INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A proposed charter school in the Pointe West community on State Road 60 west of Vero Beach has plans to try again to get the School District’s blessing after the district initially denied it.
Earlier this month, School District staff recommended rejecting Somerset Academy Charter School’s application. The school decided to pull its application from the School Board’s agenda prior to the March 13 meeting to avoid the vote.
Instead, school officials now plan to modify the application, addressing concerns the district’s staff raised in the review process, and resubmit the request to establish a charter school at Pointe West, according to Pointe West developer Chuck Mechling.
“They have a desire to be part of Indian River County,” Mechling said of the governing board for Somerset Academy, which has schools in Broward, Miami-Dade and St. Lucie counties, among others.
The school would offer grades kindergarten through 8 and, according to Mechling, could be a feeder into Indian River Charter High School located not far from Pointe West.
The charter would be situated on the same property once planned for a traditional public school. The developer and School District had at one point discussed building a new campus for Osceola Magnet Elementary and relocating the school there. The School Board later decided to relocate Osceola Magnet to the former Thompson Lifelong Learning Center.
“It’s always been the vision of Pointe West” to have a school anchor the community, Mechling said.
Charter schools are public schools that are run by private, usually non-profit, organizations. There is no tuition for charters, just as there is no tuition for traditional schools. Charters, however, do not need to adhere to some of the rules and restrictions placed on traditional schools, allowing them more flexibility.
A date has not yet been set for when Somerset Academy will resubmit its application or when the School Board would review it.
