “Some of the sport and electives in the beginning, you’re going to miss some of that the first year.”

Dinda said clubs and sports and electives are determined by the makeup and interests of each school’s student body. Wykert said there are 23 Charter Schools USA programs on 20 campuses enrolling some 18,000 students in two states, Florida and Georgia. A school in Louisiana is set to open with the new school year.

Some additional points covered at the March 22 meeting:

• Teacher-student ratios, on average, will be 1 to 18 in kindergarten through grade 2; 1 to 22 in grades 3-5 and 1 to 25 in grade 6.

• The school will open for the 2011-12 school year for kindergarten through grade 6, but will expand to grade 8 in its second year.

• Employment for teachers is set to begin and the hiring process will involve a three-tiered process: teachers interviewing teachers, principals interviewing teachers and the executive level interviewing teachers.

• Smart-boards, laptops and a mobile computer lab will supplement in-classroom libraries. The media center “will be a place to do research [and where we’ll] place additional books,” Dida said.

• The school will follow the Hillsborough County School District’s student academic calendar.

• Hours of operation: Drop-off at 7:45 a.m.; first bell, 8 a.m. sharp; dismissal, 3 p.m.; before-school care will start at 7 a.m. and after-school care will end at 6 p.m. Changes in hours are possible given such things as the traffic patterns in the area, Dida said.

• The school is based in good part on the work of Robert J. Marzano, and his nine “high-yield instructional strategies.” Also a stated influence, the work of Howard Gardner, and his work in defining “multiple intelligences.”

• Students do compete, Wykert said, but “celebrations” are based on each child’s success based on the expectations for that child.

Other useful information:

• While in the Greater Brandon area, with a Riverview address, the school, like any school chartered by the Hillsborough County School District, is a school of choice, open for enrollment to any student in the county.

• A charter school follows state and school district requirements for such things as conduct, assessment, teaching and instruction. A charter school is a tuition-free public school of choice governed independently but under the oversight of the school district.

• The building will comprise a 2.25-acre campus, south of the Winthrop Town Centre’s Publix anchor. A site permit for the 50,000- square-foot building was approved by Hillsborough County Planning and Growth Management on Feb. 17, according to Winthrop Town Founder John Sullivan.
• Application forms for the school are online at theWinthrop Charter School Web site.

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