Brevard County Sherriff Wayne Ivey to Assist in First Ever Public Lottery for Viera Charter School on Saturday, March 2, 2013.

Tremendous demand for new charter school results in more student applications than available student space.

Over 1,200 student applications have been submitted to Viera Charter School in anticipation of the new school’s opening at 6206 Breslay Drive. Viera Charter School will open August 2013 to approximately 650 students in grades Kindergarten to Seven (the school will add eighth grade for the 2014-2015 school year). Because the school received more student applications than available student space, Florida law requires a lottery to ensure equal opportunity for enrollment by eligible students. The school is permitted to give enrollment preference to children of governing board members, children of school employees, and sibling applicants of students selected to attend the school.

To ensure a fair and unbiased lottery, Sherriff Wayne Ivey will be present to pull applicant names from the lottery container. Sherriff Ivey gladly accepted the invitation of school officials to be the person selecting student names. Robert Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board for Viera Charter School, said, “We want the community to understand that the lottery is being conducted properly and there is no better person to ensure a fair and unbiased lottery than our Sherriff.”

Applicants will be selected randomly in the lottery and placed on a list, by grade level, in the order in which they were “pulled” in the lottery. Once the lottery is complete, school officials will contact applicants to begin the process of filling each grade level

Robert Jordan describes the new charter school as a place where students will be challenged to achieve at the highest levels and where all Brevard County residents will have the opportunity to experience the best of public education. As a former chairman of the Brevard County Public Schools, Jordan has set the expectations for academic performance for the charter school at a very high level and that has translated into great excitement and interest for the charter school.

The School will hold a public lottery in two sessions. The first session for applicants in grades Kindergarten to third will take place Saturday, March 2 at 12:00 p.m. in the Viera High School Auditorium. The second session for applicants in grades four to seven will take place at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, March 2, also in the Viera High School Auditorium.

About Viera Charter School

Viera Charter School is a public charter school sponsored by the School Board of Brevard County but governed independent of the Brevard County Public Schools by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is comprised of Robert Jordan, Chairman; Jeff Piersall, Vice Chairman; Kimberly Africano, Secretary/Treasurer; Rob Naberhouse, Director; and Scott Steele, Director. The Board has contracted with Charter School Associates, Inc. to work with the school principal and to provide day-to-day management of the school. Charter School Associates is a SACS accredited operator of charter schools in multiple Florida counties.

Viera Charter School will serve approximately 650 students in a 41,000 s.f. state-of-the-art charter facility with plans to construct a second 20,000 s.f. building within two years that will expand the enrollment capacity to approximately 850 students, grades kindergarten to eight. The school has chosen a math and science focus and will offer a comprehensive and rigorous academic program in a safe and nurturing atmosphere.

 

Additional information about the school and the lottery are available on the school website: www.vieracharterschool.com.