About RCMA
Academies of RCMA’s holistic approach supports our scholars’ academic pursuits, Family Foundations, Cultural Legacies, and Health & Wellness. Our approach supports the whole child and opens the doors to opportunities through quality education.
Inside the Academies of RCMA
Meet Our Teachers
RCMA teachers realize that we are partners with parents in their child’s learning experiences. A student’s learning is constantly evolving, and not just in the classroom. Our educators know their students well, finding ways to help the child explore the world around them in order to help identify the interests of the child and how those can develop into lifelong learning.
About RCMA Academies
RCMA operates two charter schools (public schools of choice), the Immokalee Community School in eastern Collier County and RCMA Wimauma Community Academy in southeastern Hillsborough County, which provide a unique opportunity for RCMA to extend its positive impact on children.
RCMA Charter Schools are tuition-free public schools open to all students. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, disability, national or ethnic origin in administration of its admission policies or any of the education programs.
With a combined enrollment of more than 500 students, the schools provide a seamless transition for children as they progress from RCMA’s early childhood and pre-kindergarten programs into elementary school.
Rather than attending other public schools after pre-kindergarten, rural and migrant children may continue to learn and develop in familiar surroundings with teachers and staff of similar backgrounds at RCMA’s charter schools.
Test results confirm that the longer students remain with RCMA, they better they perform in school. Our children’s improvement between kindergarten and third grade on reading assessments, for example, is dramatic. When one considers that many of our students are tested in their second language, their accomplishments are quite impressive.
The educational focus is a dual language academic program with an integrated curriculum. Language, math, science and social studies are taught using a thematic and integrative approach, immersing students in an enriched environment that reflects real world complexities. The results include strong communication skills in both languages, ability to think critically and problem solve, as well as increased self-esteem and social skills. RCMA Immokalee Community School and RCMA Wimauma Community Academy were originally chartered in 2000.
Welcome to Academies of RCMA
RCMA’s History
Redlands Christian Migrant Association was born in 1965, amid a litany of horrors.
Impoverished farmworkers in South Florida had no alternative but to take their young children into the fields. A toddler had drowned in an irrigation pit. Others had died under farm machinery. Most spent long days exposed to broiling sun, pesticides, insects and snakes. So a village of Mennonites near Homestead’s Redlands labor camp created a safe haven. They opened two child care centers.
Surprisingly, most of the farmworkers stayed away. So the bewildered Mennonites enlisted Wendell Rollason, an outspoken crusader for immigrant rights in the Miami area. Rollason reached out to the farmworkers. Still, the response remained anemic.
Then an ordinary day in a childcare center became the most pivotal day in the 47-year history of RCMA.
That day, Rollason noticed that two things were momentarily different:
- An unusually large number of immigrant mothers had signed up to volunteer.
- An unusually large number of other immigrant mothers had left their children in the center.
Rollason made the connection: The immigrants would entrust their babies only to caregivers from their own culture. He decided to hire childcare workers from among immigrants, from the fields.
Rollason’s illuminating moment would reshape the futures of countless babies, a thousand or so mothers and RCMA itself. Soon, the little ones would begin filling RCMA childcare centers to capacity. The mothers would find themselves no longer isolated in the fields, but launching new childcare careers, in mainstream society, with lifelong educational opportunities.
New immigrants’ first point of contact with RCMA was someone who had walked in their shoes.
For RCMA, Rollason’s realization was the wellspring of a new business model for straddling multiple cultures. Henceforth, RCMA’s childcare centers and regional offices would be led by a coordinator from the culture of the community served, always backed up by a childcare expert hired for her professional background, regardless of culture.
RCMA’s initial concern – the health and safety of young children – was quickly allayed through good nutrition and health screenings. A new priority emerged: Early childhood education. It has remained at the top of RCMA’s job description ever since.
Same Inspiration, Larger Numbers
From the two childcare centers in Homestead, RCMA has grown today to 71 centers in 21 Florida counties. All serve the rural poor, and most serve the children of Hispanic immigrants. During the 2011-2012 school year, RCMA’s 7,500 children were 86 percent Hispanic and 11 percent African-American. Government grants comprised 85 percent of RCMA’s $58 million annual bud Over the years, RCMA has broadened the range of its programs. Our Early Head Start centers accept infants as young as six weeks. Our after-school programs serve children ages 6 to 16.
In 2000, we opened charter schools in Immokalee, southeast of Fort Myers, and Wimauma, south of Tampa. In 2012, we added a charter middle school on the Wimauma campus. Together, the two Wimauma schools serve grades K-7. The Immokalee school serves grades K-6.
Despite all these changes over four decades, Wendell Rollason’s inspired personnel policy still affects RCMA – and the people we serve – profoundly.
Academy Policies
Internet Safety Policy
Staff, students, and parents using RCMA computers, e-mail, and/or internet please read.
RCMA supports instruction through the use of educational and administrative computers. The responsible use of computers and computer networks is a powerful tool in support of the instructional program. Some uses of computers and the Internet however possess no educational value in a school setting.
This Internet security and safety policy serves to protect the interests of RCMA and technology resource users by outlining acceptable and unacceptable use of the network and computers used within RCMA.
Fortify FL Submit Tip https://getfortifyfl.com/
Wellness Policy
Non-Discrimination Policy
Title IX Notification
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity”
Over the last several months, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) undertook a sweeping review and revision of handling and investigating of Title IX complaints. The revisions included definitional changes, investigative and decision-making oversight, processes and procedures, standards of evidentiary review and process considerations, and so on.
RCMA Charter Schools do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, disability, national or ethnic origin in the provision of educational opportunities or employment opportunities and benefits. The school does not discriminate on the basis of sex or disability in the education programs and activities that it operates, pursuant to the requirements of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, respectively. The right not to be discriminated against extends to both employees and students of the school and shall include equal access to designated youth organizations in conformity with the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. The following personnel should be contacted for inquiries about their rights or to learn how to file a complaint regarding discrimination.
Employees: For matters involving Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Title VII, and Florida’s Educational Equity Act, contact Ms. Anjeza Osmenaj Human Resources Manager at (800) 282-6540, or at 402 W. Main St. Immokalee, FL 34142
Students: For matters involving (a) Florida’s Education Act and Federal Title VI (race, religion, national origin issues), For ICS contact Ms. Christina E. Harding-Cruz, School Social Worker, at (239) 867-3220 or at 123 N 4th Street
Immokalee, FL 34142.
WCA contact Mr. Cesar Laureano, School Counselor, at (813) 672-5159 or at 18236 S US Hwy 301. Wimauma, FL 33598
Title IX: For all Title IX related matters, whether involving employees and/or students, For ICS contact Ms. Christina E. Harding-Cruz, School Social Worker and Title IX Coordinator, at (239) 867-3220 or at 123 N 4th Street. Immokalee, FL 34142
WCA contact Mr. Cesar Laureano, School Counselor, at (813) 672-5159 or at 18236 S US Hwy 301. Wimauma, FL 33598
Report an Incident or Concern:
Students: Classroom teachers, School Social Worker or School Counselor, and Principal.
School Staff: Executive Director of Charters, Principal, and RCMA Board.
Inside the Academies of RCMA
Mission and Vision
Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) Charter Schools have been established as public schools of choice for the children and families in the rural communities where we have a presence. The opportunity to choose this school creates another chance to maximize the life choices that are available for children.
Mission
RCMA Charter Schools open doors to opportunities through quality education.
Vision
RCMA Charters will be recognized as a national role model in preparing rural children for wise leadership, in an increasingly diverse and complex world.
Support Our Mission
opportunities through education
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