- The Newberry Community School Board adopted a 2026-27 school improvement plan targeting an A grade with strategies like smaller classes and teacher training.
- Newberry Community School received a tentative $188,100 Title 1 allocation for literacy coaches, tutoring, field trips and conference attendance.
- The board approved expanding Newberry Community School from grades K-4 to K-5 starting in the 2027-28 school year due to available facilities and capacity.
The Newberry Community School Board (NCSB) adopted a school improvement plan and approved a grade expansion resolution for its new public charter school – Newberry Community School (NCS) – at a meeting on Monday night.
School improvement plan
NCS Principal Lacy Roberts provided the board with a school improvement plan based on Newberry Elementary School’s data.
NCS has replaced NES by way of a public-to-charter conversion. But because the state gave NCS Newberry Elementary’s master school identification (MSID) number, Roberts said NCS inherits NES’s “school grade and performance.”
“So, I had to write a school improvement plan based on that data,” she said.
The data provided in the plan showed that 66% of NES third graders scored at level 3 or higher in reading in 2026. This was 10 percentage points higher than the district third-grade average of 56% and six percentage points better than the statewide average of 60%.
The data also showed that 60% of third and fourth graders at NES combined scored at level 3 or higher in reading.
The data also revealed that 50% of NES students showed gains in reading in 2026 compared to the previous year, while 35% of NES’s lowest-performing 25% demonstrated gains in reading.
In terms of math, the data showed that 57% of NES third and fourth graders scored at level 3 or higher. Fifty-seven percent of NES students also showed gains in math compared to the prior year, while 38% of students in the lowest-performing 25% demonstrated gains in math.
“When you total that up, they [NES] earned 52% of the school grade points, which results in a letter grade of C,” Roberts said.
The NCS school improvement plan targets an A rating through several specific actions, including teacher training, smaller class sizes – with a target of under 22 students – and “high expectations for behavior and engagement.”
“We will have quality job-embedded professional development, we will review student data after every assessment, and we’re going to have quality small groups in classrooms that support ESE [exceptional student education] and our lower quartile [of students],” Roberts added.
Roberts said they also wrote the Title 1 plan – approved at the board’s July 20 meeting – around these specific actions.
NES, now NCS, is considered a Title 1 school, meaning it has a high concentration of low-income students and receives federal funding to ensure students meet achievement standards.
NCS received a tentative Title 1 allocation of $188,100, Roberts said, which was used for a literacy coach and intervention teacher. She added that funds were also saved for after-school tutoring, buying materials for tutoring, one field trip for each grade level and administrator attendance at the Florida Association of School Administrators (FASA) conference next summer.
Roberts noted that the Title 1 allocation could change.
“Obviously, we would work in reverse if we have to lower that allocation,” she said. “We’d get rid of the [FASA] conference, then possibly field trips and tutoring. Obviously, the people are super important and those would be the last things cut.”
Part of the Title 1 plan, Roberts said, is the Family Engagement plan. She noted that NCS has received a tentative parent engagement allocation of $2,376.
“We’ve planned four events, and that money will be used to purchase the materials and supplies needed for those events,” Roberts said.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the 2026-27 school improvement plan, with board member Jessica Norfleet absent from the meeting.
Grade expansion resolution
Also, during Monday’s meeting, the board unanimously adopted a resolution to expand NCS’s services from grades K-4 to K-5 starting in the 2027-28 school year.
This comes after a determination that NCS’s current facilities and capacity can support the addition of fifth-grade students by the next school year.
Roberts is authorized to take all necessary actions to execute the expansion to K-5, including community engagement and recruitment of staff and students.
As for this current school year, Roberts said during her principal report update that they are off to an “amazing start.”
She noted that enrollment currently stands at 344 students across K-4.
Roberts also said their procedures are “going well,” adding that car lines and buses are operating effectively.
During her update, Roberts also announced that she signed a new contract with mapping company Critical Response Group in the amount of $560 to update the campus map following the removal of portables.
“Because we did change the floor print of our school with the portables being removed, we have to update the map,” Roberts said.
Several NCS teachers were also present at Monday’s meeting. Board members thanked the teachers – and Roberts – for the work they’ve done so far at the start of the school year and praised the positive environment that has been created at the school.
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.