We will be adopting the Marion County Public School Calendar.  The first day of school for students will be Wednesday, August 10, 2022.  The last day of school will be Friday, May 26, 2023. Please CLICK HERE for our Instructional Calendar.

The Ina A. Colen Academy is a public charter school.
Charter Schools are not private schools. They are tuition-free public schools that operate in accordance with a charter contract issued by the local school district.

We will begin the 2022-2023 school year with grades K-6 and add a grade each year. The school year 2023-2024 will have grades K-7 and by 2024-2025 we will have grades K-8.

Yes. In the state of Florida, teachers employed by a charter school must be certified as required by law. If they aren’t certified in the grade level they are teaching, they will be required to hold a temporary certificate and obtain a permanent one.

Applications for enrollment are available on our website at www.iacafl.org. Applicants who wish to be considered for the 2022-2023 school year may submit an application through our website for placement on a waitlist. Those applicants will be offered enrollment if a seat becomes available. The Ina A. Colen Academy accepts enrollment applications for the upcoming school year beginning in October. If there are more applications submitted than seats available for a grade level, a lottery is conducted. Applications for students received after the lottery deadline will be put on a waitlist and enrollment will be offered if a seat becomes available. 

Per Florida Statute, Calesa Township residents receive priority when applying for the Ina A. Colen Academy. The Ina A. Colen Academy enrolls students in accordance with its Enrollment Policy and seats cannot be guaranteed.  

A lottery will be conducted through Lotterease in accordance with Ina A. Colen Acadmey’s Enrollment Policy if there are more applications than there are seats available for a given grade level. 

We have projected 214 students in year 1 for grades K-6. 

The school’s whole child approach has three interrelated components:

• High quality, Florida standards-based instruction with the supports needed for all students to be successful;
  
• Focus on student Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and physical health and well-being of students and staff; and
  
• Hands-on, student driven project-based learning (PBL) approach to instruction.
  

We will follow the Florida class size requirements which are an average of 18 students per classroom in grades K-2 and an average of 22 students per classroom in grades 3-6.

We will not have a VPK program at the school as of right now. We are exploring options for a VPK program or an affiliation agreement with in the future.

Siblings of current students will be given an enrollment priority in accordance with the Ina A. Colen Academy’s Enrollment Policy. 

We will offer physical education. We will take a survey of students to identify activities that are of interest to our students and offer extracurricular activities aligned with those interests. We are building a music and chorus room and anticipate offering those programs in the future.

No, we will not offer transportation. However, we will survey the parents to see if it is needed for year two.

We will have after school care from 2:05-5:30 on student days only. There will be no before school care year one.  We will survey the parents to see if it is a need for year two.

The nature of PBL and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) address gifted students. However, if a student is identified as Gifted, we will implement the Educational Plan (EP) as written. We will also have a teacher who is Gifted endorsed.

Yes, and we will have a variety of options for families to choose from. Click here to purchase school uniforms from our Uniform Store.

Yes. As a public school, IACA will serve a diverse population of students with varying needs, including students with disabilities who require special education services and accommodations.

We are planning to expand to grades 9-12 in the future.

We will follow the Marion County school district guidance as it relates to options for learning. 

Absolutely. IACA’s application is separate from the Marion County choice application, and you are permitted to apply to both. We have aligned our application timeline with theirs so that parents can make the best decision for their child once they have all of the information about what schools are options.

Our application period is between October 1 and February 15th. Once the application period is over, we will conduct a lottery if necessary. Parents will be notified about their child’s application status following the lottery. Parents will have 7 days to “accept” their child’s seat, and then 10 days to “enroll” their child in Ina A. Colen Academy by providing the required documentation. If enrollment is not completed within the 10 day time period, your seat will be automatically released.
We will conduct the lottery using an automated system called “Lotterease” that will provide notifications to parents regarding the status of their child’s application.