Charter elementary school incorporates fitness and art activities

2008-08-19 04:50:47 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Health & Fitness)

North Tampa, Florida (WiredPRNews.com) — A new South Florida charter elementary school will soon be incorporating graphic arts and visual arts into the day to day curriculum along with emphasizing the need for fitness and health. The school leader of the Community Charter School of Excellence, Charles Malatesta, reported that the full time health, physical fitness and art teachers will be the school’s top ten instructors who will work in the same direction.

Malatesta said that students will have classes in the fitness and health field every day and that a large number of schools are actually moving away from these important subjects due to the testing requirements involved. The school which has students in kindergarten is operated and owned by the Leona Group, a famous company that began its work in 1996 with four schools in Michigan. Now, the Leona Group has more than 70 schools spread in six states and it is also capable of operating the Athenian academies in Pasco and Pinellas counties.

The charter schools are getting the funds from public sources but they are run by the private parties. The students enrolled in these schools should meet all state standards but the school is independent of various other requirements. Malatesta reported, “This is very helpful to have Leona. They have had success in several stages; this puts us in a different category.” He also said that the school projects approximately 155 students in the same year and over the time period of the coming three years, the school plans to include a grade every year. Until now, it has not been able to see the maximum enrollment.

Malatesta declared that parents need to volunteer for at least 20 hours and can suggest various activities and projects that would help the school to carry on with the fitness and health campaigns.