Recent reports by the Florida Department of Education have parents questioning the student selection process for bay district charter schools.
Meredith Higgins is the principal for the North Bay Haven High School and Middle School. She says, "we think we do it as fair as the law requires us to be. And because its public we choose to do it in a very old fashion manner so that its very clear to see."
Florida Law says a charter school must have a racial balance that reflects the surrounding community, and recent reports show a lower minority rate at Bay Haven and North Bay Haven Charter Academy schools.
The high school for example has 9 percent black students compared to 26 percent in the surrounding high schools..
"The data shows that we're within the range of public schools within the area and we're making the progress towards improving that each year," says Higgins.
There are certain preferences mandated by the charters, but the whole process is done by drawing names. Not only is it a public lottery, but the charter schools hire an auditing firm to help oversee the procedures.
Parents, like Tracey Sirmans, say attending Saturday's meeting helped clear up some confusion.
"I went in kinda unsure about the procedures," says Sirmans. "But they did answer all the questions that I had about the procedures and the policy and I didn't have a problem understanding the policy and then actually sitting through the process and seeing how they're actually selected and prioritized makes more sense to me."
The charter school says they're hoping to increase their minority numbers as the system grows.
The deadline to apply to North Bay Haven Charter for kindergarten through 8th grade is February 28th.
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