Cameron Frazier is the founder and principal of Becoming Collegiate Academy. The school's mascot is a brown bear in homage to the children's book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on April 16, 2026 at 11:56 am
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The 2 miles between Norwood and Springfield represent a milestone for Becoming Collegiate Academy.
The HBCU-themed charter school announced it will move into the former West Springfield Elementary campus at the start of the 2026-27 academic year.
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Its founder and principal, Cameron Frazier, says moving from the Gateway Town Center into a 34,000-square-foot property that has previously served as a school will help provide education inside a classroom, but also within community.
“The culture is built on the foundation of love,” Frazier says. “Teaching love, teaching kids to love themselves and, then, kids love others as well. That love is the foundation for what helps us to be able to support our kinds in their growth.”
Frazier opened in the school in 2021. Since then, the conversation about charter schools — within Jacksonville and across the peninsula — has shifted. There is more legislative acceptance for charter education in Florida.
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The last five years have also featured racially coded-commentary from public officials and education policymakers about “critical race theory,” what is “woke” and, currently, “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
It’s also a period where, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities has increased.
“We are a school that’s a place for them to belong and a place for them to be seen. That’s the core principle that we have taken from the HBCU model,” Frazier says. “The first and foremost thing is they get to feel it every, single day when they walk into our doors and when they leave.
“It’s through the high expectations that we hold. It’s through the way our program is set up for them. … We use HBCUs as a model of inspiration for us. (We have) strong partnerships with HBCUs, such as Edward Waters and FAMU and others, that have come into our school and show our kids models of who they can be and what they can be.”
Becoming readers
Educating students from Jacksonville’s under-resourced neighborhoods has proven to be challenging for both traditional and charter schools. A recent research brief from the Jacksonville Public Education Fund found there is nearly a 1-to-1 correlation between economics and literacy rates.
Becoming Collegiate Academy earned a “D” grade from the Florida Department of Education in 2025. In 2025, 37% of Becoming Collegiate’s third grade students were considered proficient in literacy, which was below the overall district rate of 51%.
In the 2025-26 academic year, 32% of Becoming Collegiate students were deemed kindergarten-ready by the Florida Department of Education. However, kindergarten readiness in both Duval County, and statewide, for this academic year was at the lowest point in a decade.
Literacy is a work in progress at Becoming Collegiate Academy. Its new campus will feature a dedicated library space in a corner of the second floor that will have 10 windows. The natural light, Frazier hopes, will provide a foundation for lifelong readers.
“We believe in mirrors and windows. And, we believe in providing our kids with books that allow them to see themselves reflected and then books where they’re allowed to see characters who don’t look like them — who allow them to experience something new. For us, we follow all state laws and procedures, but we want to provide our kids with a variety of texts, no matter if its nonfiction or fiction that allows them to learn and grow.”
Becoming a campus
Becoming Collegiate will operate the property under a long-term lease. Beulah Beal Schoolhouse LLC purchased the former school from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida in 2021.
Tampa-based developer Josh Pardue is listed as a manager for Beulah Beal Schoolhouse. In a 2020 interview with the Jacksonville Daily Record, Pardue stated an intention to turn the property into apartments.
Today, the former Beulah Beal Young Parents Center is empty.
Contractors are converting the property into a school that can sit as many as 600 students.
Becoming Collegiate currently serves 250 students. It expects to enroll 350 for the 2026-27 academic year.
Since it opened in the Fall 2021, Becoming Collegiate has added a grade level each year. In a 2022 interview with Jacksonville Today, Frazier said the gradual expansion allowed the school to grow alongside its students.
The 2026-27 academic year will be Becoming’s first with a fifth grade.
“We teach our kids through our core values, one of those is courage,” Frazier says. “We teach growth is important and it’s important to celebrate. It’s building their confidence and resilience.”
