Author

Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney is the marketing communications manager for Step Up For Students. He joined the organization after a distinguished career as a sports and features writer for several Florida newspapers, including the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Bay Times.

How a great-grandmother and a school choice scholarship changed the lives of two young girls

Roger Mooney February 25, 2021

Roger Mooney

Sharon Strickland’s great-granddaughters, Savannah and Karlee, gather shells on Daytona Beach.

Editor’s note: This story about how one family is participating in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program first appeared on Step Up For Students’ sister blog.

On a Friday morning in March 2020, a judge granted Sharon Strickland temporary custody of her great-granddaughter, Savannah.

The little girl, 8 at the time, had been living in unsanitary conditions, Strickland said, with an elderly relative who was in failing health. Savannah often went hungry.

According to Sharon, the family dynamic has been complicated and the children’s mother lost parental rights to all four of her daughters.

The youngest great-grandchild, Karlee, was already living with Strickland, having been placed there by the state four months earlier. Karlee arrived at Strickland’s doorstep at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday in early November 2019, carrying all her possessions in a backpack and a trash bag. She was 3.

Savannah came with even less. Just the clothes she wore that day to school – a shirt that was missing a few buttons and tattered pants. No socks.

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February 25, 2021 0 comment

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Elisabeth’s story: From a mom’s worst nightmare to a mom’s best dream

Roger Mooney November 2, 2020

Roger Mooney

Elisabeth Edwards 9, attends Master’s Training Academy in Apopka, a K-12 private Christian school about 20 miles outside of Orlando, on a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

Elisabeth Edwards came home from school one afternoon and told her mom that she wanted to die.

She was 6.

Elisabeth was stupid, she told her mom. That’s how they made her feel at school. She questioned why God made her that way. She questioned why God made her at all.

She told her mom that she wanted to kill herself. She asked if she could kill herself right then.

Her daughter’s words were nearly too much for Consuelo to process. But she clung to the hope that Elisabeth was having a rough time adjusting to the first grade and to her new school, and this was her way of acting out.

But then Elisabeth began banging her head against the walls at home when she was angry. Then she started banging her head against the walls at school.

“That’s when I knew she was serious,” Consuelo said.

Elisabeth, now 9, has a sensory disorder that can prevent her from processing at lot of information at once. It became an issue soon after Elisabeth began attending the first grade. She would get confused in class and grew angry over her confusion. What Elisabeth perceived as a less-than-empathetic reaction from those around her – classmates and teachers – made the situation worse.

That’s when Elisabeth developed suicidal thoughts. Consuelo found a therapist and another school for her daughter. Elisabeth lasted a week. Administrators at the new school asked Consuelo to withdraw Elisabeth because they weren’t equipped to handle students with behavioral issues.

Consuelo and her husband, Maxwell, a plumber, qualified for a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, one of two income-based scholarships managed by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog. She found herself scrolling through the school directory on Step Up’s website, searching for one near their Apopka, Florida, home that accepts students with a sensory disorder.

Consuelo came across Master’s Training Academy in Apopka, a K-12 private Christian school about 20 miles outside of Orlando. The school focuses on students with behavioral health and learning disabilities. She called Helenikki Thompson, the school principal. Consuelo was upfront about Elisabeth’s condition and expected to be turned away. Thompson invited Elisabeth to spend a day at the school.

It was a perfect match. Elisabeth is now in the fourth grade at Master’s. She has a legion of friends. She leaves thank you notes and homemade muffins for her teachers. She said she can’t remember the last time she was angry at school.

“I felt like I was at home, because I just saw everybody was happy,” Elisabeth said of that first visit. “All the kids were funny, happy, everything that you would want in a friend. So was the teacher.”

Consuelo no longer receives phone calls from exasperated teachers and is no longer worried about her daughter’s mental health. She said she owes Elisabeth’s life to Master’s Training Academy and to Step Up.

“If it wasn’t for Master’s, I’d probably be going to grave site grieving for her,” Consuelo said. “It was that bad.”

‘We want her back’

Consuelo describes her daughter as an outgoing young lady with a beautiful smile and a warm heart.

“To me she is a typical person who is trying to find her way in a world that is full of craziness,” Consuelo said. “Sometimes, when she was young, she didn’t know how to internalize that.”

