Oh boy! Here we grow again!
Today, the Indiana State Charter Board approved by a 6-2 vote our latest charter school application. This application is the result of an invitation from Indiana Black Expo and Ivy Tech Community College to start a new college immersion high school in Indianapolis modeled after our successful Gary school.
Tanya Bell, executive director of Black Expo, is the chair of our board and shared that she visited our Gary school and was so impressed with our model. She said it is truly transformational to communities and how much she looks forward to getting to work in Indianapolis. Indiana Black Expo is one of the most respected organizations in Indiana and is celebrating their 50th anniversary next year. This new school is a cornerstone of their celebration and their plans to help revitalize the east side of Indianapolis.
Today’s hearing was especially moving to me in that one of our alums, Jamal Abdulrasheed testified in favor of our proposal. He shared his own experience in our schools, how he graduated from our high school in 2012 with 30 or so college credits, went on to earn his BA in 4 years and earned his law degree in May of 2019. He just took the bar exam and already has a great job at one of Indy’s best law firms. He shared that many of his classmates are just as successful, too. Jamal has agreed to serve on our school board, too. Now that’s really cool!
In addition to Jamal’s testimony, we were honored to have Luis Gonzales, Chancellor of Lake County Ivy Tech campuses, testify and share how our partnership works so well and Kathy Lee, Chancellor of Ivy Tech Indianapolis campuses testified in support sharing that she toured our Gary campus undercover, did her homework and looks forward to working with us again. Our Gary school’s college and career rating ranks in the top 18% of the state and the number of college credits earned by our students while in our high school put our students in the top 5% of the state.
And yes, it was awesome to see Dana Teasley share how we serve special needs students and we don’t suspend and expel students easily, rather we provide social and emotional supports to prevent suspensions and expulsions as much as we can.
We have a great team on the board, great partners and can’t wait to get busy serving. We open in August 2020.
Yes, it’s fun changing the world together! Join us. You will be glad you did!
Sincerely,
Kevin Teasley
President
GEO Foundation