- December 14, 2025
The Heritage Academy lost its appeal 4-1 March 13 before the Flagler County School Board. It will close after this school year.
With lights dimmed inside School Board chambers, the Heritage Academy charter school pushed one last time to save its district contract from being terminated, after two consecutive years of receiving failing grades from the state.
But the board reinforced its previous ruling to close the academy at the end of this school year.
At the start of the hearing, Cindy Erickson, Heritage’s dean of students, called student and parent witnesses to the podium to testify.
Aaron Rushing, parent of two Heritage students, called the school “a godsend.”
His daughters were “severely behind” when they entered Heritage, he said. “(But) after the first year, they brought my daughters up to excellence. … It was an amazing transformation.
“(Heritage Academy) hasn’t failed in my regard,” he added. “When you look at my children, you see passing children. You see happy children.”
Cheryl Truillo, another parent, got choked up and said she gets goose bumps explaining the enthusiasm her daughter now has for learning.
Despite the emotion, though, the hearing ultimately came down to numbers.
Coordinator of Assessment and Accountability Shawn Schmidli went down a list of grades earned by Heritage Academy compared to those of the district, asking Heritage Principal Nicole Richards to read each figure.
The percentage of students scoring a Level 3 or higher in last year’s FCAT reading exam, she read, was 44%; in the district, that number was 71%. In math, 17% of Heritage students made the state standard; in the district, 72%. In writing, 19% more district than Heritage students met the writing standard.
“In your opinion, has Heritage Academy adequately showed proficient growth?” Schmidli asked Richards.
“Not according to the Florida Department of Education,” Richards said. “But in my eyes, any growth is good growth for our students.”
In order to increase gains, Richards said, Heritage has brought a Title 1 teacher on full time, all instructors now offer free afterschool tutoring, and the school has purchased new textbooks. She also noted that most of her students come from traditional public schools, where they did not succeed, and that Heritage’s population is small enough to where even a single student earning a 1 on the FCAT hurts its overall score.
There are 141 students currently enrolled at Heritage Academy. Probably less than 10%, Richards estimated, score at Level 4 or 5 on the FCAT.
“(But) how do you push your staff and students to achieve when you set the bar lower?” School Board member Andy Dance asked her. “It seems like the philosophy is settling. … It’s not a healthy attitude to have. … If we’re not setting high standards, then the result is going to be failure.”
“Not all of our students are going to meet the standards,” Richards responded. “They didn’t succeed where they came from, so we are bringing them up and trying to boost their confidence in themselves.”
Last year, Richards also noted, the school focused more on behavior, which is why it began conducting entrance interviews. This year, it’s more about instruction, and she expects school grades to improve.
Still, some officials believed the harm has already been done.
“There was no evidence that they were really teaching to the standards,” said Jim Devine, former testing coordinator and charter school liaison. “The state of Florida has very low tolerance for schools that get F’s. … And the district is responsible. These are our students.”
Also, with tougher FCAT cut scores in place, he added, it’s going to be even harder for schools to earn high marks next year. Devine expects grades to go down districtwide in the next state survey.
Later in the meeting, Schmidli questioned Race to the Top Director Stewart Maxcy. He asked him, “Would you send your own children to this school?” to which Maxcy answered, “No.”
In her final plea to the board, Erickson echoed the district’s own mission statement.
“Some students crawl, some students walk, some students run through their academic progress,” she said. “But at Heritage Academy, we are ‘raising student achievement every day, in every way.’”
“If (we) allow this school to remain open, what message are we sending to other charter schools in the district?” Schmidli countered. “(We’d be) undermining the very purpose of setting these standards. … Is it better for a student to leave a school happy or better prepared?”
The board agreed, voting 4-1 against Heritage Academy’s appeal. Board member Colleen Conklin opposed.
“I’m concerned that the only (material) we’re looking at is one test, on one day,” she said. “I think that is an unfair way, all the way around, to grade our schools.”
She also cited the school’s poor governance, and how not one of Heritage’s board of directors was present at the hearing.
She made a motion, which died for lack of a second, to wait for this year’s FCAT scores to be release in June before making a final call.
The verdict stands: Heritage Academy will finish the school year; then it will close.
Contact Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
