FAQs for Parents

Every school must appoint a parent liaison who is responsible for assisting parents and others with questions and concerns, and to resolve disputes. That person should be posted prominently on the school’s website. (FCSA)

• Every charter school's governing board is required to appoint a representative to facilitate parental involvement, provide access to information, assist parents and others with questions and concerns, and resolve disputes. The representative must reside in the school district. The representative may be a governing board member, employee, or individual contracted to represent the governing board.
• Each charter school's governing board must hold at least two public meetings per school year in the school district. The meetings must be noticed, open, and accessible to the public. Attendees must be provided an opportunity to offer input regarding the school's operations and receive information about the school. The representative appointed by the governing board must be physically present at the two required meetings. (FLDOE)

All current students currently enrolled in the three schools will automatically have the option to attend the new schools and can remain in the system through high school graduation.

The new leadership, with parent, teacher and community input, will determine the eligible geography to be used, starting with guaranteeing the city of Newberry and city of Archer residents, and moving out geographically from there until capacity is reached for each school based on 2025 enrollment.

Therefore, it cannot be exactly known how far out geographically the new area will reach, but based on current numbers the estimate is between 6-9 miles.

No. All students currently enrolled will be enrolled in the first year of the new school. Enrollment after that will be determined by the new leadership, with parent, teacher and community input, starting with the city of Newberry and city of Archer, and moving out geographically from there until capacity is reached for each school.

The overcrowding will not be solved immediately because we are proposing to allow current students to stay in the system through high school graduation. Incoming NES kindergartners will, however, see an improvement immediately.

Over time, new student admissions to the schools will be limited to the geographic area set by the school system leaders, calibrating the area to bring capacity down to 100% or very close, and reducing class sizes to comply with state standards or better.

This means that over the coming years, some children currently living in areas zoned for these schools but not yet attending them (younger children) will no longer be automatically admitted. They will still have the option to apply if there is capacity or in specialized magnet programs. There can also be a sibling and family preference applied for those who may be at Archer Elementary with siblings at OVMS and NHS.

Students residing in the geographic areas for the schools will be automatically eligible to attend. Students outside the geographic area would have to apply, and may be eligible for special programs such as vocational and magnets, should those be created at each school.

Newberry District and school leaders will make this decision, but the intention is to return the fifth grade to the elementary school as soon as practical.

No. Charter schools are legally not allowed to charge tuition or registration fees.  (s.1002.33(9),F.S.)

City of Archer students will be automatically eligible to attend Oakview Middle School and Newberry High school after leaving Archer Elementary School. Archer Elementary School would continue to be an Alachua County Public school.

No, these will be public charter schools, following all state and federal standards. They will not become private or religious schools.

No. Ensuring diverse, community-based leadership and accountability and removing ourselves from the highly politicized environment of the Alachua County School Board will allow Newberry schools to focus on great education, helping kids learn how to think and preparing them for the world they will enter, be that in the workforce, vocational school, community college or four year colleges and universities. This effort is not ideologically driven and the leadership of Newberry Education First represents a diverse range of backgrounds.

Possibly. Under community leadership, school administrators and teachers will work together to craft discipline policies which meet the needs of all students and seek fair, just and appropriate discipline for the many situations which arise in schools. Leadership will have the latitude to craft policies which promote great education for all and not be subject to policies mandated from the Alachua County School Board which may not be working for Newberry schools.