Charter School Not Ready For August Debut: Students Must Enroll Elsewhere

Hundreds of students enrolled in a newly-constructed charter school are told they will not have a new school to attend next month.  Permitting and construction delays force a Port St. lucie charter school, Nau Charter School at Becker Road and Port St. Lucie Boulevard to delay opening until Fall of 2009.  With construction at a halt, charter school leaders tried to bring in portable classrooms to open this August, but that was too costly. 

With no temporary place to hold class, they had to call it off. 

"There's plenty of blame to go around.  There's no one particular place to point the finger."

said Dr. Ron Mayes, Nau Charter School Principal, "I am disappointed and our parents are extremely disappointed. But I am trying to see the bright side."

Principal Ron Mayes shows us when it's finished Nau Charter School will be two stories, state-of-the-art, the first of it's kind in Port St. Lucie. A private-school style educuation for neighborhood students.

For now, all 720 enrolled students, and many more on the waiting list will be forced to find a new school to attend by next month. The school had inteviewed teachers, but had not signed any to contracts as of yet. The delay means 100 teachers and staff will not be working at the school this year.

The school construction, once permitting issues are ironed out, should take 14 weeks. One such delay, was the barrier wall constructed was inches off from the approved plan.