Oakcrest Elementary School students begin their weekdays when the dew on the grass outside is still fresh, but they are anything but tired.
They come to the cafeteria for breakfast, where the teachers know them by name. They laugh with each other, high-five their physical education coach as he makes his way around the room and greet people who they may not even know the names to. Meanwhile, in the administrative office, faculty and staff members bustle about to get ready for their day, but not without telling each other a simple “good morning.” Every step is routine, but nothing is done without care and a wide smile.
No one would have guessed that such a positive school teetered between D and C ratings for over a decade. After receiving more than $782,000 to support its turnaround plan and a brand new principal last academic year, Oakcrest’s staff and students pushed their way to a B rating for the first time since 2012.
“We’re all proud of how many hours and blood, sweat and tears we put into last year,” said principal Sarah Dobbs.
The school saw several areas of improvement. From the 2024-25 academic year to the 2025-26 one, English language arts learning gains went from a C to an A, mathematics learning gains jumped from a D to an A and science achievement increased from an F to a C, according to the Florida Department of Education’s academic standards grading scale.
“We’ve been able to jump right into this school year with a lot of the work that we had put in last year,” Dobbs said. “We’ve got momentum already.”
Three key areas stayed consistent to help boost Oakcrest’s rating: attendance, faculty retention and community involvement.
Oakcrest historically saw patterns of low attendance, Dobbs said. During the 2025-26 school year, the school’s overall attendance was a full percentage point higher than it was three years ago.
Oakcrest’s attendance also improved when compared to monthly and yearly figures from previous years. During the last nine weeks of school this past spring, Oakcrest maintained its attendance at 92%. In comparison, Dobbs added that in prior years attendance levels were 90% or below.
An example of this attendance record happened this past April where the school accomplished 94%, compared to the two prior years where attendance was at 91% or below for the same month, she added.
In the 2025-26 school year, Oakcrest achieved a sustained attendance rate over 92%. Four of the months it averaged at 93% or higher, allowing Oakcrest to receive a banner recognizing it for having the most improved attendance among elementary schools in Marion County for last year’s fourth quarter.
Both students and faculty were recognized for consistent attendance. Dobbs said staff members were given certificates, free ice cream and celebrated with staff appreciation week, where faculty would dress to a certain theme. Classes could celebrate good attendance with a variety of rewards, such as a snack party, bubble party or dance break.
Nancy Thrower, a Marion County School Board member representing Oakcrest in District 4, has also been involved in the school’s growth. She has been a board member since 2018 and plans to step down at the end of her second term this November.
Thrower participates in door-to-door outreach with families and visits New St. John Missionary Baptist Church, a community church. Before this school year started, she spread the word about Oakcrest’s new rating at church.
“When a school board member announces that in a local church, it just has impact,” she said. “I’ve been going to this church for the last eight years because that’s the type of community building over time that it takes to create something that’s going to be lasting.”
Thrower noted an increase in positivity among parents at the start of this school year.
“We all love success stories,” Thrower said. “We all like to be included in the success, and there’s a huge piece of community pride at this time.”
Thrower called Dobbs a “fantastic uniter” and a “community product of Ocala.”
Many Oakcrest faculty members are from the local area as well, said Everett Nelson, Oakcrest’s Physical Education teacher. Its faculty has a “family-oriented” environment, he added, and the school’s leadership team offers strong support.
“Our leadership team really tries to invest in us as the teachers so that we can invest in the children,” Nelson said.
Nelson began at Oakcrest in 2015 as an assistant PE coach. He stayed in that role for five years before briefly leaving. He returned as the school’s head coach in 2024. He said a big reason for his return was the staff culture.
“Failure — it’s not an option here,” Nelson said. “But at the same time, if it did happen, everybody here wants to try to get out of it, and that’s a team I want to be a part of. And we’re on the right track now.”
Nelson said part of Oakcrest’s recent success came from teachers connecting with students on a more personal level. For him, that meant starting an all-girl flag football team to compete in the Marion County Flag Football League last year.
“They look to me more than just a teacher,” he said. “They looked at me like a liaison, an advocate for them. Two of my girls [are] on competitive flag football teams now, and they never played flag football.”
Faculty effort did not go unnoticed — fifth-grader Teaira Honor said she likes how the teachers treat students and enjoys the fun events the school hosts.
“They’ve been trying their best, and they have been taking care of us goodly,” Honor said.
Some of her favorite events included spraying teachers with water as a reward for good attendance and trunk-or-treating. For Halloween, teachers parked their cars by the school’s track with candy inside their trunks and students in costume went “trick or treating” from the back of their cars.
Honor plans to continue studying to achieve good grades, which she thinks is a big reason why Oakcrest achieved a “B” rating.
“This year, I hope we possibly make an ‘A’ in the score,” she said.