Despite Many Odds, These Kids Earned an A

Redlands Christian Migrant Association

For immediate release, Aug. 17, 2010

Despite many odds, these kids earned an “A.”

WIMAUMA – Their parents’ average educational level is elementary school. The family income is sub-poverty and home is a changing concept: Some of these children must follow the crops with their families, meaning they leave town in the spring and stay away until late fall. The language is Spanish.

Yet the children of RCMA Wimauma Academy took the FCAT in English last March, and just won their school an “A.”

“It wasn’t high scores that earned the A,” said school director Mark Haggett. “It was rising scores. Seventy-seven percent of our fourth- and fifth-graders made significant gains in reading and 79 percent gained in math.”

For Wimauma Academy, the A is the sixth in eight years. The Wimauma kids earned it in a year when the number of Hillsborough County elementary schools winningAs declined to 72 from the previous 91.

It’s further affirmation that the school’s unique tactics are succeeding against the special challenges of its students.The focus isn’t just on learning, but on virtually every need in the life of the child – and the family.

Wimauma Academy starts by preserving the Hispanic culture of its students. Meals often are Mexican, and the frequent parent conferences are in Spanish.

Marcela Estevez, who previously worked for the Mexican consulate in Orlando, is the school’s Family Support Specialist. She helps families get health care and deal with problems as varied as immigration, finances and transportation.

“Without her,” said Haggett, “I don’t know how the school would function.”

The service level is most intense when the migrant families return in the fall. School starts with a 7 a.m. breakfast, and may continue past sunset. Teacher aides and volunteer tutors replace teachers in the afternoon, but four-fifths of the students remain.Their parents have work to do.

Amidst the success, there is one large regret. After fifth grade, children must leave Wimauma Academy, sometimes in tears. Haggett and his staff want to expand into middle-school years. So does Redlands Christian Migrant Association, the non-profit childcare agency that operates the school.

“The FCAT scores show our kids are successful while they’re in our school,” said Barbara Mainster, RCMA’s Executive Director. “We want to keep them through middle school.”

RCMA plans to break ground on the $1.8-million middle-school expansion this winter. About $860,000 of the cost has been donated or pledged. A fund drive is under way.

Nationwide, some 60 percent of migrant students drop out of high school. Haggett believes each youth becomes set on staying in school or leaving by the end of middle school, the eighth grade.

“We make them comfortable in elementary school, and we get them accustomed to success,” he says. “When we do that in middle school, I think these kids will be on their way.”

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Want to help?

Donations to help Wimauma Academy add a middle school can be made online at: or by mail to: RCMA Wimauma Academy Capital Campaign, 402 W. Main St. Immokalee, FL 34142.

Contact

Bill Coats, RCMA Dir. of Communications & . (813) 376-8149.

Mark Haggett, Director, RCMA Wimauma . (813) 672-5159.