By Tom St. Myer
Blindsided by proposals never previously mentioned by Charter Schools USA, Escambia County Public Schools is searching for remedies to salvage a contentious relationship and keep the doors open at Warrington Middle School.
“Where it stands at this point is we need to have a final decision from Charter Schools USA about what is their bottom line and how that compares to our bottom line,” School Board member Paul Fetsko said. “Every time they’ve sent a document it’s had surprises, and the surprises have been more surprising each time.”
Fetsko and Superintendent Tim Smith travel to Tallahassee to speak at the State Board of Education Meeting Wednesday. The Department of Education requested their presence to update the state on contract negotiations with Charter USA. Fetsko and Smith will meet afterward with DOE Senior Chancellor Adam Miller. There will be plenty for them to share with state officials.
“We want a partnership with Charter Schools USA,” Smith said. “This is an agreement we just have to negotiate through and come to a fair and balanced deal that anybody looks for in an agreement.”
Charter USA submitted a proposal to the school district last week that veers from the original K-8 plan. 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. The proposal calls for Charter USA to no longer be mandated to accept zoned middle school students after the third year. Escambia Public Schools has insisted on zoned middle students being allowed to attend Warrington throughout the partnership.
The Charter USA proposal also included 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. That proposal puts the school district at risk of paying millions of dollars in the future for a facility that someone else controls.
“If at any point they decide to discontinue the charter, then the district must assume any debt that was made in regard to facilities,” Fetsko said.
Charter USA officials already informed the school district they plan to erect another facility on the site. The potential exists for the school district to someday inherit an unusable facility. The school district is required to build facilities to State Requirements for Educational Facilities (SREF) standards. The same SREF standards do not apply to Charter USA.
One potential remedy for the school district was to simply walk away from Charter USA, let Warrington close and rezone the students to Bailey and Workman middle schools. The DOE shot down that option telling the school district they should have chosen that route instead of opting for a charter school, according to the district’s general counsel, Ellen Odom.
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. School officials said Warrington was on the verge of earning a C in 2019-20, but no grade was awarded due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Smith vehemently opposes closing Warrington primarily due to geographic implications.
“Having a complete closure with no school in Warrington is a big problem,” Smith said. “It’s a problem where we would have to put students on a bus at a couple of locations, one location isn’t too far away but another is farther away and a significant drive.”
The school district is putting measures in place just in case of a closure. Those measures include determining where to rezone the current Warrington Middle School students and the bus routes from Warrington to Bailey and Workman middle schools.
“We’re in the process of positioning because at the end of the road if that’s what happens and we have to close, we have to move quickly and be prepared,” Smith said.