During a regular meeting on Monday, the Newberry Community School Board (NCSB) approved an offer letter for Lacy Roberts to serve as principal of its new charter school, Newberry Community School (NCS), currently Newberry Elementary School (NES). 

The board voted to name Roberts, who has served as the consultant for NCS since August, the school’s new principal at its Nov. 4 meeting. 

According to her resume, Roberts holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Florida. She also earned a specialist in education leadership degree from UF in May 1998.  

Roberts has close to 40 years of experience in the education field, with most of those serving as principal at various school districts across the state, including Alachua County. 

In an email to Mainstreet on Monday, Roberts said her first principal job was actually in Newberry, where she served from 2002-2014.  

“It is fitting that I am going back to the same building to finish my 34-year career!” she said in the email.  

Roberts has also served as principal for the Levy County School District (July 2015 to June 2017) and the Marion County School District (July 2017 to October 2022), according to her resume.  

City staff and board members told Mainstreet following Monday’s meeting that 11 candidates applied for the NCS principal position. They said applications came from all over the country. 

In addition to approving the offer letter with Roberts, the board also directed its attorney, Shawn Arnold, to work with the city of Newberry’s attorney, Scott Walker, to draft an employment contract for Roberts. 

Dallas Lee, the chief financial officer for the city of Newberry, provided some clarification on Roberts’ contract.  

“One point for the board to understand is originally we thought the board would contract with the principal,” he said. “Because the principal is going to be an employee of the city, the city will actually enter into that contract with Miss Roberts, and then we will either have a subsequent contract or some other sort of agreement with the city and the school board that says that the school board agrees to all the terms and conditions in the contract.” 

Lee said Roberts’ contract is a three-year term beginning on Dec. 15 and continuing through Dec. 14, 2028. He added that the contract includes a base salary of $112,500 per year, with a $5,000 pay increase once NCS successfully opens in the fall of 2026. 

Lee explained to the board how he and Roberts came to the $112,500 amount, noting that if she had accepted a similar role with the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC), with her experience and education, her salary would have been $111,000. 

“So, the feedback I got from the board is that we wanted to be a little better than the [Alachua County] school board,” he said. “So, that’s how we came to the $112,500. And then with the added responsibilities once the school opens, we thought it was a good idea to go ahead and increase that [Roberts’ salary] to be $117,500 at that time.” 

Lee also said Roberts will receive the same benefit package that the city of Newberry provides to all other department heads and directors, including Florida Retirement System (FRS) and insurance. 

Lee said Roberts is currently retired from FRS, noting she is in “the standard plan.” 

“So, we [the city] would contribute the difference to her pension plan and then, in addition, the NCS would contribute 5% to a deferred compensation plan for her,” he said.  

For sick leave, Lee said the city “will front five days of sick leave immediately” for Roberts and then will follow whatever policies the board adopts. 

“Until such time as you adopt your sick and vacation and other leave policies, we will default to what the city currently has,” he said.  

Board Chair Derek Danne asked Lee to give a quick summary of the city’s current policy as it relates to sick time and vacation.  

“Currently, for a new employee in senior management, they accrue three weeks of vacation a year – 120 hours of vacation a year – and then all of our employees accrue eight hours of sick leave a month, or 96 hours a year,” Lee said.  

In terms of termination, Lee said they would “mimic” what the city currently has in its city manager contract. 

“Termination without cause would require four votes of the board,” he said. “Termination with cause would require three votes of the board. Cause is defined in state statute, so we’ll refer to that state statute in the contract.” 

In an interview with Mainstreet following Monday’s meeting, Roberts said she will continue to serve as the NCS consultant until Dec. 14. After that, she said the position will go away as she begins her new role as principal on Dec. 15. 

Enrollment approaching  

During the consultant update portion of Monday’s meeting, Roberts said enrollment for NCS will begin on Feb. 1, 2026.  

She noted that there has been some miscommunication with parents regarding the enrollment process. 

“The [Alachua County] school district put out a form, saying, ‘Do you want to leave [NES]? Or stay?” Roberts said while addressing the board. “And parents are under the impression that if they mark ‘we want to stay’ then they’re automatically in the charter [school]. And so, I had to explain to them that’s an Alachua County [schools] form. You will have to fill out a Newberry Community [School] enrollment form.” 

For questions regarding enrollment, parents can contact Roberts via email at Lacy.roberts@ncsedu.org or by phone at 352-474-2040.  

A website has also been established for NCS. The URL is https://ncsedu.org/ . 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.