NICEVILLE — A new collegiate high school has found a home in Walton County.
Seacoast Collegiate High will open in August in classrooms at Northwest Florida State College’s South Walton campus.
NWF State trustees approved the new tenant Tuesday evening, nearly three months after the Seaside Neighborhood School Board unanimously voted to expand the charter school.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us,” NWF State President Ty Handy said a few minutes before the board’s vote. “This won’t be a Northwest Florida State College-run institution … but we’re going to be an important partner with them and I look forward to that.”
Under the agreement, Seaside will pay $20,016 annually to rent four classrooms at the South Walton campus from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Seaside also will pay $14,496 a year for utilities and custodial services. Payments will be made on a monthly basis.
“I fully support what you’re doing,” new trustee Wayne Ansley said. “How did you determine the rent to charge?”
Sasha Jarrell, the vice president for academic affairs, said they looked at the market value for the square footage of the building and then pro-rated that amount because since Seaside would use it in a limited capacity.
Handy said future rent will be determined per student to help cover the costs associated with them dual-enrolling at the college.
For example, rent will be $500 per student in ninth and 10th grade and $1,500 per student in the upper grades.
Ideally, Seaside will raise enough money to build its own high school on the college’s campus in the near future, he said.
In the meantime, the college doesn’t anticipate it will have any space issues, as most of its classes there are held in the evenings.
One classroom is still open for daytime classes, and the nearby library has space available if it becomes necessary, Jarrell said.
“There will be a bit of tradeoff for the county, but we think the tradeoff is going to be a positive direction for the county,” she said.
The high school will open in August with only ninth and 10th graders, but Seaside school officials have said they plan to grow it a grade a year until it has all four grades.
The application deadline for the next school year was April 1.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
