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Highlands Today

Hopewell Academy Served A Purpose

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Highlands Today Staff

Published: April 6, 2008

It looks as if Hopewell Academy, which abruptly closed its doors on Friday, was a victim of pending budget cuts in the school district and that is unfortunate.

It is too bad that the county's only charter school wasn't able to finish the school year, which only has nine weeks left.

That's not good for parents and guardians of students at Hopewell. While there were less than 40 students attending the Avon Park school as of the latest enrollment count in February, those children are going to be disrupted as they enroll in other schools. That is something they were not likely anticipating.

Charter schools are public schools that are independently designed and operated. They receive state and local funding based on student enrollment.

For some reason, it seems as if the Avon Park school never caught on in the community.

It was set up to provide an emphasis on art, music, drama and dance in the elementary grades. Until the start of 2007-08 school year, it was called Hopewell Academy for the Arts.

However, the enrollment didn't reach expectations and actually declined. Hopewell had a peak of 73 students in September 2006. It had about half that many – 37 – in grades kindergarten through five as of the latest count earlier this year.

The fact that the school had five head administrators/principals in four-and-a-half-years probably didn't help.

The academy's board of directors and the executives of the Mid-Florida Center for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services wanted to see it through the five-year term of the charter. They came close to seeing that happen.

Establishing Hopewell was a good idea and there were those who were dedicated to making it a success. Circumstances beyond anyone's control contributed to its closure and that is unfortunate.

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