Manatee school board OK’s medical program at former charter school. Students weigh in

Lincoln Memorial Academy is no stranger to change. And with the latest decision by Manatee County school board members, another transformation is underway.

Hoping to boost enrollment and satisfy calls for a better education at the Title I school, board members agreed March 9 to move forward with a medical “magnet” program at the campus, 305 17th St. E., Palmetto.

The program is meant to expose students to careers in the medical industry, along with related programs at area high schools. While the goal is to launch in August, the start of the 2021-22 school year, there is still much to be done.

As district leaders work on planning the medical program, school board members will consider names for the school and adjustments to its current zoning, two actions that require a board vote and community input.

“I feel like it would be good for people who actually want to go to school for that,” said Anton Brown, a seventh-grader at Lincoln Memorial Academy. “They can get a head start and learn it before they actually major in it.”

Why a magnet school?

Previously known as Lincoln Memorial Middle, families and employees voted to become a charter school and bring innovative programs to the campus, allowing the school to open as Lincoln Memorial Academy in 2018.

Former academy leaders say they brought career exposure, life skills and fresh classes to a school that needed extra support. In the 2018-19 school year, Lincoln Memorial mostly served minority students from low-income families, state data shows.

Disputing the charter school’s account, the School District of Manatee County described a program that was crumbling under the weight of financial problems and leadership failures. Ultimately, with a 4-1 vote in July 2019, the school board voted to terminate Lincoln Memorial’s charter and reclaim the campus.

Ever since that day, a group of persistent residents have called on the school board to bring community buy-in and unique programs back to the campus, which is once again operating as a traditional school.

District leaders and school board members believe a medical “magnet” program is the best way to start addressing local concerns. Magnet schools are public campuses — not charters or private schools — that offer specialized courses.

In a virtual presentation to about three dozen parents and other interested guests on Feb. 25, Deputy Superintendent Doug Wagner said he favored a medical program because it offered choices in a booming field.

Employment in the healthcare industry was projected to grow 15 percent from 2019 to 2029, “much faster than the average for all occupations,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“It’s everywhere you turn,” Wagner said during last month’s presentation. “Everybody on this call knows many people — not just one — who works in the health industry.”

Who supports magnet school?

The district held two meetings for staff, two virtual presentations for the community and one in-school assembly for students last month, presenting the idea for a medical program at their school.

“I remember them telling us that it would give us a chance of doing better things in college or high school,” said Vantrez Yarn, a seventh-grader at Lincoln Memorial. “I thought it was pretty encouraging.”

Following the meetings with staff and students, the district asked one yes-or-no question: Should Lincoln Memorial become a medical magnet school?

Of the employees who responded, 22 favored the idea and nine voted against the program.

Out of 219 students who responded, 136 chose “Yes” and 83 selected “No.” Dozens of other students were either in COVID-19 quarantines or late to school on the presentation day, said Frank Pistella, director of support for the school district.

The Bradenton Herald then spoke with five Lincoln Memorial students as they left school on Wednesday afternoon. Each said they voted in favor of the magnet program, and four of the five students said they had family members in the medical field.

“I feel like they should do it because they could have a good career,” said Jessie Bundrage, an eighth-grade student whose mom works as a certified nursing assistant.

What happens next?

All of the school’s current electives will remain in August, when the school hopes to launch its voluntary medical program. But the name Lincoln Memorial Academy, a title owned by the school’s former leadership, will have to change.

Pistella said there would be advertisements and town halls to inform residents about the change and to gather their suggestions.

For longtime residents of Palmetto, the school’s name was deeply meaningful.

Lincoln High School and Memorial High School merged in the late 1940s, giving rise to Lincoln Memorial High in Palmetto — the only option for Black students during segregation. The campus became a sacred landmark as students embraced their academics, sports and Trojan pride.

Fueled by their experience at Lincoln Memorial High, many of those students went on to become entrepreneurs, teachers, health care professionals, athletes and community leaders.

The high school closed in 1969, as Manatee County began integrating its schools, but the name “Lincoln Memorial” will always have a place in the hearts and minds of local families.

“That’s the class I graduated from in 1967 and I am proud to be a Trojan,” said Betty Rhodes, a regular at school board meetings. “We’re not going to let nobody rename no Lincoln. That’s the only thing we can look forward to.”

Rhodes, a supporter of Lincoln Memorial Academy and its ousted leaders, was speaking at the Feb. 10 school board meeting. She also vowed to support the former charter school and its administrators, who were pushing to regain control of the campus.

Some believe the school board relied on misleading or fraudulent evidence during the July 2019 termination of Lincoln Memorial’s charter. Conversely, an administrative law judge upheld the school board’s decision, and the First District Court of Appeal sided with the school board after a challenge was filed.

A victory seemed more likely in the push to maintain “Lincoln Memorial” in the name of Palmetto’s new medical magnet school. James Golden, the board’s vice chair, expressed his support at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Let me go on record, up front, whatever else we name it and however else we describe it, ‘Lincoln Memorial’ has to be part of it, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

This story was originally published March 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.