The Oasis Charter School Growth and Expansion Committee met for the first time to address its enrollment wait list.
Superintendent Jacquelin Collins said during the board meeting Tuesday that she got together with city staff on March 3 to go over ideas on how to look at the charter school system.
Options shared include the feasibility of adding portable classrooms to increase the high school enrollment to 1,000 students; expansion of a brick-and-mortar, new offsite facility; alternative models such as hybrid, virtual school; Schools of Hope; and reducing enrollment.
“There are a lot of uncertainties that we have to consider when moving forward,” Collins said.
By reducing the enrollment to fit comfortably in the building, the high school enrollment would not exceed 950 students.
Collins said the next steps include analyzing additional space and specs for portables at Oasis Elementary South, asking Cape Coral City Council if there is an interest in expanding the school system to other locations, and building a new school for a minimum of $25- to $35 million.
The core group also will look at the debt figure for expansion.
“What will it cost us to build portables and finance over time?” Collins said. “What are we looking at if we want to build a brick-and-mortar expansion? What is the sports complex debt going to look like? That debt has to be taken into consideration first – what is going to be left over?”
Enrollment projections are also part of the research to see what the matriculation rate for middle and elementary school should be. Right now, that rate is 88%.
“Comfortably we cannot fit any more than 950 in that building as it is today,” Collins said of students in the high school.
She said with the stadium being built and the addition of a workout room in the complex, it will provide two classrooms in the high school.
Collins said they will provide firmer details in April, as there is a lot of data collection and playing with numbers.
The committee was formed to address the large wait list for the municipal school system.
“It just depends on matriculation rates from one year to the next,” Collins said, adding that the remaining available seats are done through lottery. “It’s very hard to pinpoint a rock-solid methodology from one year to the next because numbers are always juggling.”
If the family remains on the wait list, they are asked if they want to be rolled over to the following year.
Board Chair Kristifer Jackson said the Oasis School System is a selling point to the city, as they are the reason people want to come to the city.
“When we have this enormous wait list, it’s a selling point,” he said. “We are a crown jewel of this particular city.”
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com