A person’s tone of voice can provoke Elisabeth. Stern language from the teachers and staff at the first two schools Elisabeth attended only made her outbursts worse.

“I had broken out in hives when she was going through all that,” Consuelo said. “That’s how bad it was. It was because of nerves. When your kid goes through something, you go through something.”

Elisabeth did have an outburst during her initial visit to Master’s Training Academy. It happened when a teacher asked her to read out loud. Elisabeth received speech therapy to help her properly enunciate words. She had some bad experiences when asked in school to read in front of the class. She thought this new teacher was setting her up for more embarrassment.

The reaction from Thompson, who was in the room, was not what Consuelo or her daughter expected.

Thompson remembers telling Elisabeth, “I’m sorry for your past hurt. I don’t know who hurt you. We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help you.”

She said she gave Elisabeth a hug and told her she would see her the next day.

“I don’t know what type of experiences she had, but I know she was hurt,” Thompson said. “She was damaged really bad.”

Thompson’s son, Brendan, was bullied in his district school. He received therapy and attended Apopka Christian Academy for high school, where he attended on a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. He graduated in 2016 and is currently enrolled in Seminole State College of Florida.

Dealing with what her son went through gives Thompson a unique perspective on why children can feel threatened at school. Thompson and her staff do not raise their voices when a student is acting out. They try to dilute the situation with kind words and hugs. The school has a quiet room, where a student go to calm down. The room has soft lighting and comfortable chairs. The student can read, listen to soft music or pray if they choose.

Teachers at Master’s have been known to diffuse a situation by taking the student or the entire class outside for some fresh air. Thompson said there is at least one activity a week that allows the students to put away the books and have some fun. An example: a spa day for the elementary school girls, where they do each other’s hair and nails. Pre-pandemic, of course.

Consuelo said it took Elisabeth months before she realized she could trust the staff at her new school. And when she did, she took off academically.

“I can tell you, when someone breaks down a kid, they can really break a kid down, and it takes a long time to build a kid back up,” Consuelo said. “What they did for her in the beginning, when she had her blowouts and cried, the teacher would look at her and say, ‘You know what? We still love you here. You can be mad at us and you can cry, but we’ll see you again tomorrow.’”

Thompson remembers a day not long after Elisabeth enrolled when Consuelo came after school to pick up her daughter. Consuelo asked Thompson how the day went. Thompson said Elisabeth had a moment.

“She said, ‘I’m sorry. I know you don’t want her back,’” Thompson recalled. “I said, ‘Why would you say that? We want her back. I just want you to know as a parent that she was having a bad day.’”

Master’s tailored the curriculum for Elisabeth, giving her extra time in subjects where she struggled and letting her advance at her own pace in those where she excelled.

Elisabeth has stopped telling her mom that she feels stupid. “I feel like I’m the smartest kid in the world,” she said.

Consuelo volunteers at the school. She’ll help out in the main office, chaperon field trips and watch a class if a teacher needs to step away. She has nothing but praise for Master’s Training Academy, the empathy toward Elisabeth shown by Thompson and her staff, and for Step Up, for managing the scholarship that enabled Elisabeth to attend the school.

“(Master’s) represent the scholarship very well,” Consuelo said. “If it wasn’t for Step Up, I wouldn’t be able to afford the tuition. I owe (Step Up) my daughter’s life, and that means the world to me.”

November 2, 2020 0 comment

Private Schools School Choice Student spotlight

Science project, hit movie has scholar reaching for the stars

Roger Mooney June 13, 2019

Roger Mooney

Zanaya Chase, back left, a sixth-grader at the Dixon School of Arts & Sciences in Pensacola, teamed up with classmates Ty’Shawn Jenkins, front, and Jayla Brown, on a nationally-recognized science project.

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Zanaya Chase wants to be a fashion designer. Or a scientist.

Or, a fashion designer and a scientist.

For as long as she can remember, Zanaya has dreamed of designing outfits that are mall-hip or red carpet-chic. Lately, her creativity is leading her in a new direction: spacesuits. Functional and stylish.

“If a lady wants to go into space and she wants to look good, I got something for her,” said Zanaya, a sixth-grader at the Dixon School of Arts & Sciences in Pensacola.

“Why not?” is her mother’s response.

“I always tell her, ‘You do what makes you happy. Do what you like and what interests you and not somebody else,’” said Zoila Davis, who is thrilled to hear her daughter talk confidently about her future.

