Newberry City Commission partners with Education First for Newberry to operate charter school, Naturals players and parents continue to speak up
BY DAVID LIGHTMAN
NEWBERRY, Fla. – At their May 13 Regular Meeting, the Newberry City Commission agreed to have staff assist Education First for Newberry with preparing the Newberry Elementary charter school application and other matters associated with planning to operate the school. Many members of the Naturals baseball organization again showed up to ask the City Commission to let them keep using their training facility.
NC Ranch
The first public hearing item on the agenda was a second reading of a zoning ordinance for the 1,293-acre NC Ranch Planned Development, one of the final steps before construction can begin. Staff announced that the second reading of the zoning ordinance was being moved to the next Commission meeting on May 28 because Tripp Norfleet, the developer, would like all the principal parties to be present.
Golf cart ordinance
The next item was a second reading of a Golf Cart Ordinance, bringing local laws into compliance with new State standards established in 2023. Commissioner Monty Farnsworth made a motion to pass the ordinance, and Commissioner Tim Marden seconded the motion. In response to a question from Commissioner Tony Mazon, Principal Planner Jean-Paul Perez said golf carts can operate on City roads but cannot legally cross a State road such as Newberry Road or State Road 27 without a crossing approved for golf carts. Mayor Jordan Marlowe added, “We are working on getting those.” The motion passed unanimously.
Highland Park
The third item was a resolution approving the construction plans for the commercial portion of the 128-acre Highland Park Planned Development, located across from the new Publix near the intersection of Newberry Road and SW 242nd Terrace. The 7.2-acre parcel may contain a Wawa, O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, Culver’s, and McDonald’s, among other possible businesses. City Manager Mike New apologized (the developer had traveled from Texas) but said they needed to postpone the hearing until May 28 because City staff were still working on some aspects of the plan.
Commissioner Rick Coleman made a motion to continue the Highland Park hearing to May 28, and Farnsworth seconded the motion. The developer spoke briefly, emphasizing the quality and desirability of the tenants. The motion passed unanimously.
Newberry charter school conversion
Chelsea Leming said she is a parent at Newberry Elementary School (NES) and a board member of Education First for Newberry (EFN), the nonprofit that has been coordinating the initiative to convert some Newberry schools to community-led public charter schools. Leming said, “As the Florida Department of Education has indicated, Newberry Elementary School has, in fact, met the statutory standard of 50% of the teacher vote and can move forward with our application. We are disappointed that Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) chose to announce the NES results hastily when all parties knew it was being contested. We know this has led to some confusion among parents and the public. We’ll do our best to communicate this now-final outcome to the school stakeholders, and we hope that ACPS will partner with us to ensure administrators, staff, teachers, and parents have the correct information. We’re now focused on making the application process comprehensive and excellent to ensure Newberry Elementary School can be the very best that it can be for all of our students, teachers, staff, and administrators… We would request that the Commission and the City work with us to take the important first step of naming a governing board for the new 501(c)(3) charter holding entity.”
Commissioner Marden asked how long it will take to complete the application and send it to the State board. Another member of EFN said the time frame for the entire application process is 7 to 9 months, but they hope to complete some of the next steps in a matter of weeks.
Motion
Mayor Marlowe suggested a motion to direct City staff to work with EFN to “take all the necessary steps to move forward filling out that application.” Commissioner Coleman made the motion, and Commissioner Mazon seconded it.
City Attorney Scott Walker read the full recommended motion prepared by staff, which specifies that staff shall assist in establishing the governing board, develop short-term and long-term operating agreements with EFN, assist in hiring staff, and assist with developing a budget. Coleman and Mazon agreed that was their motion.
Brandy Oldman of Save Our Schools Newberry, a group against the charter school conversion, said the vote did not pass according to State rules, and Mayor Marlowe disagreed. She said, “See you on the 20th.”
The motion passed unanimously.
Naturals baseball club
Once again, dozens of members of the Naturals baseball club and their coaches came to show their support for keeping the ProBall Academy park as their training facility. The club has been notified that they are being evicted from the City-owned facility due to various legal and financial issues that have been unresolved for several years.
Essex Snead, the owner of the club, said he sees a lot of energy and excitement going into Newberry, but not into his club. He said the kids are citizens, too, and they deserve consideration. Snead said, “This program is really important. Not just to this area, but the whole community… We had a kid die last week.” He said the child’s parents posted lots of pictures of his “baseball family” because that was the most important thing to him. He called a young girl in a baseball uniform to the podium and said, “Are ya’ll gonna put her out?”
