An elementary school in Brooksville is removing all of its teachers at the end of the school year.
In a letter sent to parents on Monday, Lori Romano, the superintendent of the Hernando County School District said Moton Elementary School needs a fresh start.
Moton is one of the lowest performing schools in the county.
For the past two years, the school has received a "D" rating from the Florida Department of Education, and Hernando County School District spokesperson Karen Jordan said if things don't improve next school year, the school district will have three options.
“You can permanently shutter the school, temporarily close the school and then reopen as a charter, or have an outside company come in and manage,” she said. “None of those are really options we wanted to embrace. We wanted them to be within our control. If we had waited, we would be confronted with a difficult decision of which of the three options that the state would require us to choose. We wanted to sort of preempt that.”
Meanwhile, tenured teachers working at Moton will receive a new assignment at another county school for the next academic year. Newer teachers on a year-long contract will have to reapply for a position within the school district.
There are 47 teachers at Moton Elementary. Seventeen have tenure.
Jordan said the district decided to make the announcement now to give teachers more time to apply for other jobs.
"We want them to be able to make decisions that are best for themselves and their families."
Earlier this month, Brent Gaustad was appointed as principal of Moton Elementary School. Gaustad was previously a principal at Parrott Middle School in Brooksville and is credited with boosting that school from a “D” to a “B” rating.
