St. Lucie Public Schools launches "a la carte" courses for scholarship and homeschool students

St. Lucie Public Schools on July 28 unveiled an "a la carte" program that will let eligible scholarship and homeschool students take up to three part-time courses at district schools. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Weilman told the board the district is contracting with Step Up for Students so families use funds in their Emma accounts to pay invoices rather than paying cash.

"We are calling our program, a la carte," Dr. Weilman said, describing a catalog that includes ACE, AP and CTE courses, arts and language offerings. She said the district has set procedures so contracted students can be tracked for attendance and grades without counting them as full-time enrollees for funding or accountability.

The district will enroll students through SchoolMint, invoice families' Emma accounts and notify host schools when a contracted student is assigned, Dr. Weilman said. Each participating school will name an "a la carte" contact to provide orientations and logistics (door entry, parking, schedules) for part-time students. "Bridgette Hargadine has worked through this entire process to make sure that it's smooth," Weilman said, crediting the project lead for coordinating finance, IT and communications.

Board member Aronson asked how the district will ensure full-time students keep priority; Weilman said staff will monitor course rosters and remove offerings that become full. The district also plans training for principals, counselors, registrars and teachers so part-time students are identified in school systems but do not affect roster-based accountability measures.

Weilman said marketing is underway through Step Up for Students and district communications. She related that some parents had been confused about eligibility when the district began advertising the program and that Step Up produced a clarifying video used on the district landing page. Weilman said enrollment opened the same day as the workshop.