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| The New York Optimist |
NAPLES — Debra Knight feels like she is David before his battle with Goliath.Knight and a group hoping to open a performing arts
high school in Collier County said they were shocked and dismayed to find out the Collier County School District is proposing the same
thing months after they took their proposal to the district.
“Can you imagine if this was your dream and you woke up and saw in the newspaper that someone else was doing the same thing?”
she asked.
In a letter sent to School Board members last month, Naples Performing Arts Center High School Project co-founders Edmund Gatley
and Knight asked Board members to consider working together to achieve a mutual goal.“The public performing arts school opening
you propose, a mirror image of our project, would negatively impact our project and financially devastate this private enterprise,” they
wrote.
But the response they have received, they said, was less than encouraging from the Collier County School District.Knight said she hand-
delivered a copy of the group’s proposal to the district Sept. 10, 2008. The group was supposed to have a meeting on Sept. 19 with
Superintendent Dennis Thompson, but it was cancelled at the last minute, Knight said.
Superintendent Dennis Thompson declined comment on the letter.
In its 38-page proposal, the Naples Performing Arts Center High School project would offer student s the opportunity to spend four
hours a day in their art areas and the remainder of the time in academic courses. The arts programs would be: chorus, drama, dance,
band or orchestra, creative writing, fashion merchandising, make up and costume design, set design and construction, vocal music,
visual arts and crafts and studio editing.
The founders anticipated developing eight acres for a building with a budget of $56 million. The group has entered into a letter of intent
for property located in the corner of Estey Avenue and Airport-Pulling Road in East Naples for the school site. They have also,
according to their letter to School Board members, engaged architects, a design team and a contractor for the project.
“With similar plans, it would be great if we could work together to achieve our mutual goal,” they wrote.Last month, the Collier County
School Board agreed to move forward with discussions for a performing arts school in the county. While cost considerations in the
current economic climate are on board members’ minds, the consensus among members is that the idea is worthwhile.
The Collier County School Board appointed a Performing Arts School Board Advisory Committee in 2007 to begin work and
recommend a design of a performing arts program that could be located at one of the high schools and complement existing programs
in the district.
The nine-member, volunteer committee defined the performing art as dance, drama, music and visual arts, which include creative
writing, film and AV technology.
The program would be limited to 400 students and Board members seemed receptive to the idea of putting the school at an existing high
school, such as Golden Gate High School.
But Knight said she finds it suspicious that she dropped off a proposal for a school similar to the one the committee presented in March
in Everglades
City.Collier County Performing Arts School Committee Co-Chairwoman Chellie Doepke said she never heard of the Naples Performing
Arts Center High School Project. She said committee members looked at models for performing arts schools all over the country to
develop their plan for a performing arts school.
Doepke said she would like to see the dream happen.
“It needs to be a really quality program,” she said. “I think we need to develop partnerships between the School Board, private business
and the county. Everyone needs to get involved, we need to do the fundraising and make it a top-notch school with professionals and
our certified teachers.”
Doepke said the committee will make a presentation on the performing arts school proposal to the School Board’s education
subcommittee, which will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, April 27, at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Administrative Center, 5775 Osceola Trail.
Knight said whatever happens, the Naples Performing Arts Center High School Project will move forward.“It is not just our dream,”
she said. “We want (kids) to know they can have a dream and work at it and make it happen.”
Wendy Ferner
Tupperware Consultant
high school in Collier County said they were shocked and dismayed to find out the Collier County School District is proposing the same
thing months after they took their proposal to the district.
“Can you imagine if this was your dream and you woke up and saw in the newspaper that someone else was doing the same thing?”
she asked.
In a letter sent to School Board members last month, Naples Performing Arts Center High School Project co-founders Edmund Gatley
and Knight asked Board members to consider working together to achieve a mutual goal.“The public performing arts school opening
you propose, a mirror image of our project, would negatively impact our project and financially devastate this private enterprise,” they
wrote.
But the response they have received, they said, was less than encouraging from the Collier County School District.Knight said she hand-
delivered a copy of the group’s proposal to the district Sept. 10, 2008. The group was supposed to have a meeting on Sept. 19 with
Superintendent Dennis Thompson, but it was cancelled at the last minute, Knight said.
Superintendent Dennis Thompson declined comment on the letter.
In its 38-page proposal, the Naples Performing Arts Center High School project would offer student s the opportunity to spend four
hours a day in their art areas and the remainder of the time in academic courses. The arts programs would be: chorus, drama, dance,
band or orchestra, creative writing, fashion merchandising, make up and costume design, set design and construction, vocal music,
visual arts and crafts and studio editing.
The founders anticipated developing eight acres for a building with a budget of $56 million. The group has entered into a letter of intent
for property located in the corner of Estey Avenue and Airport-Pulling Road in East Naples for the school site. They have also,
according to their letter to School Board members, engaged architects, a design team and a contractor for the project.
“With similar plans, it would be great if we could work together to achieve our mutual goal,” they wrote.Last month, the Collier County
School Board agreed to move forward with discussions for a performing arts school in the county. While cost considerations in the
current economic climate are on board members’ minds, the consensus among members is that the idea is worthwhile.
The Collier County School Board appointed a Performing Arts School Board Advisory Committee in 2007 to begin work and
recommend a design of a performing arts program that could be located at one of the high schools and complement existing programs
in the district.
The nine-member, volunteer committee defined the performing art as dance, drama, music and visual arts, which include creative
writing, film and AV technology.
The program would be limited to 400 students and Board members seemed receptive to the idea of putting the school at an existing high
school, such as Golden Gate High School.
But Knight said she finds it suspicious that she dropped off a proposal for a school similar to the one the committee presented in March
in Everglades
City.Collier County Performing Arts School Committee Co-Chairwoman Chellie Doepke said she never heard of the Naples Performing
Arts Center High School Project. She said committee members looked at models for performing arts schools all over the country to
develop their plan for a performing arts school.
Doepke said she would like to see the dream happen.
“It needs to be a really quality program,” she said. “I think we need to develop partnerships between the School Board, private business
and the county. Everyone needs to get involved, we need to do the fundraising and make it a top-notch school with professionals and
our certified teachers.”
Doepke said the committee will make a presentation on the performing arts school proposal to the School Board’s education
subcommittee, which will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, April 27, at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Administrative Center, 5775 Osceola Trail.
Knight said whatever happens, the Naples Performing Arts Center High School Project will move forward.“It is not just our dream,”
she said. “We want (kids) to know they can have a dream and work at it and make it happen.”
Wendy Ferner
Tupperware Consultant
| Private group proposing performing arts school beat to the punch by Collier School District |
