A first-of-its kind charter school will open in Mobile in 2024, with hopes of providing area students with access to advanced instruction in visual and performing arts.

The Alabama Public Charter School Commission unanimously voted to approve The Floretta P. Carson Visual and Performing Arts Academy Tuesday. The academy, named for a late Mobile-area music educator, will have a school of music, dance, theater and visual arts.

“It’s clear that you put your time and your heart and the work into this,” commission Chair Ty Moody told representatives o the school at a board meeting Tuesday in Montgomery. “I’m just excited for your vision and that it’ll be everything that you envisioned it to be.”

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The school plans to open its doors to 245 sixth through ninth graders in August 2024. Eventually, it wants to enroll 320 students from grades 6-12 by 2029. Families will need to apply for seats, but there will be not restrictive requirements to enroll.

Currently, just one other school in Alabama, the Alabama School for Fine Arts in Birmingham, provides all-around arts offerings. Floretta P. Carson leaders say they want to create more “meaningful access points” for students in southeast Alabama to receive an arts education.

They say they’ll provide world-renowned mentors, one-on-one instruction and opportunities to showcase their work in front of the community. The college preparatory school will offer an advanced high school diploma with pre-AP and AP courses.

“Through this school, we will be able to continue the work and legacy of Floretta P. Carson – and that is to touch students’ lives in ways unimaginable,” said CEO Krista Williams, a local musician and music educator.

Is the school sustainable?

Floretta P. Carson will be Mobile’s third charter school. ACCEL Academy opened in 2017 and serves several counties. Covenant Academy plans to open in 2023.

Mobile County Public Schools is not a designated charter school authorizer. Local applicants must seek state approval.

Despite high marks from evaluators, the state commission denied the Floretta P. Carson’s original application in May 2022, citing concerns with staffing, facilities, financing and community support.

Some commissioners voiced similar concerns at the Tuesday work session, but ultimately voted to approve the school.

“When I’m reading what you’re telling me, it’s amazing, but when I’m looking at the budget, it’s unsustainable,” said Commissioner Luis Ferrer, who also questioned leaders on their ability to staff English language and special education services.

Commissioner Paul Morin, who has a background in the arts, praised leaders for garnering widespread community support, but said he worried about the school’s ability to attract and pay high-quality staff.

“I do have some very deep concerns regarding viability,” he said. “Especially when we are dealing with horrific teacher shortages.”

Leaders estimate that they need to raise about $150,000 annually to operate the school, and say they are confident that they can garner enough community support to sustain it.

They have since secured about $1.5 million in grant funding, and an additional $45,500 in funding from the county commission. The Mobile Area Education Foundation, which currently supports ACCEL Day and Evening Academy, will also provide a facility, as well as additional accounting and financing support.

Williams, who has worked in several high-poverty schools, said she has the experience to weather any unexpected financial challenges.

“That gave me the perspective on how to do this work, and how to sustain this program for not just five years, but in the years ahead,” she said.

Public support

At a public hearing in January, several local music educators, students and arts advocates voiced their support for the school, calling it a “necessary” effort to grow students’ potential, close achievement gaps and strengthen the region’s arts scene.

“I just have butterflies in my stomach thinking about what a good thing this is going to be for our young people,” said Merle Pendelton, a Mobile-based piano teacher.

According to the Alabama Arts Alliance, the top 10 skills children learn from the arts are creativity, confidence, problem solving, focus, nonverbal communication, receiving constructive criticism, collaboration, dedication and accountability.

Research also suggests that having access to a high-quality arts education may help narrow achievement gaps between high- and low-income students.

“I think it’s very vital particularly in this area, which has a strong arts base, that we offer these opportunities that are gonna allow our children to excel,” said Reggie Hill, a music educator who runs a local non-profit for at-risk youth. “It’s too often that we see so many things that are on the negative side, which is what our children are exposed to. And this is an opportunity and outlet to get them beyond that.”

William Vassel, a student and clarinet player at Mattie T. Blount High School, was mentored by Williams and credits her for his success in the program.

He said he wants other students in the area to have the same access to skilled music educators.

“Students at my school – we are so talented,” he said. “But we don’t know what to do with it.”

‘We need more’

Community arts advocates say current state efforts to infuse art education into local schools are promising, but without dedicated classes, there’s still going to be a need for students who want to pursue the arts as a profession.

“In every one of these schools, whether you’re all the way down in South Mobile County in Bayou la Batre, or all the way up north in Citronelle, there’s five or six kids and this is their passion,” said Chris Paragone, CFO of Azalea City Center for the Arts. “This is where they fit in. This is what they need. And how wonderful would it be for these kids to have a school to call their home, a school to be their own place where they can be themselves.”

Mobile County Public Schools currently offer career academies, which allow students to pursue career tracks in band, dance, studio art and photography in some schools. But teachers and parents say there’s a need for more.

“There’s really no competition, there’s room for growth here,” said Yvonne Reed Matthews, a former arts teacher at LeFlore High School. “Not trying to compete with the public school system or anything — we need more.”

Melissa, a parent of a 12-year-old who spoke at the hearing last month, said a new school would save her hundreds of dollars in online services and countless travel time that she’s currently spending to expose her daughter to different programs.

“Some kids don’t fit in in a regular public school,” she said. “But if they’re with their theater friends or their music friends or their dance friends, they totally fit in and they’re happy and they’re proud and they get to hold their heads high down the hall.”