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Superintendent outlines athletics plan, driver’s-ed options, FDA food-safety grant and other projects
Summary
Superintendent Jackie Collins briefed the board on athletic-field designs and permitting, the district’s short-term approach to a new driver’s-education requirement, an FDA/HHS grant application to study and reduce ultra-processed foods in school meals, a culinary renovation study and an AI micro-credentialing completion by staff.
Superintendent Jackie Collins used her June 24 report to update the OASIS Charter School Board on several major projects and pending initiatives, including athletic-field design work, a state driver’s-education requirement that takes effect July 1, an FDA-backed school-meals research grant application, a planned study for a culinary-kitchen renovation and a recent AI micro-credentialing program for staff.
Athletics and site permits: Collins said engineers completed a Southwest Florida Water Management District submission before anticipated regulatory changes and that the district’s consultant is working to align a 30% design for a new baseball field with an existing 30% design for a football stadium. The goal, Collins said, is to submit a single site-plan and building-permit package so both fields can be permitted together and construction could begin in May 2026. Collins told the board the program target is substantial completion of the project by the 2027–28 school year, subject to permitting and contractor scheduling.
Driver’s education: Collins briefed the board on a new state requirement (effective July 1) that students take a Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles–approved course to obtain a learner’s permit. She noted the law does not mandate that charter schools offer the course but said the district is exploring options. Florida Virtual School (FLVS) currently offers the approved course; Collins said the typical cost if run as a class is about $375 per student and about $267 for a supervised, in-person monitored model. She estimated district-provided offerings could exceed $200,000 a year depending on student uptake and said for the upcoming year the district will instead research private, lower-cost online providers (about $25–$50 per student) while it studies certification and staffing options for an in-house program.
FDA/HHS school-meals grant: Food-service manager Mary (staff) described a recently submitted application to a Department of Health and Human Services/Food and Drug Administration funding opportunity aimed at evaluating toxicological safety and nutritional quality of meals served in the National School Lunch Program. The application requests roughly $1.2 million to purchase replacement freezers and warmers and to support transition costs for moving away from commonly used ultra-processed foods toward fresher options. Collins said the district already submitted baseline meal samples (hot dogs, corn dogs, deli meats, salads and components) for testing and that the FDA program will include implementation, iterative menu rollouts and post-evaluation sampling. Collins said the FDA has a roughly $20 million funding pool and plans to award multiple grants (up to $2 million per award); the district expects notification in late July if it is selected.
Culinary-kitchen renovation study: Collins updated the board on plans to apply for a capital (CAP) grant to renovate the school culinary space. She reported that a city-contracted architect’s preliminary assessment exceeded initial expectations and that a full study will cost about $59,000 (the district had budgeted $15,000). The district will fund the study so it can provide accurate cost estimates for a future grant application.
AI micro-credentialing for staff: Collins said the district partnered with the University of Florida to offer an AI micro-credentialing course; 84 staff enrolled and 61 completed the program and earned a badge. Collins described the credential as classroom-focused professional development and said the district will consider follow-up partnerships with Florida Gulf Coast University or the University of Florida to expand training.
Collins framed the items as implementation-phase activities that will require follow-up work from staff (permitting, grant award management, procurement and training) and asked the board for time to research cost and certification options for driver’s education and the culinary renovation.
Selected Collins quotes from the report: "The goal is to align the site plan application and the building permit submittal of both fields so that all permits are approved and construction can commence in May of 2026." "To make a long story short, this bill ... does not apply to charter schools, so we technically don't have to offer this driver's ed course to our students. But it's really in our best interest to do something for our students because they all have to take it." "We have already submitted our baseline assessment of foods, our initial food samples. They've requested them, so that they can start the testing."