A parent said that even during off-season (in the summer) the club offers programs for the kids without any additional costs. He said, “They teach them how to play baseball, but they also teach them respect. I think this is a very valuable thing to have here in Newberry, and I hope you guys keep it for the future. Don’t let it go away.”
A young baseball player said, “This is just my life. It takes all the stress off me… It’s just my life. And this building is a big part of our facility.”
Derek Smith, a parent from Lake City, said a lot of families come to Newberry and spend money at local businesses because of the baseball organization.
Another young player said, “It’s life lessons. It’s not just baseball… You’re going to use this stuff throughout everything you’re going to be doing… It’s family. It’s friendship. And you’re going to take our home away.”
Announcements
During public announcements at the beginning of the meeting, Newberry Opioid Task Force Chair Naim Erched announced that the task force received a grant of $200,000 from a non-profit that will be used to help them with their work.
Erched also announced that the annual Newberry Watermelon Festival will take place this Saturday, May 18, at the Country Way Town Square. He said there will be a seed-spitting contest, a parade, a pet pageant, and other activities, and it will be a great family event.
More information can be found at https://newberrywatermelonfestival.com/
The attempted theft of a school will not stand.
It’s not theft.
The school will still get public funding and it will still be a county school.
State law allows for the parents and teachers to vote to convert the school to a charter school. This law has been around since 1996.
There are over 700 charter schools in Florida and 42 other states have them. It’s not a new concept.
What it does mean is the school will run under different management. The Alachua County School Board will not have control.
But they have a lot more control locally.
Local control is a bad idea, I don’t want my son’s school run by right wing, lying, anti-education nuts.
Persuasive argument -i’m sure that will sway some folks on the fence on this issue 🙄
Agreed. And I hope they don’t implement that PragerU garbag. My child will not be participating in whitewashed history, pseudoscience, and intelligent design.
City Commissioner Marden is a self announced officer in the John Birch Society, so I wouldn’t be looking for centrist curricula if he has much say. The JBS thinks the Civil War was Lincoln’s fault and just a big understanding. Not sure how they square that with 100 years of Jim Crow segregation, but hey, in Florida now, no one can feel bad about history!!
https://www.newberryfl.gov/directory-listing/tim-marden
You do realize that Jim Crow laws are a Democrat policy position? Just like the segregation the Democrats are pushing in our schools now.
You do understand they are required to continue to teach the same material as other schools?
They are not allowed to create their own manifest.
The Alachua school board has done nothing for Newberry schools. The citizens of Newberry should be thrilled that their elementary school will now be governed locally and with the best intentions. Other cities/towns in Alachua county should follow Newberry’s lead.
The school board, representing the citizens of Alachua County, built and has maintained Newberry Elementary. The county, not the city, owns it.
You are right. The county still owns it.
But it now has new management. But they are now accountable for academic and financial results.
Gosh, Jazz, it’s about local rights. 🙂
True enough, but schools in Florida – where counties run the schools – are more equitable than in many places where towns do. That is because within a county there is usually a wide disparity in incomes and therefore taxes between towns and neighborhoods, and school quality is closely associated with those factors.
Maybe they “don’t feeeel comfortable” having Big Maw McGraw, Rockhead, etc. in charge of their kids? Aren’t those still the magic words, Jazzman?
Equitable? In ACPS, the term “equitable” is used to limit the discipline numbers to the % of the student population from a “particular” group of students, while at the same time, calling for excessive money to be wasted on the same group because they are a certain % of the student population!
Nothing new in AC, business as usual with the current AC School Board members Certain, Rockwell, and McNealy!
Too bad these same AC School Board members will not allow the Superintendent (weak as he is) the authority to send the trouble makers packing to jail, they’ll be there soon enough anyway!
My use of that apparently triggering term went to disparities in resources based on where students in a county live.
Do you believe in Equity or Equality…. two different ends of the spectrum
Jazz, historically speaking, the idea of charter schools were designed to exactly that.
They were founded on the idea they should promote a more equitable outcome by addressing disparity within the community.
Especially, with those schools that are under performing, underfunded, and sometimes neglected.
Charter schools have a reputation for exceeding expectations and achieving excellence in student performance.
It really puts this in the hands of the teachers and parents. It puts the responsibility square on the community the schools serves.
If it doesn’t work the charter can be revoked after a period of years.
Please show me some data Thatguy, and remember that public schools have to accommodate various kinds of challenged kids which charter schools don’t.
Also, my point went to countywide funding rather than by towns and neighborhoods – which is common in some parts of the country – which results in disparities in resources depending on the town and neighborhood you live in.
