While the School District offers a host of career-readiness programs throughout its numerous schools, each focusing on a unique skill or trade, what doesn’t currently exist is a one-stop, everything-under-one-roof career academy.
Not yet, anyway.
That’s what the Port St. Lucie City Council envisions – a charter school within walking distance to both the city’s jobs corridor in Southern Grove and the Center of Innovation.
So, the city is putting out a request for qualifications in the hope of attracting several would-be charter school operators that can put together a career academy, putting all or nearly all the trades under one umbrella, on one campus.
“It’s a process,” noted City Councilman John Carvelli, who once served on the St. Lucie School Board. The board will ultimately decide whether or not a proposed charter school would be approved; the state Department of Education could actually make the final decision if the board denies and the charter appeals.
Carvelli said the School Board would review the application and determine if the proposed charter would expand the District’s educational offerings – if it’s innovative, if it’s not duplicating what the District is doing. The quality of the application, “that’s what it comes down to,” Carvelli said.
The City Council has been seeking such a school for some time now, according to Mayor Gregory Oravec, who reminded the council that Port St. Lucie has reached out to the District for a grade 6-12 academy.
Kerry Padrick, a spokeswoman for St. Lucie Public Schools, told St. Lucie Voice prior to Monday’s council meeting that the District was reviewing the proposed request for qualifications.
She said the District already provides 37 different academies and programs throughout the county.
“We don’t want to duplicate opportunities,” Padrick said, adding that the District is looking at the city’s proposal with “an open mind.”
“There are just so, so many opportunities,” Padrick said, noting that the offered programs are always being refined in order to best address the needs of the changing workforce. She said the District continues to offer business and community members tours of the various academies and programs.
Padrick said that the District has had and continues to have a strong partnership with the City of Port St. Lucie, working with the city to improve educational opportunities, but “this particular offer is a bit different.”
Mayor Oravec expressed doubt during the council meeting that the School Board would approve the first application the city sends its way.
“I’m counting on” the initial denial, he said, explaining he simply wants to manage expectations.
For the mayor, having a single campus focused on career-readiness in vocational and technical training would ensure a level of excellence.
“There are pockets of excellence all over,” he said – just not under one roof. “It’s not about a program; it’s about a place with a program.”
