Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor has unveiled a plan to fortify an elementary school in the historically Black neighborhood of Newtown against a possible takeover by a charter school.
The idea is to partner with Junior Achievement, a national nonprofit organization that specializes in youth financial literacy, and build a new center at Booker Elementary, where kids can learn business and money skills.
The school is operating at 45% of capacity, Connor told several dozen people — including parents, teachers, community members and children — at a meeting at nearby Booker Middle School on Tuesday.
That’s why Booker Elementary was among three schools in the county to receive notices from Mater Academy, a charter school chain based in Miami, saying it intends to set up its own school in that empty space.
The practice is allowed by a Florida law that expanded the definition of Schools of Hope to include not just low-performing schools but any public school with extra space.
“Knowing that 55% of that facility is underutilized, what partnership can we put in place to not only protect the school from this outside influence, but offer something that's an awesome opportunity?” Connor asked.
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Tampa and other districts around the country have a Junior Achievement center known as JA Biztown, which is a simulation of a city and businesses that allow children to role-play various jobs in a real-world scenario.
Connor said working with JA to build something like that at Booker Elementary would enhance “the educational experience of not only the students at Emma E. Booker, who are going to get a fantastic experience in connection to a partnership, but be an example to schools — and actually a focal point of our county — where people will come and visit in the Emma E. Booker to participate in an experience that they can't get just around the corner.”
Other ideas that Connor mentioned at the meeting include leasing space to a child care center in some of the vacant spaces at Booker Elementary or Booker Middle, which he said is servicing only 41% of its capacity and leasing to Dreamers Academy, a Sarasota charter that focuses on dual language studies and immersion programs for grades K-5.
"We want to be in the driver's seat through this process. We want to create partnerships and opportunities that we feel are going to benefit our schools and our communities," said Connor.
After the meeting, some parents and teachers were optimistic that they might not lose their neighborhood schools as they had feared.
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“That part was a relief. That we do have a plan in place to save, you know, our schools and to utilize space where we are in control of the schools," said Raina Williams, who has a fifth-grader and a first-grader at Booker Elementary.
Ronnique Major, a fifth-grade teacher at Booker Elementary, said she appreciated the focus on financial literacy for students, “and to know that we're going to create people who have the ability to create another Black Wall Street,” she said.
“I want them to be fiscally responsible. I don't want them to become prey to predatory lenders. I want them to understand how to handle their business, what generational wealth looked like,” said Major, who was named the county's Teacher of the Year in 2024.
“I thought about when I was a little girl in Newtown, all the businesses that were Black-owned businesses. My grandfather owned a grocery store. And I remember in kindergarten, my mom would pull up in the parking lot. I'd get out, I'd run in, I'd say, ‘Hey, Granddad,’ and get a little bag, fill it with some cookies, and I'd leave,” she added.
The district said all the plans for repurposing vacant spaces in area schools will be released Friday on a district website.
Brookside Middle and Oak Park, a school for students with disabilities, also received notice letters from Mater Academy. The district has until late November to respond.
