Dreamers Academy wants to add middle school students, expand its Newtown campus.
Dayana Melendez
Original Air Date: Jan. 10, 2024
Host: Dreamers Academy is the region’s first fully bilingual school. The Sarasota charter school is now seeking to expand their campus near Newtown – the minority-majority neighborhood – into middle school grades. During Tuesday’s school board work session, the school’s administrators presented their request. Dayana Melendez spoke with school founder Geri Chaffee, to a teacher and to a parent.
Dreamers Academy elementary school classroom. Photo: Courtesy Dreamers
Dayana Melendez: Dreamers Academy is reaching a stepping stone of growth as it seeks approval to expand its bilingual education program into middle school. The proposal comes as the school continues to grow its reputation as a model for bilingual education. During Tuesday’s school board work session, the initiative received praise, including from newly elected board member Liz Barker, who shared her impressions after visiting the school.
Liz Barker: I did have the great privilege of getting to see your school in person. And I have never in my life seen happier children at school. I have four of them, so I’m in schools all the time. So kudos to you for that. You have something very, very special.
DM: This success stems from a pressing need identified by founder Geri Chaffee while volunteering at a Title I school.
Geri Chaffee: I just started asking questions, and I realized that 90% of the kids either didn’t speak English or were learning English all through the spectrum of learning their second language. And there was not one certified teacher that knew Spanish. So I was like, how do you teach? children in a school of 600 kids where 90% of them do not understand the language of instruction and it’s a sink or swim. So what they were doing is like, well, they’ll eventually by osmosis will learn it. There wasn’t any differentiated instruction, things that you should be doing when you have English learners in your classroom. That was not being done. So by the time these children learn English, three or four years have passed and they’ve lost all that content instructions. So now they’re behind in reading and writing and science and math.
The school’s campus is sandwiched between US 301 and Newtown Estates.
DM: The school’s approach centers on a simple yet powerful philosophy. Chaffee explains:
GC: If you look at our mission, which you can find it on our website, our mission is like we will develop bilingual, biliterate, and cross-culturally competent students in a caring environment that encourages family engagement and celebrates America. And that was very intentional because we need to celebrate the country and the heritage that we are, you know, here. We need to learn to love our environment. And how are we going to do that? By ensuring that the families are welcome, that they’re supported, that we can teach them how to be engaged in their children’s educational journey, and that the kids are happy. And our principal has a background in psychology. And the way she leads is a very, it’s a servant leadership model. She, from the beginning, always says, a happy child is a child that learns.
DM: Looking ahead, Dreamers Academy has purchased 12 acres for expansion of their existing campus on Leonard Reid Avenue, sandwiched between Newtown Estates, a railroad track and US 301. The impact could be transformative for the district’s approximately 500 English language learners in middle school.
Chaffee suggests bilingual education benefits every student.
Geri Chaffee, r.
GC: Right now, it’s estimated that 40% of children in public schools in Florida speak another language at home. And all of that knowledge is completely lost if we don’t build upon it in our public schools. It’s not just about learning another language. If you look at the scientific evidence of how the brain develops when the brain is exposed to more than one language. Cognition is improved, executive function is improved. Our children are smarter, they’re healthier because there is a lot of evidence now that the bilingual brain helps delay the onset of cognitive diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The bilingual brain is just all lit up.
DM: Science teacher Josh Fraser, who left a real estate career to join Dreamers, sees the benefits both in his classroom and with his own children who attend the school.
Josh Fraser: I don’t care if there’s a bilingual school, if it’s Chinese, Italian, whatever, I want to send my kids there because if you look at the data, these kids have higher IQs, better problem solvers, cognitive abilities, many things. It opens the world to many, many doors, whether that’s friendships or careers later on.
DM: For Hillary Espinoza, a parent and vice president of the Parent Teacher Committee, the expansion represents hope for the future of education.
Hillary Espinoza: I just think that being able to communicate is one of our greatest assets. And when we teach kids, like, how to communicate in lots of different ways, we just set them up for being, like, great leaders, for being compassionate, and for being, you know, problem solvers. And so bilingual education to me is something that both of my children are on track to do. We’re really excited about the expansion into middle school for Dreamers in the coming years and just hope that Dreamers succeeds, but also that our model kind of inspires other communities to grow and expand their bilingual learning opportunities.
DM: The school board did not take any decision on the expansion proposal on Tuesday.
Geri Chaffee says the per-student cost of Dreamers for the school district is less than half the average per-student cost. And the location is special, too.
GC: By locating in Newtown, we feel that we have earned the trust of the community. Not only did we locate at Newtown, we built a state-of-the-art facility with public funds that we own, our school owns it. We’re not renting anymore. We can control the amount that we’re paying on our mortgage. And when I say ‘we’, it’s the school board.
DM: This has been Dayana Melendez with WSLR News.
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