The Newberry Community School Board (NCSB) approved several items at a meeting on Monday that involved personnel changes, policies and ratification of a petition for attorneys’ fees and costs. 

Personnel  

Newberry Community School principal Lacy Roberts was not in attendance for the meeting. Instead, her designee, Amber Yannone, went through the agenda items with the board in Roberts’ absence.  

Regarding personnel, Yannone said they were preparing to offer 26 positions at NCS – the new conversion charter school that is set to open in August. 

“This makes teaching positions nearly complete, leaving vacancies in each grade to be filled upon [the] initial enrollment period, as it goes successfully,” she said. 

Enrollment for the 2026-27 school year opens on Sunday.  

Board members were also presented with a copy of the 2026-27 staffing plan. Yannone said one of the main changes to the plan involved switching from an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher to an English Language Leaner (ELL) Para, which is what Newberry Elementary School (NES) – the now-public school that is converting to a charter – currently has. 

Other modifications to the staffing plan included changing the title of a science technology teacher to a gifted and talented (G/T) STEAM teacher and removing the registrar role – Yannone said this is a middle school position – and replacing it with one more custodian position.  

“The school [NES] currently has four-and-a-half custodians, and, in the budget, there is only three,” she said. 

The board unanimously approved the 2026-27 staffing plan with the changes presented. 

School policies   

During the meeting, the board was presented with two proposed school policies. One was a civility policy and the other was related to human resources (HR). 

Yannone read the civility policy aloud to the board and public, which outlined expectations for respectful behavior from faculty, staff, parents and students.  

All students and parents are required to support the policy and have a signed copy on file in the school’s office. 

There was a question of whether the policy would need to be renewed each year. 

Board Attorney Shawn Arnold, who attended the meeting virtually, explained that the policy functions the same as an employee handbook in that if there is any kind of change, parents would be notified of the modification. 

The board approved the civility policy unanimously. 

There were some concerns raised regarding the HR policy, particularly from Board Chair Derek Danne. One of the concerns he brought up was about terminal sick leave payout. 

Danne said there had been discussions about trying to honor sick leave for any of the teachers and staff from NES who joined NCS.  

“Meaning, they could bring their sick leave to us, and we would take that,” he said. “But then at the back end, we have a policy now written in here where we would cash out potentially if they decided to retire and part ways from us. So, that would put us on fine paying for sick leave…that, you know, really isn’t sick leave to us. It’s just being brought over.” 

Danne said the policy also references the “HR department” or “HR will review things [if Roberts] is not available.” 

Roberts noted in a September 2025 board meeting that the city of Newberry has agreed to support the efforts of NCS as a service provider for HR support.  

“We need to clean up and really figure out how much the city wants to take on in terms of our service with them,” Danne said. “I think…because of this relationship and partnership that we’ve developed, we’re going to really have to have council and Lacy, as well as our staff, kind of look through and really develop this plan.” 

The board did not vote on the HR policy at Monday’s meeting.  

Ratification of a petition for attorney’s fees 

Also, during Monday’s meeting, the board unanimously voted to ratify the filing of a petition for attorney fees and costs stemming from the School Board of Alachua County’s (SBAC) failed legal efforts to stop the NES charter conversion. 

Court records show that attorneys on behalf of Newberry Community School Inc. – including Arnold – filed a petition with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) on Jan. 16, seeking $91,418.26 in legal fees brought on by the SBAC’s failed attempt to appeal the charter conversion.  

The SBAC’s appeal was denied during a Charter School Appeal Commission (CSAC) in August 2025. The Florida State Board of Education then voted to dismiss the appeal and grant the charter school application at a meeting on Sept. 24, 2025. 

According to the petition, this was outlined in a final order by the State Board of Education dated Oct. 16, 2025. 

Arnold said during Monday’s meeting that they had 60 days to file a petition for attorney’s fees and costs from the time the order was issued. He noted that he had some initial conversations with the SBAC’s outside counsel before filing the petition, adding that he was told he was going to get “some kind of potential offer” or “negotiation,” but nothing ever happened. 

Arnold said they ended up filing the petition on the second-to-last day before it was due.  

“Since that time, the court has basically issued an order to the district to respond to the motion,” he said.  

Earlier in Monday’s meeting, Arnold had stepped away briefly to have a conversation with Terry Harmon, who is part of the outside counsel for the SBAC. According to Arnold, that discussion was supposed to occur earlier in the day but didn’t happen. 

Arnold provided the board with some details from that conversation later in the meeting, saying Harmon apologized for not getting anything to them yet and that they expect to get a potential offer sent over by Wednesday. 

Date changes for February and March meetings  

Due to the President’s Day holiday and spring break, the board will meet on the fourth Monday of the month in February and March instead of the third Monday. 

The meeting for February will be held on Monday, Feb. 23, and the meeting in March will take place on Monday, March 23.  

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.