Teachers and administrators from Southside Elementary School recently had an opportunity to put on hardhats and stomp around the site of their future school, which is currently under construction on Southeast 144th Street just south of Starke. The school will instruct grades K-7 and is on track to open in the fall of 2023.
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — First teachers and then school board members took a tour of the construction of Bradford County’s new K-7 school.
The school will educate elementary and middle school students in separate two-story buildings. The design also includes a music room, media center and gymnasium.
The school is set to open next fall, as is Brooker Community School — a charter school occupying the former Brooker Elementary campus.
That will leave the school district with two empty campuses. While no plans have been announced for the Hampton Elementary campus, Superintendent Will Hartley has spoken about a new possibility for Southside.
Hartley approached Starke city commissioners in August, saying he has been working on bringing the Boys and Girls Clubs to Bradford County since he took office two years ago.
Hartley believes the afterschool mentorship the program would provide students an important part of improving the system overall, including discipline and academic achievement.
The Southside campus could become the program’s home. Hartley said one roadblock has been the lack of a dedicated space.
“Next year, with the opening of the new school, Southside will give us that opportunity to have a campus that they can kind of come in and call their own,” he said. Recently he toured the campus with the program director.
“They are extremely excited about the idea and they love the site.”
For the most part.
Hartley said there was one nonnegotiable for the organization, and that was the vacant home sitting in front of the school on Stansbury Street. He asked the commission about the status of the property.
The owner of the property is deceased, and it has long been a code enforcement issue. The city commission discussed declaring the doublewide mobile home a public nuisance and demolishing it, but an inspection found it was structurally sound, even if it was unsightly.
While the city was able to remove another mobile home on an anterior lot, the most it could do with this home was board it up and clean up the yard.
Following the superintendent’s appearance, Starke had its attorney begin looking at the issue again. A second warrant was obtained to inspect the property. Then it was announced earlier this month that the property was being sold at auction.
City Clerk Jimmy Crosby confirmed the property was purchased by Matt Bryant, who intends to bring the home up to code.
In addition to solving one of the city’s most notorious code enforcement problems, the purchase could clear the way for the superintendent to bring the Boys and Girls Clubs to Bradford County.
In addition to a safe and supervised place to go after school, Boys and Girls Clubs offer programs in sports and recreation, education, the arts, health and wellness, workforce readiness, and character and leadership. The results are that 97% of teens who participate graduate high school and 88% pursue post-secondary education.
The clubs also serve as a resource for parents, with recent offerings including lessons about bullying, improving social skills and teaching gratitude.
