Rick Helfand, president of the Board of Directors of The Seaside School Foundation Inc., with with Seaside founders Daryl and Robert Davis at the deed presentation of the Seaside Neighborhood School Founders Building, donated by the Davises. Photo by Lori Leath Smith
Town founders donate Founders Building By Deborah Wheeler
Seaside Neighborhood School got some good news recently.
During a school assembly, Seaside founders Robert and Daryl Davis ceremoniously handed over the deed for the Seaside Neighborhood School Founders Building to Seaside Foundation President Rick Helfand. The Founders Building was the last of three school buildings that was not owned by the foundation.
Seaside Neighborhood School had been renting the building from the Davises for about $75,000 a year.
Helfand approached Robert Davis last year with a proposal to buy the building. Davis eventually decided to donate it to the foundation instead.
“It made sense for us tax-wise to donate instead of sell,” Davis said.
The school’s main building was paid for with fees the Davises collected from allowing “The Truman Show” to be filmed at Seaside in the mid-1990s. The school opened in 1996 as one of Florida’s first charter schools.
During the ceremony, the Davises were heralded as the visionaries of Seaside and the school, which started with 35 children in house trailers. Today, 133 students attend and are selected by a lottery.
The Davises donated the land for all three buildings.
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U.S. Congressman Jeff Miller (right) visits with the Seaside Neighborhood School Administration. Left to right: Seaside School Inc. Foundation Board President Rick Helfand, principal Kim Mixson, director Cathy Brubaker. Photo by Lori Leath Smith 9/1/2013
Congressman Miller with students: Dugan McAdams, Belle Atlas, Maddie Cope, Jenna Scheler, Nick Trodd, Annie Spence Photo by Lori Leath Smith