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Carver/Century Closure Could Greatly Impact Byrneville Elementary
January 22, 2009
The impending closure of Carver/Century K-8 School could have a great impact on the future of Byrneville Elementary.
In this exclusive investigative story, NorthEscambia.com takes a look at the future of Byrneville’s charter school.
The facts are simple: Only about 44 percent of the students in the Carver/Century district actually attend the school. On the elementary level, 126 attend Carver/Century, 130 attend Byrneville Elementary and 32 attend Bratt Elementary. But where will the 126 elementary children at Carver/Century end up next year?
The official answer is Bratt Elementary, because Century will become part of Bratt’s district.
But Dee Wolfe–Sullivan, principal at Byrneville, feels like many parents and guardians may choose to send their children to her school rather than having them bused to Bratt. Byrneville Elementary is a charter school ran under district guidelines but under its own set of rules; those rules would allow Byrneville to accept Carver students.
“Some of those parents will want to enroll their children here,” Wolfe-Sullivan said. “But the issue becomes if we have room or not.”
There are currently 166 students at Byrneville, and the school only has a capacity of about 200. When accepting new students, priority would be given to siblings of current students, children of employees and students that reside in the old Byrneville Elementary district. Only after those children were admitted would the school be open to others.
“Depending on how may would want to attend, we might have to have a lottery of some kind to choose,” Wolfe-Sullivan said. “I don’t have room for all of them. We might be able to finance some modulars, building on or something.”
NorthEscambia.com presented a “what if” scenario to Wolfe-Sullivan. “What if the school board closed Carver/Century and then offered the Carver/Century facility to Byrneville Elementary?” we asked.
“We have not discussed the Carver/Century building, so I would have no comment at the present time,” she said.
“If parents want to send their child to Byrneville, we certainly welcome them,” Wolfe-Sullivan added. “We are a small school. Every teacher knows every child, and they know most of the families. It is a great atmosphere.”
The Byrneville principal also said that she wanted to be clear that she is not in favor of Carver/Century’s closing.
“It is a very upsetting situation. I feel that Century needs to have a school,” Wolfe-Sullivan said. “I am concerned people think Byrneville may have played a part in the demise of Century. That’s just not the case.”
She said that most Byrneville charter students originated from the original Byrneville district when the school gained charter status to avoid closure in 2002.
“We didn’t steal students from Carver/Century,” Wolfe-Sullivan said.
Pictured top: Byrneville Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan at lunch with a group of students. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
10 Responses to “Carver/Century Closure Could Greatly Impact Byrneville Elementary”
Well, who pay the bills at charter schools.
There seems to be a misunderstanding as to how charter schools are funded in Escambia County, Florida. Charter schools are public schools, thus they receive state funds based on student enrollment. Districts that sponsor charter schools receive 5% of that funding and any other catagorized funding due the charter schools. The other 95% is given directly to the charter schools in monthly installments. Transportation to charter schools is not provided by the district.
Why does the county provide transportation to Bryneville. If it is a charter school.
Why does the county even fund charter schools when they can decide who they accepts. Sound like Century kids will get cheated again.
For the “answer” to your “question”,Waterlady501…..just call Byrneville School and talk to Mrs.Sullivan!!!!!
What a shame that Century is losing another school. Century is a booming little town and a super place to live and our children once had good schools to go to. I love quoteing my father who has passed away “The government has never gotten into anything that they did not mess up”. That goes for just about anything Now. Now days, Now days it’s big government that tells us how our schools are to operate and they MUST maintain a certain grade to keep funds coming. Maintaining a good grade is NOT a bad thing but No longer do local government and/or the local people have a say. They just ram down our throats what they want us to have and that’s it. No longer do we have “The will of the people”.
Losing Century High Schoolreally brought hurt to the home folk and Alumni in Century. As Alumni, could we would pass this campus and look with pride where we finished high school and what it stood for. Now we try not to look that way. Soon the same thing will go for Carver-Century school. Shame, Shame Mr. Thomas and I know it is not your fault as you have Big Government rules that you must follow (more of that big government messing things up). But this does not help the feeling of the local citizens and Alumni. Now that it looks like the few Elementry school children and Middle School children that we have will be put on buses (probably in the dark hours of the morning) and riding long distances to school and back each day. We don’t want to mention the hardships that will come to parents and family friends should they need to go to the school for visits, confernces, programs and etc.
Now knowing that the Byrnville school facilities may be too small to absorbe the Century Elementry students should the parents of Century want their children go there, Maybe the county should offer the Century school buildings to Byrnville and keep the Middle school open due to the increase of student count even as a Charter school if necessary. Seems to make a lodgical move to me since it is a much newer and up to date facility. That way there will be plenty of room and the Charter rules and guidelines could apply and make for a better Carver-Century Elementry amd Middle School and Mr. Thomas you will be rid of the problem. I applaud Ms. Wolfe-Sullivan and her staff at Byrnville for the job they do and we would welcome them with open arms at Carver-Century. With the wonderful teachers now at Carver-Century, WOW What a school facility and staff we would have. This would save building on additions at Byrnville and the county the expense of bussing students and possible the addition of more teachers at Bratt Elementry and Earnest Ward Middle. (Wow Mr. Thomas you could save all kinds of money) Who knows at some time in the future Mr. Thomas you may see it necessary to close Earnest Ward, because of it being an older facility and bus those students. I know of the political pull the Walnut Hill area residents have in county government but just maybe Century will not always become the losers. I’m sure something could be worked out better than what Century-Carver is facing right now. Sorry Mr. Thomas that you may lose the many dollars that you might get from the Feds and the State governments should you hang on to the student count that we have at Carver-Century. But! what goes round comes round and without your help Now your tenure as Superintendent, with out the vote of the Century area residents may be just for the one term.
A strong possibility of the major difference between Byrneville and CC is the differing rules that govern each school, AND the parental support given to Byrneville. Lack of parental support, via the concept “grass is greener elsewhere” doomed this small school. It wasn’t the district, Byrneville, Jim Paul, or Malcolm Thomas. Mr. Thomas’ eight pages of statistics regarding the past five years fail to convince people. Apparently the old adage of “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is made up.” applies here.
I live in the Century/Carver zone. I take my child to the old Century High School to ride the bus to Ernest Ward. Byrneville picks up my other child at my house.
Another issue with Carver/Century students attending Byrneville will be transportation. It is my understanding that under the school choice program, while parents may choose to send their students outside their assigned school attendance zone, the school district is not required to provide transportation to the school of choice. The same would be true of Byrneville. I’m not sure the school’s budget could absorb the additional cost required to transport students who live outside the Byrneville area to and from school. Maybe someone with more detailed information on this question could respond.
Byrneville school is WONDERFUL! The teachers do a great job with the kids. I look forward to the many years to come!
Clearly, the failure at Carver-Century is that of the School District. Byrneville school works with many of the same students, parents, money, & former teachers. DUH!