Coastal Connections Academy presents turnaround plan after earning F grade

Coastal Connections Academy, the only charter associated with the Santa Rosa County School District, earned an F school grade for 2024–25 and presented a detailed turnaround plan to the Santa Rosa County School Board on Aug. 7.

Interim school leader Tiffany Donnelly told the board Coastal's results are “an emergent situation that changes need to be made,” and outlined staffing, curriculum and operational changes intended to raise student performance.

Donnelly said the school will increase live instruction, add instructional coaches, replace some software, require greater student attendance for live lessons and use targeted small-group interventions. She said the school will move from the Edmentum platform to IXL for math and science practice, add a Pearson-provided math coach and literacy coach, and hired an additional intervention specialist to run small-group sessions. “We have completely changed our live lesson schedules,” Donnelly said, adding that students who do not attend live instruction may be disenrolled under new compliance rules.

Nut graf: The district and Coastal's board acknowledged the seriousness of the F grade; Coastal leaders said the school will prioritize live instruction, coaching, a revised handbook and incentives tied to attendance and gains. The district and Coastal said they will pursue outside supports, and Coastal's board committed to provide resources the school needs.

The presentation reviewed three years of assessment data the school used to set objectives. Donnelly said math is the greatest area of need — fourth-grade math proficiency was particularly low — and that the school will triple its prior live-instruction time for core subjects and run four-week “impact cycles” to monitor whether interventions work. She said certain subgroups, including Black/African American students and other ESSA subgroups, will receive targeted support.

Board members pressed for evidence the plan will be implemented and effective. Supervisor of schools Michael Thorpe and district staff described legal and contractual constraints for charter oversight but said the board and district have tools to monitor and — if necessary — act on persistent poor performance. Thorpe told the board Coastal will be eligible to return to the board for contract renewal next year and noted that a charter can face board action, including removal, after two consecutive years of an F under Florida law and the contract terms.

Tiffany Donnelly provided a month-by-month action-plan spreadsheet to district staff. She said the school will operate 23 in-person testing sites across the state to ensure fidelity of state assessments and reported that last year fewer than five percent of Coastal students resided in Santa Rosa County; the school's administrative office is in Pensacola.

Board Chair (Coastal board) Dr. Riad, who attended by phone, said Coastal's board is meeting regularly with school leadership and Pearson (the educational partner) to provide supports. Superintendent Karen Barber said district staff have met repeatedly with Coastal leadership and will offer district resources where appropriate. Thorpe encouraged Coastal to “avail themselves” to the Bureau of School Improvement (BSI) if BSI can provide technical assistance similar to what helped a district school recover from lower performance.

Ending: Coastal leaders agreed to increased district oversight and to return with progress updates. The district said school improvement plans for all schools, including Coastal, will be included on upcoming agendas for board review and approval.