Our Timeline
Summer, 2026:
We are spending the summer on 3 major tasks:
Completing our contract negotiations with Volusia County Schools. VCS is the sponsoring district for our charter, and we need to agree on terms regarding the responsibilities of both the VCS School Board and TDI STEM Academy.
Identification of land in West Volusia. Our developer, FPDino, is actively investigating and communicating with several landholders in the area. We are verifying the feasibility of constructing at each location.
Getting the word out that we are here. Our bond underwriters are asking for evidence that TDI STEM Academy is a sought-after alternative to the traditional school system and that we will have enough students to open at the capacity we are asking for. More interest = more money given for a larger building and materials. If you have not yet completed the Interest survey, please do so now (https://forms.office.com/r/azYKiiYb2T) and spread the word to friends and family.
May 13, 2026:
The Florida State Charter Commission has approved our charter application. We are now moving forward with site selection, construction, and continued planning for the newest Volusia County Charter School, TDI STEM Academy.
February 20, 2026:
Fully revised application has been completed and resubmitted. We are now repeating the earlier process with May 13th as the commission date, where we will be notified of application acceptance.
February 11, 2026:
At the state commission meeting, our application was withdrawn so that we could work on several of the sections that were in need of further consideration - budget, transportation, and board structure. We have been given a 10-day extension to resubmit with additions and corrections.
November 5, 2025:
The application is finished and in the hands of the state reviewers!!!!
Next steps:
The FCI reviewers will spend the next month going over every part of the application with a fine-tooth comb.
An interview has been scheduled for Dec. 16th where we will have the opportunity to speak with the reviewers and answer any questions or concerns they may have regarding TDI STEM Academy’s unique schedule and lab experiences.
The review board will make a decision as to whether they will recommend that the TDI STEM Academy should receive a charter. This will happen by 01/10/2026.
The Department of Education will take the next 22 days to review the application and determine if there are any concerns or disagreements with the FCI recommendation.
On 02/11/2026 the Charter School Review Commission will hold a public meeting to review applications that have been submitted, along with the recommendations of the FCI and DOE. The commission will approve or deny the application with a majority vote.
With approval - we begin to build TDI STEM Academy.
Summer, 2025: A long summer of sitting at the computer, making phone calls, and researching. By summer’s end, we had completed roughly 95% of the application. We still need to complete the budget section (anyone have a spare $25,000 to help us out?) and polish the completed sections.
Due to difficulty getting needed budget information from outside parties, we are moving the application turn-in date to November 12th.
April 5, 2025: Today, we finally received notice of our status as a tax exempt organization under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Starting back on January 30, 2024, all donations which are made to Teacher Driven Innovation, Inc (TDI STEM Academy) are tax deductible. Thank you to all who are able to help us fund the MANY programs that we have prepared for the students who will be attending TDI STEM Academy.
March 8, 2025 & March 15/16, 2025: Attended the Orange City Movie in the Park and Lake Helen Strawberry Festival. Met many excited members of the community who overwhelmingly expressed interest and excitement at having a new school open in the area. Gathered over 250 signatures on our way to the 400 needed for the application.
Application deadline: August 19, 2025
January 31, 2025: Signed a contract with Carvelli and Associates which will guarantee a completed application. We divided the sections between John’s people and ours, set a schedule of completion, and set a payment structure.
Revised planned opening (due to the State’s application review schedule) = August 2027
December 18, 2024: Toured several Orange City and Deland sites with Frank to identify possible pieces of land that we can purchase.
November 22, 2024: Signed a contract with Frank Dino to get a school built. Frank and his people will be helping us to locate and acquire land, write the bond for funding, and designing and building TDI STEM Academy.
Planned opening = August 2026
November 13, 2024: Met with members of VMA (Volusia Manufacturing Association) to connect and develop a partnership with them in bringing manufacturing to the STEM Academy.
July 7, 2024: Filed application for 501c3, tax exempt status - awaiting approval.
January 30, 2024: Filed articles for our non-profit corporation, Teacher Driven Innovation, Inc.
October 2023: Attended the Florida Charter School Conference in Orlando. Met Frank Dino, of FPDino, and John Carvelli, of Carvelli and Associates. Frank is a project manager who is familiar with the process involved in opening up a charter school in Florida. John and his group assist in writing the extensive application required by the state for acquiring a charter.
December 2022 - September 2023: Held bi-weekly meetings with the core group of teachers to hammer out major concepts for what an entire school built upon the original STEM program would look like.
November 2022: Presented our STEM program at the FAST (Florida Association of Science Teachers) conference. Was approached by Dr. Sue Beddard, iBuild Academy, who suggested that put the program back into practice and open a school for ourselves. We shifted our focus from writing the book to writing a charter application.
Summer 2022: Began writing a book to share what we had accomplished with the program.
August 2016 - May 2021: Ran our STEM program in a public middle school with great results. In 2019, we were featured in the Daytona Beach News Journal.