Brookside Middle School undergoes transformation to attract new students

As an elementary school teacher, Leah Burger noticed how much knowledge and interest students had in video games.

Today, she is a doctoral student at University of South Florida leading research and community efforts on game design. She is putting that research to work in a partnership between USF and Sarasota County Schools, which is transforming Brookside Middle School into the Gulf Coast Academy of Innovation & Technology at Brookside for the 2026-2027 school year.

"When I entered my doctoral journey, if you will, I knew I wanted to do something with writing, and then I realized I wanted to think about writing in new ways that really leveraged what kids know about and are passionate about, and then through that, I realized, 'Oh, wait, there's science that's connected to this," she said. 

Brookside Middle School will open as a districtwide middle school for the next school year, offering coursework in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, game development and e-sports, machining and robotics, and marine science and agriculture.

Sixth grade students will begin with an exploratory year that includes advanced coursework before they select a focused pathway in later grades, one of which will be added each year.

The project is part of the school district’s Future Focused Strategic Initiative, a long-range plan that involves expanding educational opportunities while repurposing existing spaces. The plan was created in response to the Schools of Hope legislation that allows charter schools to occupy spaces and use the resources at under-capacity public schools. 

To fend off requests from those charter schools, Sarasota County Schools came up with a plan to reimagine some of its current educational offerings to better compete with charter, private or homeschool options.

Nate Francis, executive director of secondary education, says thanks to the partnership with USF, no other school in the area will be able to provide what Brookside will offer as a new magnet program.

He says Schools of Hope was a factor in the decision to reimagine the school, but not the only factor. 

"(Terry Connor), our superintendent, has been pushing for all of our schools, really, to look at innovative ways to attract students and to be at the forefront of emerging fields, especially in technology, obviously, with AI. Cybersecurity is a really future-focused career right now."

The school has a maximum of 250 seats set aside for the sixth grade applicants, and he said it is expected to attract students from areas throughout the county, as well as some from south Manatee County. The district will provide transportation.

Full-speed ahead

So what does it take to innovate in the school system at a high-speed? 

Francis says although the process is moving quickly, the district has the benefit of existing resources to help innovate. 

He says the school plans to retain its current staffing model, with the addition of a dedicated role for an encore elective teacher who will focus solely on marine research, agriscience and aquaculture.

He notes the school already has a machine and robotics classroom that it plans to utilize for the new programming. 

The school also has access to The Farm at McIntosh Middle School, to Mote's Science Education Aquarium and to Sarasota High School's Carefree Learner floating classroom, noted Lindsay Gallof, principal of the Gulf Coast Academy of Innovation & Technology at Brookside.

In designing its offerings, Francis said, the school isn't only working with USF, but also meeting with stakeholders including Julius Edwards, president of the Sunshine State Esports League.

Esports refers to organized, competitive video gaming, and Edwards has been advising them on equipment that is age-appropriate and cost-effective.

"They've all been on campus, USF, Julius, as far as walking our campus to determine logistics," Francis said. 

"For that parent that may be worried about, 'Oh, game design, are they just going to sit there and play video games all day? The answer is really no," Francis said. "They're going to be using that tool and that pathway to really develop key skills like problem solving and systems thinking, that collaboration piece, communication."

He says all pathways are thoroughly intertwined. 

"It's been really interesting as we've been working through the curriculum framework for each of our pathways, particularly for this first sixth grade group next year, just how intertwined all of these pathways really are," Gallof said. 

Burger notes that while students in the game design area will be involved in tasks like building physical prototypes and digital prototypes for video games and undergoing the process of game design as an engineer, they'll also learn information that applies to other fields. 

For instance, she said they'll learn about working with virtual reality, which is thoroughly integrated into the medical profession.

Or cybersecurity, which, Francis said, "is all-encompassing, whether you're talking about game design, artificial intelligence, machine robotics, or AI,"

Gallof said this interdisciplinary element changed her thinking as a principal. 

"We're utilizing these areas that motivate and keep kids engaged, but we're really teaching them lifelong skills that they can apply to any other area," she said. 

Francis said the project is currently still in the phase of the facility walks, cataloguing information on computers and other materials, but has yet to itemize a cost.

"The grant department is working on grants to help offset any cost, and we are also putting together an advisory council with community and business partners to help also, as far as supporting us, in any way that they can," he said. 

Gallof said the program is moving along sucessfully. 

"It's a lot of work to get done, but I do have true faith that it's going to happen and open with success ... evidenced by the applications rolling in, and evidenced by the commitment of the district and the number of people working on the initiative, so I'm looking forward to being there on that first day of school," she said.

The window for school choice is open through March 2, but the school will be accepting applications through May 15.