Jazz, the data is easy to find. Just google history of charter schools. That’s where I found the information to post these comments.
You do realize the county will still fund these schools, right?
By being a Charter school they simply don’t have the bureaucracy of the school board managing them. They can focus on education and higher standards.
The people own the school. Not politicians distracted by trendy nonsense.
I would state that the citizens own the school, not the County school board.
The best intentions? They don’t have a curriculum available, no promises that ESE children will be able to attend, and a clear right-wing agenda. Of course you probably like that, good luck with the future of our country being full of idiots like you.
Actually, they are required to go by the same curriculum as every other school in the county. They have to meet or exceed state standards.
Just like any other school.
Wow Newberry parent. Are you woke? The schools are overcrowded and ACSB is not addressing this. Right wing agenda?? Go to your safe space and put the binky in. This issue is about the quality of education for our children. Period! You are what is wrong with this country and I for one will call you out with your liberal woke beliefs.
It’d be nice to know more details on what’s behind the baseball club drama. It says one sentence about that.
According to Mayor Marlowe during the meeting, they were supposed to pay the annual taxes due on the building instead of paying rent, and they didn’t do that.
Thank you. Seems to be a no brainer: charge the individual patrons fees enough to cover the annual tax.
Where are all the parents who wanted the charter school? If overcrowding was an issue, why are you not going to the commission to oppose approval of all the new developments? You want to complain about resources and overcrowding BUT you still support a commission that is bought and paid for by developers who can get anything and everything approved adding to the problem. If you want a solution – start with your COMMISSION and tell them to STOP the overdevelopment. IF you truly care enough about your kids and community that you want to break away from an established school system – care enough to do something to stop the problem. The problem is too many kids, too few resources and you want to oppose the school system but not oppose the commission who has created this monster.
I know many parents in Newberry, and I know them to be wonderful people who care deeply about their community and children. Parents worry about their children and want them to be set up for the best possible life to come. Given.
The issue is the group doing this has seized on this in a cynical attempt to convert these schools to serve a political and religious agenda.
The group provided few details other than ‘trust us’ and the details they did provide (thresholds for passage) were wrong if we are to believe them now. And while providing few details, they attempted to slam this through quickly in a manner that relied on platitudes of ‘local control’ because WE aren’t like THEM (those lily livered, flaming , downtown liberals who are likely gay or nonwhite). It’s a powerful message used since forced busing in the 60s. However, rather than form a private school like in the 60s, they are attempting this move to a charter and do it not with private money but taxpayer dollars.
This will likely be more expensive, divisive and certainly not the bed of roses promised.
The better way maybe to gather concerns and work to solve them. Let’s stop dividing the community.
Succession rarely works.
You’ve actually exposed yourself as a political tool by using the false talking point about slamming it through quickly. The timing was set by Florida statutes: https://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2011/1002.33
This is correct, but not truthful.
The group could have worked to build consensus in Newberry and broader community BEFORE triggering the FL statute timeframe.
They, for whatever reasons decided not to do that. They chose to attempt to slam it home.
So you’re just complaining that they didn’t give the opposition extra time to mount a campaign and raise money to oppose the effort. Got it.
Only fair……
Now you’re moving the goalposts. We were discussing the timing and you stated it was dictated by fl statute, even providing a link.
Now you said and implied it was a strategy not to allow opposition to form and discuss. So, you have agreed it was indeed an attempt to slam it home in an effort to not allow those that disagree to organize.
So you’re saying it is impermissible for campaigns you disagree with to use strategy. Any organization that mounts any type of campaign must have a strategy.
Again, got it. You just don’t want to be caught flat-footed by a group that has spent months preparing.
You’re talking in circles. I wish you good day.
You’ve just admitted that a town consensus was not the goal, but winning was. OK, but don’t expect everyone to be on board now, when you made no effort to achieve that.
Neither option could ever have gotten everyone on board (the school board certainly never worries about getting everyone on board, lol), but also the “Save Our Schools” campaign, run by union organizers out of a Gville office, was not trying to gain consensus, either. From the moment they filed their organizational papers with Sunbiz, they played dirty and played to win.
They are just afraid the charter elementary school will be a shining success. They don’t want anybody to succeed because some juvenile delinquents on the other side of town have mixed-up priorities and fail all their classes and standardized tests.
Sure, no “juvenile delinquents” west of 13th street or Jonesville!
Just the Sharks and the Jets, Officer Krupke!
You gotta understand!
It’s just our bringin’ upke.