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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, we do. Read below to view out Dress Code FAQs:

DRESS CODE FOR STUDENTS:

No uniform substitutes are permitted.  • If a clothing article is not listed, it is not acceptable to wear to school, as it is not considered a part of the dress code. • Uniforms must be clean, neat, and in good repair always. • Administration reserves the right to address violations on an individual basis. • Blankets are not to be worn or wrapped around your body at school. •Hats may be worn outside only at PE or Recess• The official Uniform Supplier is French Toast.  Our school code is Qs614TF and there is a link on our website at iacafl.org.

SHIRT: A navy, white or yellow, girls or boys, pique collared short and long sleeve shirt, with the IACA logo on the chest.  Shirts must be always tucked in. Students may wear only white or navy undershirts and/or long-sleeve shirts, with no writing or visible design on the sleeves under their school shirts.

Boys– Shorts or pants worn appropriately at the waist. A brown belt must be worn with shorts or pants if there are belt loops. All bottoms are khaki.

Girls- Khaki shorts, skorts or pants. A brown belt must be worn with shorts or pants if there are belt loops. Skorts or shorts must be two-three inches above the knee.

FOOTWEAR-Closed toe shoes are the only type allowed. Students should never wear boots, slippers, sandals, flip flops, or shoes without backs. White or black socks are the only color socks permitted.

DRESS-DOWN DAYS/FRIDAYS/FIELD TRIPS- Dress-down days occur throughout the school year. On these days students may wear full-length blue jeans/pants with no rips, tears, or shredding or Khaki shorts/pants/skorts; and a IACA “Spirit Shirt”. Leggings and stretch pants are not allowed.  Sunglasses may not be worn indoors.

KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS ONLY- must wear Velcro tennis shoes if they are unable to tie their own shoelaces.  They must also wear a magnetic or Velcro brown belt if they are unable to buckle their own belt. In addition, please send a full change of uniform clothes for your child in a zip loc bag with his or her name on it.  Please include socks, underwear, and shoes.  This policy is enforced to save parents time and to get the child back to class as soon as possible in case of a bathroom accident or spill.

OUTERWEAR-There are a variety of option available through French Toast.  A navy cardigan sweater, navy full zip hoodie, navy zip rain jacket, navy sweater vest and a navy fleece half zip pull over.

Exception:  Students may wear scout uniform tops on their meeting days only.

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.