OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Public School Board unanimously approved, with a 4-0 vote, the District Managed Turnaround Plan Step One for Oakcrest Elementary School 2025-2026 school year, at their Sept. 9, 2025, meeting.
Mr. Lamar Rembert is the is the area superintendent for the school district’s Region One, where he supervises Oakcrest Elementary, and provided information regarding the turnaround plan.
The TOP is the district managed Turnaround Option Plan for Oakcrest Elementary School. The plan that was presented before the school board for its approval and was constructed after a comprehensive review of historical school performance data to address the school’s consecutive “D” grades, said Rembert.
“The data disaggregated by subject, grade level and subgroup performance, with additional metrics to analyze attendance and discipline trends over the past three years,” said Rembert. “In response to the analysis an action plan was created, and the highlights are, appointing Sarah Dobbs, a proven leader with a track record of successful turnaround experience, staffing the school with certified experience, staffing the school with certified experienced and effective instructors, including 16 reading endorsed teachers, ongoing progress monitoring through local and state assessments, weekly data review with the central office team to create plans of action to address the data, and support from the Bureau of School Improvement at least twice a month.”
This would also include coaching, supporting and monitoring teachers and delivering standard space instruction to all students through highly effective instructional practices in all grades and content areas daily, while improving classroom and school environment to increase the number of discipline referrals, improving classroom and school environment through Positive Behavior and Interventions and Support and attendance initiatives to reduce the number of chronically absent students, said Rembert.
‘There are already signs of early success as Oakcrest is hovering around 95% daily average attendance,” said Rembert. “We’re very proud of that. We’re holding monthly meetings for the attendance response committee composed of business partners, community outreach, district and school-based members to target strategies for increased engagement in attendance. Once approved, Dr. Brewer (Marion County Public School interim superintendent) will present this targeted improvement plan to the State Board of Education on Sept. 24, 2025.”
School Board member Nancy Thrower recognized Dobbs, the 2o25 Marion County Principal of the Year when she was at East Marion Elementary, for her impact on the school system, for not only her work as an assistant principal at Oakcrest, but for her work as principal at East Marion and now at Oakcrest.
‘Attendance (at Oakcrest) is exceeding their goal, is 92%, almost every day, it’s 95 or 96%. They are hitting on all cylinders,” said Thrower. “It’s just continues to be my hope and prayer moving forward, with high needs schools, that we know that we have, we have to figure out a way to maintain the level of support. We’ve seen what happens when the support is withdrawn. It just doesn’t work when you have such a multitude of needs at some of our schools. That will be a task for all of us moving forward, how we can allocate to make sure these schools continue to rise. I’m so excited for this school year.”