Educator gets what he wanted: his own school

NORTH TAMPA — Charles Malatesta has been a teacher and administrator at every level of education — but he said this fall will be a real challenge.

Malatesta will lead the new Community Charter School of Excellence, a public elementary school backed by a national organization for alternative education.

"I've always wanted to open my own school," Malatesta said.

After applying to become a school leader with the Phoenix-based Leona Group, Malatesta was assigned to help start Community Charter School of Excellence, which specializes in the visual arts.

The Leona Group, a national nonprofit organization that manages startup and established charter schools, has 15 schools in South and Central Florida.

"Our schools are A and B schools," said Rosy Corrales of the group's Miami Regional office. "One thing we make sure of is the class sizes remain small, no more than 18 to 20 students per class."

Differing from its language-focused sister schools, Athenian Academies in Pinellas and Pasco, Community Charter is the group's first school in the region that will focus on art.

"The teachers will incorporate the arts in reading, math and science lessons," Corrales said.

The school will serve kindergarten through fifth grade when it opens Aug. 18 and will expand one grade level annually up to the eighth grade.

Located in an annex of the University of God Church on Central Avenue, Community Charter has a full cafeteria and gymnasium, fully equipped classrooms and newly remodeled restrooms.

"This used to be the home of the Berean Academy private school," Malatesta said. Berean is today housed in Lutz.

When Leona group scouters were looking for places to house the school, the vacancy seemed like fate.

"It's a great facility and we have room to grow in it," he said.

By Aug. 18, Malatesta hopes to have 163 students sitting in his classrooms ready to learn and to be challenged, but he knows there will be some work ahead.

"Charter schools always attract a mix of students from private schools and public schools, and students will not be on the same level," Malatesta. "We will do what we can but in the end this program will not be for everyone."

Though Malatesta has no background in the arts, he said he is a firm believer in charter school and specialized education programs.

"As an administrator at Florida Gulf Coast University, I saw a lot of students who knew how to take a test but didn't have critical thinking skills they needed to succeed in college," Malatesta said. "We won't be teaching to the test, which is why we will have slightly longer days than most other schools."

First- through fifth-graders will arrive at 8:30 a.m. and be released around 4:30 p.m., so teachers will have time to include everything in the curriculum, including FCAT preparation and daily physical education.

"We didn't want to cut out gym or recess like other schools to cram everything in," he explained.

Robbyn Mitchell can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or rmitchell@sptimes.com.