Christopher Collot says he was labeled gifted as a second-grader. But that didn’t put him on a path to thrive academically. On the contrary, he says, it meant he was ostracized and bullied. It meant he had to wait outside his assigned school several times a week for a bus that would ferry him to special classes. It meant he struggled to connect with his peers.
“This was a terrible choice for me, because like any kid, I just wanted to belong, and that was difficult to do when you were labeled the gifted kid that had special circumstances,” he says.
In a video, he talks about how a South Florida charter school provided a better option for his son, Jayden. Like his dad, Jayden took a test and received a gifted label early in elementary school. But unlike his dad, his parents had the option to send him to a school that catered to his needs. In his case, that was Mater Academy Elementary School in Hialeah Gardens.It’s the oldest of Mater’s 27 schools, which form one of several networks operated by the management company Academica. A study released earlier this year suggested Mater Academy students make some of the largest academic gains among Florida charter school networks.
Collot’s story is circulating as part of a video contest promoting choices in education. He’s one of 15 finalists, and the only one from Florida.
Stories like his should be put in context. Jayden’s charter school is authorized by Miami-Dade Public Schools, a district where the majority of students now take advantage of options outside their assigned zones. The district — likely spurred, at least in part, by competitors like Mater Academy — has aggressively expanded magnet programs, career academies and high schools that offer college credit.
Choices for some students beget choices for others. Collot’s story reminds us many of those options didn’t exist a generation ago.
