Hundreds gathered in Orlando last week for the Florida Charter School Conference. Celebrating 25 years of charter schools in Florida, the conference brought together veteran movement supporters along with those new to charter schools.
The Opening Session, sponsored by the Florida Charter School Alliance, kicked off the event with guest speaker Ralph Arza, Director of Governmental Affairs, FCSA. After a dynamic conversation between Governor Jeb Bush and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran about ed choice in Florida, Jonathan Hage, founder of Charter Schools USA, presented Gov Bush with the original charter school white paper they drafted together 25 years ago.
The event provided attendees an opportunity to connect, share success stories, learn about innovative solutions, and visit rows and rows of exhibit hall booths. Many FCSA Marketplace partners were at this event — Carnegie Learning, Cognia, M&T Bank, Converse our Wild, Tower Garden, PropertyWorks, Fusco Property Management, Charter School Capital, BKS Partners, Linton Food Service Management, EasySuite Software, Collaborative Educational Network, and Academica Media — broadcasting live from the conference.
The FCSA led two breakout sessions: Creating a Robust Pipeline of Strong, Effective, and Visionary Charter School Leaders — discussing the School Leaders Fellowship program we developed in partnership with the Florida Department of Education to prepare charter school leaders; and Turning Parents into Bold Charter School Advocates — providing a roadmap to empower parents to become charter school advocates. If you were not able to attend, contact Lynn Norman-Teck for information about these presentations.
Pre-conference activities:
- The FCSA hosted the first workshop for the 2021 School Leaders Fellows. The nine fellows — selected from many candidates — will participate in a leadership training specifically designed for charter school principals. Created in partnership with the Florida Department of Education through the U.S. Department of Education’s CSP grant, the Fellowship aims to develop a robust pipeline of strong, effective, and visionary charter school leaders.
- The State Board of Education voted to override Leon County Public School Board’s charter application rejection — paving the way for Red Hills to become Leon’s 6th charter school.
Thank you to the Florida Department of Education team for hosting another fantastic conference.
