They’re one of the first things people notice when they walk inside the new Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa.

Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School

Windows, everywhere.

Inside the 67,000-square-foot renovated building, light pours in through an expansive curved entryway, between the cafeteria and lush outdoor dining area, inside classrooms and even along the second-floor hallway, where students can peer down into the giant gymnasium.

Compared to the charter school’s first digs, a cramped old Circuit City it leased for five years, “this is such a change of environment,’’ said Principal Kristine Bennett.

For its new home, the school’s foundation spent $15 million outfitting a former church with 20 classrooms, two computer labs and a media center. There’s a cafeteria with a LED-powered vending machine offering gluten-free snacks, and a full-sized gym featuring one wall with a painting of a fiery red and orange Phoenix – the school’s mascot.

The striking makeover is fitting for a student body that has undergone its own metamorphosis.

Three years ago, the state gave Brooks DeBartolo a “D’’ grade for academic performance. The school, which garnered a “C’’ the year before, faced losing its charter.

One of the school’s founders and financial backers, Derrick Brooks, the legendary former linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, vowed his namesake school would work harder. And it did. The next year, it scored six points higher than the state required for an A grade.

Derrick Brooks

Today, students are attending an “A’’ school for – hopefully, say administrators – the third year in a row. (more…)