Superintendent Says Countryside Montessori Aims to 'Cherry Pick' Students

was granted a second extension to negotiate its contract with the Pasco School District Tuesday, but not without harsh words from Superintendent Heather Fiorentino.

School choice is meant to be a choice for parents, not for schools to “cherry pick” students, Fiorentino said.

A charter school is a public school, and as such must meet the needs of any student who chooses to go there. That includes students with special needs, she said.

If Countryside is not doing that, “there’s a problem.”

Negotiations between the district and the Land O’ Lakes charter school have been going on since March, board attorney Dennis Alfonso noted. The school’s contract expired in June, and it has operated under the terms of the expired contract while negotiating with the district under the extension.

“I’m really disappointed in (Countryside Montessori),” Fiorentino said, noting that this is now the second extension and the request for it was received late.

“I question their good faith in working with us,” she said.

The board unanimously approved a 120-day extension to allow time for mediation with Countryside, but board vice-chairwoman Cynthia Armstong noted that mediation did not guarantee a resolution by the end of that time.
“It’s mediation, not arbitration,” Armstrong said.

Fiorentino said that an agreement would likely be reached after her tenure with the district ends, so it was important for her to “go on the record” to point out that the school needs to agree to meet the needs of every student who chooses to attend there—it can’t pick and choose, she said.

“We’re here for the children,” Fiorentino said.

The school wants to give preferential treatment to children with prior Montessori experience while streamlining the way it determines if it can accomodate children with special needs, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Attorney Steve Winzel attended Tuesday’s board meeting on behalf of Countryside Montessori, thanking the board for granting the extension.

The school shares the district’s goal that every child gets the best education possible, the only difference Countryside has with the board is “how the rubber meets the road,” Winzel said.

School representatives are looking forward to mediation and the process of talking through those differences, he said.

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