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Dreamers Academy seeks grade expansion, outlines dual‑language model and community family‑resource plans
Summary
Dreamers Academy asked the board for permission to expand from its current K–5 offering toward middle grades, described a 50/50 dual‑language model, and outlined plans to buy land and create a family-resource center to address non‑school factors affecting student success.
Dreamers Academy, a relatively new K–5 charter focused on Spanish–English dual language instruction, presented an amendment request Jan. 7 seeking to expand grade levels toward a K–8 program and described plans for a family-resource center and additional middle‑school capacity.
Founder Jerry Chaffee and Head of School Dr. Katherine Rodriguez said Dreamers opened in 2021, serves about 532 students and uses a 50/50 immersion schedule in which students alternate days of English and Spanish instruction. Rodriguez said 95% of staff are multilingual, 72% of students are Title I, about 45% have ESOL identification on record (staff noted actual language-need counts may be higher), and 80% of students are from minority backgrounds.
The school attributed a one‑year drop in its letter grade to a constellation of factors it termed a “bizarre perfect storm”: a high share of students who arrived mid-grade without Spanish skills (which affects testing outcomes), testing-cohort composition rules and small sample-size effects. Dreamers leaders said the school has rapid growth demand and a standing wait list; they requested board support to add middle grades and to approve a planned purchase of nearby land where they intend to build middle‑school capacity and a family-resource center.
Board and staff discussion focused on dual‑language pedagogy, staffing and scalability. Dreamers described teacher-recruitment plans (national and Puerto-Rico outreach, partner colleges, grow‑your‑own pathways), robust family engagement programs and partnerships with local nonprofits and health providers. Board members and staff welcomed Dreamers’ community‑health and family‑resource plan: Dreamers said it intends to develop a center offering health screenings, parenting workshops and wraparound services with partners such as the Florida Department of Health and MCR Health.
District staff noted the school’s PM1/PM2 progress monitoring data and said Dreamers has engaged with district impact-review work; staff recommended continued impact reviews and data chats and will review the amendment request with the Charter Review Committee before a formal board vote.
