Seaside Charter K-8 School

Seaside Charter K-8 School in Atlantic Beach, FL, is a small, tuition-free public charter school serving 484 students from Pre-K through 8th grade within the Duval school district.

Seaside presents a notable paradox: despite having a very low percentage of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (just 4.55% receive free or reduced-price lunch), its academic performance is generally below both district and state averages. This is a stark contrast to nearby schools like Atlantic Beach Elementary School and San Pablo Elementary School, which have higher rates of economic diversity but consistently outperform Seaside in nearly every subject. The school's state ranking has also declined sharply, falling from the 68th percentile (3-star) in 2018-2019 to the 32nd percentile (2-star) in the most recent data. Interestingly, another local charter, River City Science Academy Intracoastal, is a top-performing school (88th percentile) with a much higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students, showing that the charter model itself is not the issue.

The most critical challenge facing Seaside is a severe and worsening chronic absenteeism crisis. In the 2023-2024 school year, a staggering 48.7% of students were chronically absent—the highest rate among all nearby schools and significantly worse than the state average of 31.4%. This rate has climbed steadily from just 10% in 2019-2020. While the school has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13:1 and spends less per student ($9,598) than many higher-performing neighbors, the absenteeism problem is almost certainly the primary driver of its poor academic performance and declining ranking. The school is in urgent need of a comprehensive turnaround strategy focused on improving attendance and instructional quality.