Charter school advocated by Collier School Board's Donalds OK'd in Martin County
Annika HammerschlagCollier County School Board member Erika Donalds celebrated a win Tuesday night after the Martin County School Board voted 4-1 to approve the application of Treasure Coast Classical Academy.
If it opens in August 2019 as planned, it would be the second charter school Donalds has helped found.
The first was Mason Classical Academy in Naples. Beginning in 2012, Donalds served as an advisory board member and director of operations for Mason Academy until she was elected to the Collier School Board shortly before the academy opened in 2014.
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Treasure Coast Academy partnered with Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter School Initiative, which has helped open 22 charter schools across the country, including four in Florida — in Palm Bay, Fleming Island, West Melborne and Mason Academy in Naples, according to Hillsdale's website.
Hillsdale supports its charter schools through curriculum development and staff hiring and training.
Donalds, a certified public accountant and member of the state's Constitution Revision Commission, said many people have sought her expertise in opening a Hillsdale charter school. She said she decided on Treasure Coast Academy because of the support she found in Martin County.
“Until now I didn’t feel any of those were the right situation,” she said.
Donalds said she also was motivated by a lack of school choice in Martin. The county has two charter schools — one geared toward autistic children and another toward advanced students with a focus on technology.
Treasure Coast Academy’s mission is to “train the minds and improve the hearts of young people through a content-rich classical education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue,” according to its application to the Martin County School Board.
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The school defines is classical contents as “those traditional works of literature, history, and philosophy that embody perennial truths of the human soul and which remain compelling because they present these truths in memorable, or beautiful, ways,” its application reads. “These classics are admired not because they are old; rather they are admired because they have continued to ring true with people across many eras, cultures, and tongues.”
The new charter’s curriculum will emphasize a “traditional” education that includes the teaching of Latin, classical literature, phonics and moral philosophy.
Martin County School Board member Tina McSoley, who voted against the application, said the school would not serve its required purpose of creating innovative and diverse opportunities for families.
Instead, the school would “directly contradict” that purpose, she said.
On its application, the founders wrote: “We propose to use time honored instructional methods that may not fit the standard definition of “innovative,” but whose results speak volumes.”
Furthermore, McSoley said the district’s traditional public schools already teach the charter school’s characteristic items, including phonics and classical literature.
“Innovation is opening a school for autistic children. It’s opening a school driven by technology. It’s growing budding engineers or scientists,” she said. “It’s not picking a different book to teach reading from.”
McSoley said she was most disappointed with the application’s prediction for year-over-year increases in student test scores, which it lists at 1 percent each year throughout its first four years.
The Florida Department of Education expects a minimum of double that, McSoley said.
“Much of the application was quite sad to me, and I wouldn’t put my child in that school,” she said.
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Treasure Coast Academy plans to start as a K-6 school and grow to K-12 as students matriculate.
The school expects to enroll about 500 students its first year and grow to roughly 800 by its fifth year.
The board now consists of five members, but Donalds said she expects it to grow to seven by the time doors open in August 2019.
Donalds, who is not seeking re-election to the Collier School Board, now serves as president of the Treasure Coast Academy board. Her responsibilities include leading the application and planning the first two years of operation.
Mason Academy administrator Chuck Marshall also has assisted in the founding of Treasure Coast Academy as a consultant, according to the school’s application.
In December 2017, Donalds helped established the Optima Foundation, which she said is intended to provide both financial and operational support for new charter schools. Donalds said she will not be paid for her work at the foundation.
“I would like to see a lot more variety in education in Florida than what exists currently,” she said.
Treasure Coast Academy co-founder Shawn Frost and former Collier County School Board candidate Louise Penta, who lost to Stephanie Lucarelli in 2016, are listed as co-directors in the foundation’s business filings.
Donalds said she is particularly inspired by the classical model, which she said teaches cultural literacy and emphasizes the use of source documents.
“It uses methods and resources that are proven and time-tested,” she said. “It doesn’t follow fads.”
Donalds said she has no “concrete” plans to open another charter school in Collier or elsewhere in Florida.
Although she hopes to continue advising classical charter schools, Donalds said in February that she won’t be running for re-election in Collier so she can spend more time with family. Donalds has served since 2014 on the board, where she has been an advocate for school choice.
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As a member of the Constitution Revision Commission, Donalds successfully pushed to have a proposal placed on the November ballot to allow the state, instead of local school boards, to supervise charter schools.
Donalds’ husband, state Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, also has pushed for pro-school choice legislation, including a bill that requires school districts share capital funds with charter schools and most recently a law that expands the state’s voucher programs.
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