“Just do something productive,” Davis adds. “That’s all I ask.”

But getting Zanaya to this point wasn’t easy. It took three schools, one hit motion picture, her inclusion in a school science project – and a chance encounter with an African-American female NASA scientist.

Expanding minds

Dixon School principal Donna Curry believes there’s a switch inside each student that once flipped, unleashes unlimited potential.

She sees the Dixon School as a launching pad of possibilities for her students, nearly all of whom come from lower-income households and attend the K-8 private school with the help of a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, managed by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.

“Many of our children have lost hope,” Curry said. “They don’t see themselves going anywhere or doing anything other than what they see (on the streets). So to turn that light on and for them to say, ‘I want to be an engineer,’ or ‘I want to be a scientist,’ or ‘I want to be a fashion designer,’ or ‘I want to be a chef,’ and know that the light is on, we found the switch.”

For 12-year-old Zanaya, who attends Dixon on a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the turnaround came in stages, the first of which arrived when her mother enrolled her at the school as a fourth grader.

Zanaya had attended her neighborhood school for two years and had passed her classes but didn’t feel she was learning anything. She attended a private school in third grade but didn’t find it a good fit.

Meanwhile, life at home wasn’t easy. Her parents struggled with trying to make it as a family, and Zanaya was shuttled back and forth between her father in Miami and her mother in Pensacola.

Zanaya’s aunt, Margo Long, noticed her niece never seemed happy.

“You could tell she had a lot of heaviness on her,” Long said. “She was in a dark place.”

But once at Dixon, Zanaya quickly became entranced with the school’s arts focus. Founded in 2008, the school’s goal is to integrate core academics, engaging field trips and exposure to world-renowned visiting artists. Students are encouraged to experiment with materials such as clay, marble and copper and are introduced to professional dancers, musicians and actors.

Another pivotal moment for Zanaya came when she saw the movie Hidden Figures, a film about a trio of African-American female mathematicians and engineers at NASA. She made yet another leap when she became part of a science project that required her to test water samples and interview fishermen to determine which fish inhabited a nearby creek.

Zanaya’s findings earned her the status of “citizen scientist” and catapulted her to the exhibition floor at the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans. Her biggest boost of all came at the conference, where she met a real-life African-American female NASA scientist.

Hope for the future

Working alongside her fellow students in the mud at the creek motivated Zanaya. In the second phase of the project, the students identified insects that are part of the food chain. Once again, they were invited to the American Geophysical Union conference, this time in Washington, D.C.

The trio has begun work on the next phase, which requires them to develop their own questions about life at the creek and research answers. Another trip to the America Geophysical Union conference later this year could be in their future.

Zanaya’s mom is thrilled that her daughter now comes home from school eager to share what she learned that day.

“Her mind has really opened,” Davis said. “It’s been a complete turnaround. She’s very independent. I don’t have to check on her with her schoolwork. She’s on top of her assignments. She communicated with her teachers. She gets good grades.

“They really did find that switch.”

About the Dixon School of Arts & Sciences

Founded in 2008, the private K-8 school offers fine arts, science, technology, engineering and math. The school blends core academics with field trips and the arts. Tuition is $4,600 plus an additional $2,400 in registration, fees, books and supplies, transportation and field trips. More than 90 percent of the students are on scholarships administered by Step Up For Students.

June 13, 2019 0 comment

Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice Student spotlight Tax Credit Scholarships

Latin, Julius Caesar and a second chance at senior year

Roger Mooney June 4, 2019

Roger Mooney

Josh Carlson with his mother, Kadirah Abdel, on the evening he received a Turnaround Student Award during Step Up For Students’ annual Rising Stars Award event

DAVIE, Fla. – Josh Carlson pulled up a chair in his guidance counselor’s office at American Preparatory Academy, turned and greeted a visitor.

“Salve,” he said, which is Latin for “hello.”

The previous summer, the one he should have spent preparing for his freshman year of college, he taught himself Latin – and reflecting on what went wrong the year he attempted 12^th grade for the first time.

His conclusion: “Just a lack of motivation on my part.”

At least three people close to Josh – his mother, Kadirah Abdel, his principal, Soraya Matos, and his guidance counselor, Norman Levitan – agree. Each sensed a serious student inside Josh yearning for an opportunity to be set free. They found his lack of motivation a never-ending source of frustration.

