During an emergency meeting on Thursday, the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) unanimously voted to shut down Waldo’s Constellation Charter School of Gainesville (CCSG), effective at the end of the May 1 school day.
In a letter to the Constellation Governing Board following the vote, the SBAC, which is the school’s sponsor, informed the members of their decision made in response to “serious violations” of Florida law in failing to maintain and actively obstructing the School Based Threat Management Team (SBTMT).
The letter detailed concerns beginning in March 2025 involving SBTMT staff resignations, the disciplining of SBTMT staff for attending required training, delayed responses to safety threats, toleration of inappropriate classroom activities such as first-person shooting computer games and law enforcement documentation of system supervision issues.
The SBAC said the behaviors and conditions all pointed to “internal governance conflict, administrative incapacity, procedural non-compliance and failures in threat management,” placing students and staff at significant and avoidable risk.
Alachua County Public School (ACPS) spokesperson Jackie Johnson said in a text to Mainstreet that district staff sent out emails and texts with the letter and were at the school during dismissal, distributing hard copies.
They also made phone calls informing the community of the closure and set up a website with updates and relocation resources.
Johnson said CCSG parents have the option of enrolling their children in another district school for the remainder of the year. To streamline the enrollment process, parents can go directly to their zoned school with two proofs of address and a photo ID instead of filling out the traditional form.
“We’ve determined where all the students are zoned and notified the principals of those schools so they’ll be ready to receive them,” Johnson said.
District attorney David Delaney said the board “regrettably” called Thursday’s emergency meeting, which lasted around 10 minutes, to deal specifically with the immediate dangers posed by CCSG that would likely continue without terminating the school.
Board Chair Sarah Rockwell said the board members couldn’t share some of the details of the situation in a public sphere in order to protect confidential information, but that the board received back-up materials on April 30 to review before making their decision.
District Security Chief Douglas Pelton presented the board with a brief statement aimed at protecting student privacy. He said the numerous unsafe occurrences on campus reported by staff and citizens violated state law and reflected the potential for gross negligence and failure to maintain a safe, professional learning environment.
“These failures demonstrate that Constellation Charter School can no longer provide a safe or compliant educational environment for students or staff,” Pelton said. “The totality of circumstances surrounding the systemic safety concerns at the school are significant enough to warrant decisive and immediate action.”
After no one spoke during public comment, board member Thomas Vu moved to adopt the findings as clear and convincing evidence of material violations of the law warranting termination. Board Member Leanetta McNealy seconded the motion, which passed 5-0 in a roll call vote with Board Members Janine Plavac and Tina Certain attending via Zoom.
The CCSG board also held an emergency board meeting and did not respond for comment. The school will have 60 days to appeal the SBAC’s vote.
After the SBAC approved the charter school’s application in 2021, CCSG opened in 2023, offering free Public Waldorf Education to first through sixth grade, and eventually added seventh grade. The school operated as Waldo’s only school within city limits, with plans to add eighth grade to its curriculum.
In a phone call with Mainstreet, Waldo City Manager Kim Worley said she knew the school was having issues and had been talking to its board about them. She said hearing of the closure was a disappointment.
“It’s a sad situation because the people couldn’t come together to make this work,” Worley said.