Chiles Academy Has Big Plans for the Future

By Jamye Durrance, Hometown News

VOLUSIA COUNTY - At noon last Tuesday, the school bell rang, but nobody inside the classroom moved.

In fact, at least one person kept sleeping.

Jamese Jones, 18, rocked in a rocking chair, holding her three-month old son Ke'Mon Mosely, who is intently sucking on a full bottle of formula.

Another bell rang and Jamese left her son with a childcare giver and headed to class just a few doors down.

It was a typical school day at the not-so-typical Chiles Academy in Daytona Beach.

The public charter high school, recently relocated to the former Bonner Elementary, is for pregnant and parenting teenagers and their children.

Officials there hope to eventually expand services at the school to include a community social services hub.

Chiles Academy, named after the late Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, became a charter school seven years ago and was previously known as Teen Pregnancy East.

The moms spend time in the classroom both with and without their kids.

"A lot of girls want to come here because grandma will take care of their baby," said Anne Ferguson, the academy's executive director. "We tell them 'no, this is an integrated curriculum where we teach you how to be a good mom and your baby needs to be here for their development.'"

The school has 60 students ranging in age from 13 to 20 years old. There are 40 babies ranging from two weeks old to three years old.

Last month, the school gained an additional 48 babies when it became the only Early Head Start childcare program in Volusia County.

Chiles Academy received an annual grant of more than $467,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services.

"We already have a waiting list," Ms. Ferguson said.

Designed for pregnant women and children ages three and under, Early Head Start promotes healthy prenatal education, enhancement of child development and the promotion of a healthy family life at home.

Chiles Academy is the perfect place for the program, which is for low income families, Ms. Ferguson said.

"The coolest thing about being at Bonner (Elementary) is that we are in the heart of (zip code) 32114, which is where most of our students are from," she said. "Ninety-seven percent of our students live in poverty. We are here to serve not only our students, but their siblings and cousins."

The Early Head Start program is just the beginning of what Ms. Ferguson, who has been with the program for 15 years, hopes will be a larger expansion of Chiles Academy for the surrounding neighborhood.

Previously located in portables at Atlantic High School in Port Orange, last year Chiles Academy moved into the former Bonner Elementary, which was built in 1926.

"We moved from six portables into 35,000 square feet on 11 acres," Ms. Ferguson said. "The vision at Bonner is to turn it into an educational co-op."

The plans for that co-op include turning the second floor, which is currently unoccupied, into satellite offices for various social services that both the students and community frequently use.

"(They will be) providing services to our moms, siblings, parents, grandparents ... it will become a hub for this neighborhood," Ms. Ferguson said. "This will be a viable social service access center. Transportation is the number one problem with people who live in poverty. A lot of the places where they have to go are pretty far down the road. They can walk here. Access and availability is very important."

That access and availability is exactly what brought Jamese Jones to Chiles Academy.

The former Seabreeze High School student came to the school last year after hearing about it from family members who previously went to the school.

Ms. Jones appreciates the small family-like feel of the school.

"Teachers at regular high school really don't help you," she said. "Here I get individual help. I get to be with my baby and I trust them with my baby."

Mothers are required to spend time in the nursery helping out with all the children, Ms. Ferguson said.

Danielle Harvey, a childcare giver at the academy, said it has been good for the young mothers to get the opportunity to ask questions.

"That's what is really cool," she said. "They all help each other out with the other babies."

Isha Turner, another childcare giver, is a former student who is working at the school before she begins classes to become a phlebotomist.

"I like playing with babies and talking with the girls who need help. I can give them advice," she said.

Ms. Turner always wanted to be a nurse but thought she might have lost her chance when she became pregnant with her now two-year-old daughter Nyzarria.

"I didn't have anywhere else," she said. "My daughter is still going here, she loves it. She'll come home and teach me everything she learned."

The curriculum for the mothers includes the normal reading, writing and arithmetic classes, but also child development, parenting and prenatal health classes. Just like any other high school, students are working toward a diploma and have to pass the FCAT.

Additionally, the school has a "Microsociety" program, which allows students to run a society, complete with a city hall, businesses and a bank.

Chiles Academy has been named a Five Star School for the past six years by the Florida Department of Education.

Despite all the success, Ms. Ferguson knows there is more that can be done.

According to the Florida Department of Health, in 2007 there were 678 babies born to women under the age of 19 in Volusia County.

"We only served 175 of them," Ms. Ferguson said. "Teen pregnancy is a huge problem. Most of them drop out. We literally show up on their front step and say, 'don't you think it's time for you to come to school in an environment where it is safe to leave your baby? Our message is that we are here, let's help you, this is just a little blip in your life. Just get back on your feet and move forward.'"

Ms. Ferguson said she is currently applying for grants that could help expand the academy to other parts of Volusia County including New Smyrna Beach, DeLand and Pierson.

For more information, call 386-322-6102 or visit http://schools.volusia.k12.fl.us/chiles.