BELLE GLADE – The Palm Beach County School Board has approved Lutheran Services Florida’s application to open a charter school in Belle Glade.

The Belle Glade Excel Charter School will open in the 2012-13 school year, providing new educational opportunities to children and linking their families to community resources. The school will build upon the long-running success of the PEPPI Head Start Child Development Center (Preschool Enrichment Program with Parental Involvement).

LSF has operated PEPPI Head Start in Belle Glade since 1982, working to improve the quality of life for at-risk preschool children in the area by providing comprehensive services to families. Children in the program learn basic educational skills in a clean and safe environment and receive a well-balanced breakfast, lunch and a healthy afternoon snack daily. Parents receive referrals to medical, dental and mental health professionals. The Belle Glade Excel Charter School will build a bridge between PEPPI Head Start and a successful elementary school education.

“We are excited for this opportunity,” said LSF President and Chief Executive Officer Samuel M. Sipes. “We look forward to expanding our service in Belle Glade to elementary school students. We hope many of our former PEPPI students will take advantage of the new charter school experience.”

The Belle Glade Excel Charter School will serve an area in western Palm Beach County populated largely by low-income families and migrant workers. In the city of Belle Glade, more than 4 out of every 10 children under the age of 18 live below the federal poverty line, according to the 2000 Census. Thirty-three percent of its people live below the federal poverty line, compared to an average of 12.6 percent in Florida and 13.2 percent of the U.S. as a whole. In addition, English is not the first language of 39 percent of the Belle Glade population.

The new school will provide an innovative educational program that includes a variety of instructional methods and strategies designed to encourage student achievement, improve behavior and encourage attendance.

Parental involvement will be a key element of the program, replicating the philosophy of PEPPI Head Start. Parents of PEPPI students are required to play an active role in their children’s education: they participate in school activities, volunteer in the classroom, read to their children at home with school-provided materials, and serve as chaperones on school field trips.

ABOUT LUTHERAN SERVICES FLORIDA

Lutheran Services Florida is a statewide, nonprofit human services agency dedicated to helping all people in need regardless of religious affiliation, age or national origin. Headquartered in Tampa, the agency has more than 60 programs located throughout Florida. Areas of service include Refugees and Immigrants; Children, Youth and Families; Elderly/Guardianship/Adult Services; Homeless/Housing; and Disaster Response. Since it was established in 1982, LSF has helped more than 850,000 children and families. LSF’s mission is to bring healing, hope and help to people in need in the name of Jesus Christ.