Sarasota will expand Wilkinson Elementary, one of its half-empty elementary schools, instead of closing it down, said school district superintendent Terry Connor on Monday.
"I felt it was really important to tell you face to face that Wilkinson is going to be fine," Connor told dozens of parents who gathered at the elementary school for a 4:30 p.m. meeting.
Rather than repurposing it into a magnet or closing it, "Wilkinson will remain a neighborhood school," he said. To grow its enrollment, the district will expand it to a K-8 in the next three years.
Some wiped away tears, some applauded and breathed a sigh of relief on hearing the news that their beloved neighborhood public school would survive after all.
"What an emotional roller coaster, but this is the best news we could have asked for. We get more kids. We get more funding. We get more possibilities," said Jody Osceola, a mother of three who has lobbied to save the school.
Many parents live nearby and walk their kids to school, she said.
"We all know each other. We meal plan together. We study together. We go to McDonald's together. We babysit together. We figure out math problems together. We share clothes. 'Oh, your kid's out of that? Perfect!' That's how we are here," Osceola explained.
About six weeks ago, the elementary school became a target for possible closing. Its enrollment of 391 students leaves room for almost 400 more in its hallways and classrooms, a district spokewoman said.
Wilkinson Elementary was not one of three Sarasota schools to get a notice from a Miami-based charter, Mater Academy, that it intends to move into its unused space. Those were Booker Elementary, Oak Park and Brookside Middle.
But Wilkinson got caught up in the district's scrambling to prevent any takeover by what's known as a School of Hope charter. The Florida legislature has expanded the scope of that program to include not just under-performing schools, but any public school with available space.
Since Wilkinson is operating at half capacity, the district briefly considered funneling Wilkinson students to nearby schools. But on Monday night, Connor said that expanding to a K-8 should solve the problem, and the school could expect to get close to 80 percent capacity in the next few years.
"I've really got to give kudos to the Florida Department of Education and our operations team, walking these facilities and really with accuracy, creating a scenario that really does push that that utilization to a number that I feel is going to be protective of our schools," Connor said.
Connor said he could not rule out that a Schools of Hope operator could still make a bid for setting up inside a Sarasota public schools, and cautioned that the Wilkinson idea is still a proposal until first the school board signs off, and then the state department of education.
"Our legislators have heard us loud and clear," Connor said. "What that will entail in the future is, you know, we'll see, but I will tell you they are listening to us."
Connor said he would present the entire district plan to the school board Nov. 4.
"But the fight is not over in terms of just making sure people know the great things that are happening in our schools," he added.
Wilkinson is the only public school in Sarasota County that holds national STEM certification. It has a C grade in the district.
Brandy Krasinski has a fourth grader at Wilkinson Elementary and was among the moms who rallied to save the school from a charter school takeover.
"I think not just Wilkinson moms, but all of our parents around this county, we're really trying to stand up and say, 'Hey, we don't need you. We don't want you here. We love our public schools,'" she said.
Last week, speaking in Sarasota, Gov. Ron DeSantis brushed aside criticism of the Schools of Hope law by those who say it will harm existing public schools.
“I don’t think that that’s true,” DeSantis said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The governor said the goal of expanding Schools of Hope is to “attract charter operators in areas that are very poor performing and one of the aspects of that was there’s excess space in the school buildings that the charter operator could use that excess space and then do a program.”
Mater Academy, the school that sent dozens of notice letters to schools in the Tampa Bay region this month, has not responded to a request for comment.
At Wilkinson Elementary's Fall Festival at the school Friday night, Dominic Arias, a freshman at Suncoast Polytechnical High School, waited in line to enter, along with his parents and younger sister, who attends Wilkinson.
His family has experienced this whole saga firsthand. Last week, the district floated the idea of moving Suncoast Poly to Brookside, to make up for the extra space, but abandoned the idea after outcry from students and parents.
"I feel like the school board should take more into account the opinion of the students, " Arias said. "And I also feel like what Schools of Hope is trying to do, taking over our schools, it's not morally correct, even though it is legal."