The 17-year-old could be engaging with his teachers, capable of leading the class in deep discussions. He also could be disruptive and unmotivated, unwilling to complete his assignments on time.

Matos hoped having Josh repeat his senior year would be a wake-up call.

“I wanted to give him another chance,” Matos said. “I believed it was a maturity issue and eventually he would understand that this was his last chance.”

He did.

“I pondered the way I was doing things over the summer,” Josh said. “I thought, ‘Man, I got to really step up, because I’m repeating.’ It was sort of the cataclysmic moment for me. I knew I had to do something to improve my study ethic.”

A different kid

Josh never fit in at his neighborhood schools. While other kids were into pop culture, he was into Julius Caesar.

“He was very to himself, very shy,” Abdel said. “The other kids were into stuff he wasn’t interested in.”

The other kids read Facebook posts. Josh read the dictionary.

“He was bullied and picked on,” Abdel said. “That was my main concern. That’s when I knew I had to take action here, do something.”

Administrators at Josh’s zoned public school wanted to place him in classes for emotionally challenged students. Abdel acknowledged that Josh “acted up,” but disagreed that he had a disability. She was convinced he misbehaved because he was bored.

She learned about the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship managed by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog. The scholarship allowed her to send Josh to the Sunset Sadbury School, a K-12 private school in Fort Lauderdale, when Josh was in seventh grade.

He moved to Alternative Education Foundation School, a nonprofit private school in Fort Lauderdale, the following year and stayed through his sophomore year in high school.

“Once he got to private school, he did a lot better,” Abdel said.

But there were still issues.

“I didn’t behave so well,” Josh said. “I didn’t get along with the students and the teachers.”

Abdel finally turned to American Prep, a K-12 private school of 150 students with no more than 12 to a class. Matos, the principal, describes it as school designed for students who don’t fit in at neighborhood schools. Kids who “fall through the cracks.”

Josh thrived, passing his junior classes. But senior year was fraught with self-inflicted struggles.

He loves to learn, but on his terms.

“He enjoys reading and studying on his own,” Abdel said. “Not necessarily being told, ‘Okay, you have to study for this test.’ He enjoys studying, but when he wants.”

He speaks Spanish, Latin and Italian and wants to be a linguist. He writes poetry and enjoys Emily Dickinson, E.E. Cummings, Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman. He is well-versed in Greek and Roman history and is fascinated with Julius Caesar.

“I’d like to write books about this stuff,” he said. “Phonology. Nerdy things.”

But first he had to graduate from high school.

The wake-up call

At one point last year, Matos said she thought her school wasn’t the right fit for Josh. But where would he go? What school would make room for a senior who couldn’t graduate?

In the end, she and Abdel thought it best for Josh to repeat his senior year at American Prep.

“I think it was the kick he needed, the wake-up call,” Abdel said. “When he saw his friends graduate but he didn’t, that’s when he stepped up his game.”

While those friends made plans for their freshman years at college, Josh wrapped his mind around another senior year of high school. He didn’t have a job, so he had plenty of time on his hands.

What to do?

He reached for a copy of Wheelock’s Latin, which he received a few years ago, and started teaching himself Latin.

“One day I was looking at it, staring at it, and I thought, ‘I’ve had this for so long I should just learn it already,’ ” he said.

Once the school year started, his productivity extended beyond the classroom. He began mentoring younger students, sharing his experience as a cautionary tale. In February, he received a Turnaround Student Award during Step Up For Students’ annual Rising Stars Award event, an honor for which Matos nominated him.

He graduated in May. He plans to attend Broward College this fall and is formulating plans for his future.

He wants work with words – foreign words. And he wants to visit Italy and Greece. Walk where Julius Caesar walked. Converse with the locals in their native tongue.

He can get by with his Latin and Italian and Spanish. But Greek? He doesn’t speak Greek.

“No,” he said. “Not yet.”

About American Preparatory Academy

The K-12 private school has 150 students. More than half are on scholarships administered by Step Up For Students with the majority receiving the Gardiner Scholarship. Tuition ranges from $10,500 to $16,000 based on student need. The school has a comprehensive Exceptional Student Education program focused on the individual needs of each student. It also offers dual enrollment, summer classes, summer camps, athletics and extracurricular activities.

June 4, 2019 0 comment