Dr. Moore Sits Down with The Sunshine Journal to Talk Classical Education

In a lengthy interview, Dr. Moore asks for people to fill out surveys, and, shares his vision for the school system, and how a classical school offering fits well.

Some might call the interview timing with superintendent, Dr. David Moore, “divine providence.” After all, the meeting to discuss classical instruction, which was scheduled for April 2nd prior to spring break, transpired immediately following the appointment of Kevin McDonald to the school board by Governor DeSantis. Mr. McDonald, who was sworn into his seat by Supervisor of Elections, Leslie Swan, Monday, has campaigned in part on his being the former president of the highly successful classical model in Manhattan, NY, The Geneva School. 

Dr. Moore sat down to also encourage residents to answer the survey on the new magnet school. “Let’s get the word out,” he enthusiastically charges. The final day for surveying Indian River County residents is Thursday, April 18, 2024. A second survey was released on Friday,  April 5th that followed the first set of questions. The survey can be accessed here and The Sunshine Journal encourages all readers to participate in it. 

The Sunshine Journal interview consisted of questions centered around the February 12th presentation to the board by Dr. Moore to open a classical school beginning 2025-26 school year. The term ‘school choice’ is often misunderstood when it comes to public school systems in Florida. Indian River County is a ‘choice system’ and the Sunshine Journal asked him to clarify what that means exactly. “The first three months I was here, only the three magnet schools [had choice] and you didn’t have open access to all of the other schools, explained Dr. Moore adding, “To me, that was just limiting options for parents.” 

Rosewood Magnet School and Osceola Magnet School each have been recognized by the state Board of Education as “Schools of Excellence” for the 2022-23 year. Furthermore, Beachland Elementary had received the same recognition. “There was board policy that need to be changed to allow community members  to apply to any school they want their children to attend.  We also changed some policy to maximize the opportunity to provide transportation,” said Dr. Moore.  Even with the full expansion of choice, Dr. Moore concluded his answer saying, “But, the current reality is there is still a drastic variance between the perception of a magnet school and the perception of a choice school.”

The three magnet schools available in Indian River County are 100% choice schools and as stated in the February 12h presentation, there are 2 applications for each seat available in them. Diving deeper into the demand on magnet schools, Dr. Moore shared there are waiting lists for all three of them. Rosewood and Osceola are located in the south. “In the north, Liberty Magnet’s waiting list is significantly longer than the others,” said Dr. Moore. The school system has witnessed a drop in enrollment of 800 students since 2018-19 with 143 leaving enrollment compared to the previous year. Dr. Moore recognizes the school choice marketplace, and that the district needs to provide education opportunities to expand enrollment. Online, some have disproved of the district for not making their school offerings the same for everyone. The Sunshine Journal asked Dr. Moore about that criticism. He responded, “All students are not the same. You must have choice. The best way for me to answer that question is I have two daughters, raised by the same two parents who learn drastically different.”

Dr. Moore shared the story of how each of his daughters chose a different learning path. His oldest thrived in the classical home school model with a love for literature, reading and a more independent approach to her studies. His younger daughter thrived in public school entering as a freshmen. “The benefit for her was the social interaction to engage with others, the use of technology and navigating the collaborative efforts. My oldest had established connection to her homeschooling community,” commented Dr. Moore. His other daughter missed that opportunity being homeschooled. He said, “My youngest daughter was a gymnast. Her social circle was her gym life. She stopped gym life. She retired at the ripe old age of 12. She had to go get that social experience in public school.”

While the learning models are important, the one thing all of them offer is positive social interaction centered around the type of school. Classical schools are not religious, even though many private Christian organizations subscribe to the fastest growing curriculum model in the USA. Known to be an innovator, Dr. Moore is trying to be the second public school district in Florida to offer a classical school to parents and their children. The Sunshine Journal asked Dr. Moore to explain a classical model. “Traditional is the easiest way for folks to connect to it.  Its strength is how it scaffolds its instruction, going from memorization to grammar to responding to literature. It grows sequentially over time. Whereas public school, although it grows in the standards, and both have the [state] standards, it isn’t as structured in the scaffolding up from year to year,” he explained adding, “The exposure to literature is also extremely intentional and important.  The sequencing of math is building the practice to master those specific skills independently before scaffolding on to the next level.”     

In the February presentation, Dr. Kyra Schafte likened the classical model to how she learned. In answering a question from Dr. Peggy Jones she commented, “Honestly, it reminds me of how I went to school. To me, it’s a very traditional school where you anticipate spelling lists, you are breaking apart sentences, identifying the subject and the predicate. It is a very traditional approach to learning and some students can be very responsive to that model.”

Dr. Schafte spoke of the various schools they researched during her presentation. In the interview, Dr. Moore talked about their visit to Miami to tour True North Charter School, a classical model. The Sunshine Journal asked what stuck out about that particular school. “The rate of alignment in terms of what we are doing here,” he replied. He then explained, “It wouldn’t be a significant investment  to retrain teachers, or how to implement classical instruction. It’s a very cost effective model, and there are those who would excel as an Educator just like students excel in different models.” 

Truth North has been in operation in Miami - Dade for 7 years says Dr. Moore. It is a K-12 model, has three campuses and their waiting list is over 2000 students. To meet the demand, Miami-Dade began their development of a public classical school 4 months prior to Indian River. “There is demand here as well,” replied Dr.Moore.  Furthermore, two schools in the north county, Sebastian Elementary and Pelican Island are operating at roughly 55% capacity. These two schools currently operate at a loss. To break even, Dr. Moore says they need to be in the 84 to 85% enrollment range. Still, no matter what school is chosen, kids currently enrolled will not be displaced and will have ‘first right of refusal’ to enroll in the classical school. If accepted by residents, grades K-1 will begin in 2025-26 year with each higher grade added each year. A school that has full enrollment would cover current losses and fund the new magnet design. 

Dr. Moore estimated that of the applicants who do not get into the magnet schools currently, about 10-15% of those students chose outside the public school system. However, it is not about retaining just those students. He knows there are more students in families that do not attend the public offerings because there is not a choice for them. “I have had conversations with them and they always say, ‘love what you are doing, it is great, but I wish you had this.’ Also, to me it is not controversial. [The Classical school] is a state aligned school that will take state assessments and have a level of accountability through the school board in terms of academic outcome.” he said.  

He then added, “Job one right now is beating the myth that this is something political. It is a solid researched based educational model that we do not have, and a public school system cannot say, ‘we provide a quality education for all,’ unless it is providing options for all. No one should have to say, ‘I wish I could go to public education, but I am going to home school my kid.’ They should be able to make a choice. We should have something for everybody. No one should have to sacrifice, and that is the type of system we are trying to create.”