Monday, November 2, 2009

Representatives of the proposed Sigsbee Charter School are to meet with Superintendent Joe Burke and other district officials this week to iron out details that could lead to a marine science-based charter school in Key West.

For months, parents and community leaders have been working to piece together an elementary school on Sigsbee Navy Annex, complete with a voluntary prekindergarten program and student services for disabled and exceptional students.

Its operations will be funded in part with state money based on the 200 or so students it will serve. According to Burke, the charter school could receive about $10,000 per student in full-time equivalent money, as well as federal money for special programs.

Sigsbee Charter School President Leslie Crabbs and the charter school board have applied for federal funding to launch the school, too.

Crabbs and other Sigsbee charter officials are working closely with district Director of Instruction Mike Henriquez to find solutions to the challenges of opening a new school.

The school is now operating as a public elementary school. The district had considered closing it, but instead is handing it over to an eight-member board comprising a marine environment expert, educators, a community organizer and a specialist in Coast Guard response operations.

Burke said Wednesday the Sigsbee school property and buildings will remain in district ownership. The school is located within Naval Air Station Key West, and access is restricted by a manned gatehouse.

"We'll have to work out a lease agreement for the buildings and grounds for the time being," Burke said. "We'll come up with a more permanent agreement at a later date."

There is the question of what to do with the teachers who now work at the school once the charter school launches next year. As public-school teachers, Sigsbee's educators are paid under the Florida Retirement System and receive the same salaries and benefits as their fellow district employees at other schools.

Should those teachers decide to stay with the charter school, Sigsbee Charter School administrators will have to negotiate salaries for them with the county teachers union, United Teachers of Monroe. For those teachers who want to transfer, Burke said, the district will find room for them.

"We should get a master list of district teachers that are still there, their seniority, grade level, and figure out what to do," he said. "We need to protect jobs for them."

Crabbs said the charter school board will work hard to satisfy teachers.

"It is the intent of the charter school board to mirror the Monroe County District pay scale," she said. "We are currently researching retirement options and health care benefits that will fall within our budget. As items are ironed out in the contract, we have a better understanding of our budget, which helps us make fiscally responsible decisions as to the specifics of what we are able to offer. We believe we will initially offer a comparable pay scale to the district, but as we mature, we hope to offer even more."

Monroe County School Board member Debra Walker said the district no longer will have to worry about access to the school, because the Navy security gate will become the charter school's concern.

"It eliminates the negative of being a public school and having access to the property," Walker said. "It lets the Navy maintain its independence as a military facility while providing the best use of the public resource that's possible."

jguerra@keysnews.com