As a parent, I've always sought out schools with creative approaches to learning. My oldest daughter, Zoe, started at Tybee Island Maritime Academy nine years ago as a kindergartner. My husband and I were thrilled to find such a unique, public school in our local community. TIMA is a K-8 tuition-free public charter school located on Tybee Island. It’s the only school in Georgia with a maritime, career-focused, and project-based curriculum. The school is open to students on Tybee Island and throughout Chatham County. This spring, Zoe will graduate from TIMA as an eighth grader. While it's bittersweet that this is her last year at this special school, I'm confident that she’s grown both academically and socially and that TIMA has prepared her for a successful future. Tybee Island Maritime Academy has also provided Zoe and her two brothers with a high-quality learning environment, individualized attention, and a tight-knit and responsive school community. 

From the minute you walk in the school’s door you notice something is different. Flip-flops, sunscreen, fishing poles and other items you would take to the beach or see along the shoreline are in classrooms throughout the building. My children and other students at TIMA often walk just a few steps to the nearby beach on Tybee Island to view marine animals and explore Georgia’s coastal habitat rather than reading about it in a textbook or online. TIMA teaches the Georgia Standards of Excellence and the Georgia Performance Standards through a hands-on, maritime theme. My children often come home and are filled with excitement as they discuss research projects in the marsh, field trips to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center, and classes held on the beach where they learn about the ecology of Savannah’s coast. 

In addition to an emphasis on maritime education, TIMA received statewide STEAM certification during the last school year. It’s the only K-8 school in the region to receive this important designation, and the increased focus on STEAM learning has had major impact on my fifth-grade son, Wyatt. In his classes at the school, he’s learned about coding and 3-D printing. I believe the passion that he’s developed for technology and STEAM education has put him on the potential pathway to pursue an engineering-based career.

The school’s unique combination of classes has also had a positive impact on my daughter Zoe. She was fortunate enough to start learning Mandarin in elementary school and has continued the language in her middle school studies. She also had the opportunity to take digital art and film classes — which she absolutely loves. In fact, she hopes to use the film skills that she acquired at TIMA as part of a high school film program.

And our family is fortunate to have benefited from more than just the rigorous and unparalleled public education that Tybee Island Maritime Academy offers students. TIMA is a small school where families know each other and teachers and administrators care. Students are treated as individuals and families are given an opportunity to voice their opinions. The school has a welcoming atmosphere and offers numerous opportunities for parental involvement. 

As a public charter school, TIMA is overseen by a volunteer board of directors. I’ve been impressed by how the board and administrators have used the freedom and flexibility given to charter schools to handle several difficult situations. During the first part of the pandemic, the school was one of the first in the area to get students safely back into the classroom. More recently, TIMA stepped up when the school district stopped providing bus transportation to the school. TIMA administrators and its board of directors worked to make sure that students who needed transportation were still able to attend the school. They also used the situation as an opportunity to make changes to the school calendar since it was no longer necessary to tie TIMA’s schedule to the district calendar. As a parent, I’ve enjoyed the new schedule which gives students a shorter summer but allows for more frequent breaks during the school year. We’ve been able to use the breaks to travel as a family.   

Overall, I’ve been extremely satisfied with the high-quality public education that my children have received at Tybee Island Maritime Academy. TIMA has provided them with the personal attention, creativity, and passionate teaching to best meet their individual needs. I’m confident that my oldest daughter, who has spent her elementary and middle school years at Tybee Island Maritime Academy, is prepared for high school and is on track to reach her full potential. I’m grateful that our family was given an option of where to send our children to public school. I believe that offering a mix of school options is best for the children in the Savannah-Chatham County School District and that public charter schools like Tybee Island Maritime Academy strengthen the overall public education system in the Savannah area.