Former Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. shared during a visit to Inweekly offices yesterday that he believes Warrington Preparatory Academy may win its appeal and have its school grade changed from a “D” to a “C.” The issue is “tie-back” students that are actually in alternative education programs but were assigned to the charter middle school.
BACKGROUND: The Florida Department of Education forced the Escambia County School Board to either convert Warrington Middle School to a charter school or close it after the school received one “F” and several “D” grades from 2013 to 2022. Diaz kept pressure on the board to make the change. Charter Schools USA signed a contract and created Warrington Preparatory Academy, which opened its doors for the first time in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the charter school in April 2024. He criticized the school board for dragging its feet in converting the failing Warrington Middle School to a charter school. The governor highlighted the part of HB 1285 regarding the school turnaround plans.
- “Most people know that if you receive two straight Ds or Fs on your school grade, then you are put into something called’ turnaround status.’ And that means that the school district has two years to implement a plan for improvement,” said the governor. “Now, that did not work here in Escambia County with this school when this happened, and this has happened over a number of years.”
DeSantis added, “If you know something’s not working, we have a responsibility to act and act quickly. We shouldn’t be dragging our feet. They shouldn’t be taking years and years. You act, and you remediate, and that’s what this bill’s doing.”
Challenges
In 2023, Warrington Prep faced several challenges its first as it less than three months to get the school ready for its first day of school. Challenges included upgrading facilities, hiring faculty and recruiting students.
Last December, Charter Schools USA announced plans to expand to high school over the next four years.
“What we realized this year is that our sixth-grade class was low. We had about 148 students. The previous year, last year we had 200,” said Charter Schools USA State Superintendent Eddie Ruiz. “We did some research early on and started asking what the high schools around here are offering. What are their academics? What are their career programs?”
This is a developing story. I hope to have more information on this soon.
