Gifted Program Heads To Challenger

SPRING HILL - They don't call it "Challenger" for nothing.
Early Thursday evening, the Hernando County School Board's gifted education task force chose Challenger K-8 School of Mathematics and Science in Spring Hill as the site for the county's future gifted education center, set to open this August.
Though the task force's site recommendation must still be passed by school board members on Feb. 5, the center will place more than 400 of the county's kindergarten through eighth-grade students in gifted classes in one location, instead of the district's current means of offering separate classes at each school.
Other discussed options for the program were Parrott Middle School, the new Explorer K-8 or a new freestanding location, built on vacant acreage on Spring Hill Drive or Mobley Road.
However, with costs estimated as high as $19 million, the idea of building a new school was quickly cut. Parrott, also, was eliminated quickly.
Since 33 percent of the county's gifted students already attend Challenger, officials noted that the transition would be easier for those students, rather than having to switch schools.
"Marketing the program at a different school would be difficult," West Hernando Middle School principal Joe Clifford said.
Construction costs of placing the center at Challenger are expected to cost the district an estimated $100,000 for new walls, while placing it at Explorer K-8 would cost nothing.
However, since Challenger is a magnet school, transportation is already in place for children across the district. Explorer is a neighborhood school, meaning that transportation costs for a gifted program at Explorer could easily exceed $100,000, including the purchase of additional busses and fuel, said longtime school board member and vice-chairman Jim Malcolm.
Challenger Principal Sue Stoops is ready, he added.
"The administrator wants it, she has space to accommodate it and transportation is already in place at Challenger," Malcolm said.
As the program expands, officials will most likely decrease the number of new students accepted to Challenger's current magnet program.
In August, 124 gifted students will be moved there from the district's other middle and elementary schools.
Task force members decided against creating a segregated "gifted wing," opting instead to have classes dispersed throughout the school, to create more interaction with peers and less stigmatization.
"The proof is in the pudding," Clifford said. "We've integrated kids with disabilities at our school, and it works great. The development of social-emotional (growth) is so important."
A student is defined as "gifted" if he or she scores at least two standard points above the mean IQ score, and passes at least two sections on a state IQ test.
However, since students may not be gifted in all areas, some may be attending a combination of gifted and regular classes.
And just because a student is "gifted" doesn't mean they won't need help, district curriculum specialist Elaine Wooten said.
"As we dream for these students, we cannot forget they have to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test," she said. "We have a significant number of gifted students eligible for remediation. I would hope that we have (appropriate tutoring) for them at the new school."
By August, officials hope to hire teachers committed to gifted enrichment, formulate a specific education plan modified to the new school and a collaborative standard mission and vision.
The task force aims to model its curriculum after similar programs in other counties such as Sarasota and Palm Beach, which already have gifted programs in place.
The task force, which includes district administrators, teachers, staff and parents involved with local gifted children, must submit its recommendations to the board by April 1.
The money for the implementation of the program would come out of the district's capital improvement fund.
Once identified, students who qualify as "gifted" fall under the umbrella of exceptional student education, or ESE, and bring in about $2,100 more in state per-student funding.
This year, the district reported 2.5 percent of its elementary students as gifted. The state average is 3.7. However, many other students may be unidentified.
The next task force meeting will take place at 4 p.m. Jan. 24 at the media center at West Hernando Middle School, 14325 Ken Austin Parkway in Brooksville. It will be preceded by two subcommittee meetings at 2:30 p.m.