The Charter School of Excellence is proud to be an "A" school! Find out more.

The Charter School of Excellence is about recommitting ourselves to the highest standards of education rather than minimum basic skills. The Charter School of Excellence, Inc. believes, because of its location, that most of its applicants will come from the working population of the downtown Fort Lauderdale business district where some 20,000 people work. The school opened on August 17, 1997 with 150 students from kindergarten to grade 2 and we have added an additional grade each year. We believe there are an abundance of parents with children of this age group in the area. Currently we have students in grades K through 5.

Parents must agree to sign our Parent Contract. By signing the contract, parents agree to transport their child to our facility. Our reasons for requiring parents to provide transportation are twofold. One, it provides student and parent time to converse and strengthen their relationship. Second, studies have shown that busing is regressive to students and families. It is our intention to eliminate this negative impact.

The parent contract specifies the time each day that parents will spend with their child in studies and homework. The contract also obligates the parent for a number of volunteer hours each semester for field trips, room parenting and staffing during the drop off and pick-up periods before and after school. We receive students beginning at 7:30 a.m. to accommodate working hours and expect them to be picked up by 6 p.m. Our school instructional day is from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. We offer academic enrichment from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. for an additional fee. The parents must also provide uniforms for their children, as well as lunch money or bag lunches.

We have adopted Core Knowledge and the Character First! program as the basis of our curriculum. Core Knowledge makes up 50% of our curriculum and incorporates the Sunshine State Standards. Core Knowledge and Character First! are used by the most successful charter schools across the nation.

Our intent is to concentrate on teaching students responsibility, ethics, morals, respect, good manners, citizenship, a quality work ethic, and to have pride in the democratic process by which we live. They will learn how to listen, comprehend, and communicate. It is our belief that the ability to be an effective communicator provides the foundation for a successful and productive life.

OUR PROPOSAL

The Charter School of Excellence, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to creating better public schools for Florida students. We have a vision for Florida, based on our belief that we all want the same thing - outstanding schools. By empowering parents and teachers and by working together, we can transform our schools into what we know they can be.