Enrollment for Winthrop Charter Schools USA Site Under Way; Info Session Set for March 22

 Parents can learn more about the upcoming tuition-free Winthrop Charter School opening this year in the Winthrop Town development at and information session scheduled March 22 at The Bridges in Riverview.

Application forms for the school are online at the Winthrop Charter School Web site. The enrollment information session is scheduled for March 22 at 6 p.m. at The Bridges at 11202 Dewhurst Drive in Riverview (across the street from the Barn Theatre at Winthorp at 11349 Bloomingdale Avenue).

The school is set to open in time for the 2011-12 school year across the street in the Winthrop Town community, at the corner of Bloomingdale Avenue and Providence Road.

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.

The school is an offering of Charter Schools USA, billed as “one of the largest providers of charter school management services in the nation.” It will serve students in kindergarten through grade 8.

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.

From the school’s Web site comes the following information about the Winthrop Charter School’s mission:

• "The Winthrop Charter School will provide students with the necessary tools and skills needed to develop superior levels of achievement. We strive for academic, social and physical excellence by providing a quality and challenging curriculum.

• "We promote positive moral and social values, foster an atmosphere of self-discipline in a safe learning environment, and maximize individual productivity to meet the needs of a changing global society.

• "Winthrop Charter School students will be able to maximize their potential for successfully ascertaining their goals with confidence and intrinsic motivation, thereby enabling each student to become a lifelong learner and strong functional contributor to their local community as well as their global community."