Caring and Sharing Learning School's expansion in SE Gainesville helps school to grow
More students will have the opportunity to learn and excel because of the expansion of Caring and Sharing Learning School in southeast Gainesville.
Caring and Sharing Learning School expands
The distinguished charter school at 1951 SE Fourth St. hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday to celebrate the official opening of its two new portable buildings.
The two buildings, known as Buildings E and F, house the school’s kindergarten and Fifth grade classes and are located on the south side of the campus .
Charter school expands to better serve students
“This expansion allows us to increase our enrollment by about 85 students that takes us up from the 250 students we had prior to the expansion,” said Curtis Peterson, principal of the school.
Expansion of school was costly
Completing the expansion was a “nightmare” because of having to meet all of the building code requirements and governmental regulations, Peterson said, adding the project cost upwards of $700,000.
New "buildings are state-of-the-art"
The buildings are state-of-the-art and specifically designed to serve the needs of the school, Peterson said.
“They are quality buildings that will ensure we keep providing a quality education to the children of east Gainesville,” Peterson said. “We now have two classrooms for every grade level, and more space for VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) and afterschool students,” Peterson said.
New buildings double capacity to serve VPK students
The capacity to serve VPK students has doubled at the school from 20 to 40, which gives the school the opportunity for more students to achieve early academic success, Peterson said.
School was established in 1998 by educators
Caring and Sharing Learning School was established in 1998 by co-founders Simon and Verna Johnson.
Simon Johnson, one of the first Black tenured professors at the University of Florida, died in July at the age of 95.
Verna Johnson said the couple was married for 41 years, and is glad they founded Caring and Sharing Learning School.
“When we were hosting workshops and trainings, people asked us, 'Why don’t you all go out there and show them how to do it?' So we did it,” Johnson said. “It was something that was predestined. God put everything in place and pulled it together when it was time to. You have to care before you start sharing and when you share, you can learn from that.”
Johnson said she remembers knocking on doors asking members of the community to help work in the school when she and her husband were trying to get the school up and running.
Community support essential to school's success
“We want to thank the community and parents for what they have done,” Johnson said. “We didn’t do it by ourselves. We had the whole community helping us.”
She is a retired educator, and is grateful her children wanted to follow in their parents’ footsteps to become educators.
Carrying the legacy
“I instilled in them that they can be anything they want to be,” Johnson said. “As years passed, they were interested to carry the legacy forward and they were interested to be a part of it. I looked up and told God, ‘Thank you.’”
"Burying the words 'I can't'"
Johnson recalled burying the words “I can’t” with a group of students at the back of the school during its beginning stages.
“We want you to try,” Johnson said. “Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do something. If you keep trying, you’ll be surprised to see what you can do. I’m sure Simon is smiling down on us.”
Principal is son of school's founders
Peterson, the school’s principal, is a son of the founders of the school.
“I have the luckiest job in the world,” Peterson said. “We have the best staff and the most wonderful families and community partners. When I’m on campus, I don’t see students — I see myself.”
He said he continues to do the work to make his parents proud.
“I stand on the shoulders of giants, which are my parents,” Peterson said. “My career goal is to not fail them.”
Founders thanked for their vision
Charlie Jackson, chair of the school’s board of directors, thanked the co-founders for their vision and the construction and design teams for their help with the buildings.
“We’re here to carry out the legacy created by two pioneers,” Jackson said. “They sacrificed a lot without expecting nothing in return.”
The charter school’s honors include being named a National Blue Ribbon School and a National Title I Distinguished School, and it has been featured in People Magazine and on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Donations and sponsorships needed
To further achieve its goal of continuing to provide a quality education to its students, Caring and Sharing desperately needs the community's support in helping it raise funds to pay for replacing the roof of the original buildings and to keep all of its facilities up to date with governmental building codes, Peterson said.
"We need to raise about $120,000," Peterson said.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: SE Gainesville charter school increases enrollment with expansion
