A New High School Planned For Weston; Frank Till Returns
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Weston may finally get a new high school.
A team better known in politics than education is seeking to open a charter high school in that upscale city.
The team will operate the new Renaissance High School, designed to serve 2,400 Weston high school students five years after it opens. The school could open as early as August 2010.
The board includes Ken Haiko as Chairman and President.
Haiko is a long-time acquaintance of mine. He’s a real nice guy and a veteran Republican insider. His father was a commissioner in Pompano Beach in the 1970s when the GOP controlled Broward politics.
Another board member is Laura R. Seidman, former general council of the Republican-dominated North Broward Hospital District. Her husband is Broward County Judge Lee Seidman.
The board also includes Clarence McKee, a lawyer who was an Reagan Administration figure. He worked out of the Rudin McClosky law firm in Fort Lauderdale and now operates a consulting business.
I’ve got a question: Where can they find room for a high school in Weston? The School Board couldn’t find the land after searching for years.
A spokesman for developer Ron Bergeron, who has Weston land the School Board looked at earlier this year, said he had “absolutely no role” in the charter school deal and has not talked with the group or offered his land for sale.
The School Board also looked at land at the Bonaventure Golf Course, but it was criticized by staff as being difficult to develop.
Meanwhile, Former School Superintendent Frank Till wants to return to education.
Till, who was fired by School Board member over two years ago, is part of a team that wants to open three charter schools for students in risk of dropping out.
The application for the schools, called Maverick’s high schools, says it will be a year around school. It also says it will offer “cyber athletics and “cyber gaming.
Also on the management committee is basketball star Dwayne Wade, the Miami Heat guard.
My younger kid played plenty of cyber gaming and cyber athletics during high school, but I don’t think that’s what got him into UF.
Former School Board member Abe Fischler — the guy who helped make Nova Southeastern University what it is today — signed a letter of recommendation for the new charter schools.
Till and company didn’t impress the school staff. They recommended that the School Board reject the application, which they say is “deficient.
November 11th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for a new school through two children. Maybe my third will get a chance to go to a school that isn’t overcrowded.
November 11th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Weston deserves a school. We have the most overcrowded schools in the county. If the School Board can not provide a school, a private charter school is welcome. Bring it on!
November 12th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Where will they put this thing? We need it. Lets at least make it a school our children can walk to – Save the Environment!!
Our kids need some extra exercise anyways.