The Newberry Community School Board (NCSB) heard an update on school enrollment, voted to enter negotiations with a bus rental company for transportation services and approved a settlement agreement with the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) at a meeting on Monday.

Enrollment

The enrollment period for Newberry Community School’s (NCS) inaugural 2026-27 school year opened on Feb. 1. The new conversion charter school, which is replacing Newberry Elementary School (NES), is set to open in August.

NCS Principal Lacy Roberts said that as of roughly 5 p.m. on Monday, 427 students were enrolled in NCS. She noted that this number included 77 kindergarteners, 91 first graders, 103 second graders, 89 third graders and 67 fourth graders.

Additionally, of the 427 students currently enrolled in NCS, Roberts noted that 353 are attending NES at this time.

According to a Jan. 23 NCS press release, “families with elementary students currently enrolled in Newberry Elementary School are guaranteed a seat for the upcoming school year.” However, the release said that parents must formally accept their child’s spot during the enrollment period to secure placement.

More information about enrollment can be found at ncsedu.org.

Transportation

Also, during the meeting, the board unanimously voted to enter negotiations with Tomahawk Transportation, a bus rental company based out of Tallahassee, for transportation services.

Roberts said that NCS did a request for proposal (RFP) for transportation. She said two companies put in bids and that she and Board Member Chuck Clemons scored and reviewed the bids, with Tomahawk coming out as the leader.

Daniel Bostick, president of Tomahawk Transportation, was present at the meeting to give a presentation to the board. He said the company mainly specializes in daily school bus route transportation, particularly for charter and private schools.

“However, we also will work with public schools for field trip transportation, athletics, special occasion rentals—pretty much anything that you can use a school bus for, we try to provide that to the communities that we work with,” he added.

Bostick said the most important priorities for his company, which they also want to bring to the Newberry community, are reliability and safety.

“They kind of work hand in hand with each other,” he said.

Bostick said Tomahawk will provide NCS with six buses—four primary and two reserve. He said the two back-up buses are in case of mechanical problems with one of the main buses; a driver can use one of the spare buses.

Roberts said the city of Newberry has offered NCS bus parking that is very close to the school, noting that the buses would be parked overnight in a fenced area.

As for the bus routes, Bostick said that at this time with the RFP, it’s probably best to start with four routes for NCS. He noted that they already have the routes currently set by Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS).

“We’ll see if any changes or efficiencies can be made from there,” he said.

Bostick also touched on Tomahawk’s plans for hiring. He said the company plans to have four full-time drivers and one operations manager on site in Newberry.

“[The] preference is to hire current Newberry and/or Alachua County drivers,” he added. “We want people that are familiar with your community and hopefully have families here …”

Bostick said he intends to have the four drivers and one operations manager on staff six weeks before the start of the school year, if not earlier, to complete training and make sure they have the routes memorized.

“My plan is on day one for all of our drivers to be fully prepared and ready to go, along with our maintenance staff and anything else that needs to be in place,” he said.

Roberts said the contract with Tomahawk is for two years (2026-27 and 2027-28 school year). A finalized agreement will come back to the board for a vote at a later date.

Settlement agreement with SBAC

During the meeting, the board also unanimously approved a settlement agreement with the SBAC that stemmed from legal fees.

Attorneys on behalf of Newberry Community School Inc. filed a petition with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) on Jan. 16, seeking $91,418.26 in attorney’s fees and costs brought on by the SBAC’s failed attempt to appeal the NES charter conversion. The NCSB voted to ratify the filing of the petition for legal fees at a meeting on Jan. 26.

Court records show that attorneys for both NCS and the SBAC filed a joint motion on Feb. 5 “to extend all case-related deadlines” after Administrative Law Judge G.W. Chisenhall had issued an order on Jan. 21, instructing the SBAC to respond to NCS’s request for attorney’s fees and costs within 20 days. Attorneys for both parties said that since the filing of the petition on Jan. 16, NCS and the SBAC had “engaged in meaningful discussions regarding a resolution on the matter.”

Chisenhall granted a 30-day extension on Feb. 6, according to court records.

During the meeting, NCSB Attorney Shawn Arnold, who is listed as one of the attorneys for NCS in the petition, said that after back-and-forth negotiations with the SBAC they had reached a settlement of $82,500.

Arnold called the settlement “reasonable.”

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.