By Tom St. Myer
The fate of Warrington Middle School will soon be determined. Escambia School Board Chairman Paul Fetsko said Friday, April 28, is the deadline for the school district to finalize a contract with Charter Schools USA. The self-imposed deadline is to ensure they present a signed contract to the Department of Education by May 1.
Fetsko and Superintendent Tim Smith traveled to Tallahassee and spoke at the State Board of Education Meeting on April 19. The Department of Education requested their presence to update the state on contract negotiations with Charter USA. Fetsko and Smith detailed how Charter USA changed its proposed plan and the school district wanted to renegotiate the terms before agreeing to a contract.
The education management company now proposes students in grades 6-8 who live in the Warrington school zone attend the charter school its first year. Charter USA then proposes adding K-5 the next year as a choice option, followed by choice options for ninth graders in Year 3 and 10th graders in Year 4. Ultimately, Warrington will be the only K-12 school in the county and the fourth magnet school. The proposal states Charter USA will no longer be mandated to accept zoned middle school students after the third year.
School board members insist that zoned middle students be allowed to attend Warrington throughout the partnership. Other areas of contention in the Charter USA proposal include paying the school district a mere $1 a year for the length of a 15-year contract and for the education management company to lease the facility for 30 years. The two sides originally agreed on a 7-year contract.
At the meeting Wednesday, state officials sided with Charter Schools USA and criticized the school district for failing the Warrington students. Florida Board of Education Vice Chair Ryan Petty cited a visit he made to Warrington. Petty said he sat in an eighth-grade math classroom with algebra books sitting on a shelf while the teacher taught students basic arithmetic.
“We have been failing these students for more than a decade,” Petty said. “What I don’t hear from either of you is a sense of urgency. These kids deserve better. This school needs to be fixed. This board is out of patience with the Escambia County School District.”
The Florida State Board of Education ordered that Warrington either close or transition to a charter school by the 2023-24 school year. The order came after Warrington earned yet another D this past school for its ninth consecutive grade of a D or F. Warrington last earned a C in the 2010-11 school year.
Fetsko took exception to the two governing bodies placing all the blame on the school district.
“For the last eight years, the State Board of Education and the Department of Education have had the authority, power and control,” he said. “And they still refuse to take responsibility for their initiatives, their requirements and their directives not working.”
State officials said they will take action May 2 if the school district and Charter USA fail to agree to terms. What action is unclear, but Fetsko logically concluded the governing bodies would either take over the school or order its closure.
Fetkso said of negotiations with Charter USA, “the ball is in their court, but the officials are on their side.”