“Imagine School at Palmer Ranch earned three national awards in its first year of operation — Best New School, the Shared Values Award and an award for exemplary Character Education — from its parent organization, Imagine Schools.
Nationwide, Imagine operates 73 public charter schools in 12 states, serving more than 36,000 students.
In mid-July, Alisa Wright joined Imagine School at Palmer Ranch as the new principal. Her first impression, she said, was ‘that this faculty, a very skilled faculty, was not satisfied. These teachers are so humble, even though they just opened the school last year, and had a great year last year; they still felt like there was so much more that they could do.’
Imagine School opened at Palmer Ranch as a public charter school in August 2009 with an enrollment of more than 200. The school continued to grow as students transferred there.
‘We ended the year with 260 students,’ Wright said. ‘This year, we have doubled our classroom space and our enrollment is currently 413. We have started waiting lists in fifth grade and sixth grade and we are approaching capacity in first grade.’
Wright’s education belies her youth; she earned a master’s degree in educational leadership management and has taught in public, private and charter schools.
After being chosen as the new principal, Wright, her husband Paul, and daughters Piper and McKensie journeyed from Tampa to Sarasota.
‘We are thrilled to be in Sarasota,’ she said. ‘I have been so entrenched in Imagine that we have not had an opportunity to see much, but we look forward to exploring the cultural opportunities in Sarasota.’
Piper and McKensie are enrolled in fifth and sixth grade at Imagine.
Paul Wright owns a computer software company; with the help of Dan Tharp, the new computer teacher, and a generous donation of 106 computers from the school board, Wright set up a state-of- the-art computer lab for the new school year.
‘Basically, the new computer lab cost us less than $200 because Paul donated about $10,000,’ Wright said. ‘Between Dan, Paul and the school board we only had to buy the extension cords.’
Wright praised the Sarasota County School Board. ‘Sarasota does a great job of partnering with charter schools to meet the best interests of the students.’
Imagine School at Palmer Ranch is poised for growth. ‘Right now, joining Imagine is a unique opportunity that won’t be available next year,’ Wright said. ‘We only have space for 52 more students.’
Imagine is taking applications for a new preschool that will open in August 2011.
Growth at Imagine School will be balanced with keeping ‘educational integrity intact,’ Wright said.
‘We have enhanced our curriculum to meet the needs of our gifted and talented students and we have the extra hands in the classroom to meet those needs,’ she said. ‘We measured our student’s learning gains and last year, they gained an average of 1.4 years’ growth. I think that we do a really good job of meeting the needs of both ends of the learning spectrum.'”
Article published by the HeraldTribune.com and in print on Page BS4 on October 5, 2010.