Charter School Capital, Author at Grow Schools

Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to Stuart Ellis, our founder and CEO. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. We chose three stories as winners of this year’s context. But each of these stories is worth sharing.

This week we bring you a story sent in by Kimberly Aguilar, celebrating Mrs. Grimes of Compass Charter Schools.

I nominate my son’s fifth-grade teacher Monique Grimes for the 2020 Dewey Award. She is an excellent teacher. She is warm, accessible, enthusiastic, and caring. Mrs. Grimes possesses great listening skills and takes time out of her busy schedule for anyone who needs her. She is an effective teacher, demonstrating a deep understanding of the curriculum. She plans, teaches, and assesses to promote mastery for all scholars. She provides high-quality instruction and increases student achievement by delivering researched-based instruction with technology integrated.

Mrs. Grimes has not only been a teacher for my son; she also has provided additional time and support for his special needs. He has autism, along with being below his grade level. He has a hard time adapting to new people, changes, and does not like being in loud places. She has been very understanding and patient. Mrs. Grimes has helped instill my child’s desire to learn and achieve. She has gone beyond her duties to help Jacob to be successful in a general education class. She has taken the time to understand his individual needs. She encourages him as a scholar, encouraging his unique talents.

Whenever I have a question, she immediately responds to my emails and phone calls with the answers I need regarding my son’s services, support, accommodations, and modification. Her organizational skills are excellent. I strongly believe that all of her efforts should be rewarded and appreciated. Teachers like her don’t come along very often, in my opinion. Compass Charter Schools is very blessed to have such an incredible teacher, and all the scholars who go through her classroom will only benefit from the love and learning that she provides.

She is a shining star.

Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year, we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.

This week we bring you a story written by Kiele Marquez, celebrating Kumu Consuelo Gouveia of Hālau Kū Māna Public Charter School.

Aloha my name is Teani Beverly Kieleliʻi Marquez. I was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu in a place known as Maunalua (Hawaiʻi Kai) on the eastside of Oʻahu. I am sixteen years old and a Junior at Hālau Kū Māna Public Charter School.

I have attended HKM from the fourth grade. We are the first fourth-grade class at HKM. I was born prematurely with a condition called TEF. This stands for Trachea Esophageal Fistula. TEF is a condition resulting from abnormal development before birth of the tube that carries food from mouth to stomach. This condition carries many correlations such as asthma, severe acid reflux and a weakened immune system. I was always known as “the sick kid” because I was absent a lot due to my illness. From newborn to three years old. I was helped by the Easter Seals program for my developmental delays. At age three I was in a special education preschool and from kindergarten to third grade I was in the Special Education program with the Department of Education. In the fourth grade I was accepted into Hālau Kū Māna Public Charter School.

My Kumu (teacher) was Consuelo Gouveia. She was my teacher from fourth through sixth grade. She set my foundation at HKM. I was a nervous, timid, fragile and introverted kid. I did not like speaking up in class and I stayed in my own quiet bubble. I observed everything around me. Kumu Consuelo helped me to blossom and come out of my shell. She encouraged me to go at my own pace socially and academically.

I’ve always struggled with math and I’ve had an IEP since preschool. Hālau Kū Māna is a smaller school with approximately 120 students. I find this smaller setting helpful since I don’t thrive well in a bigger environment. It provides many learning opportunities outside of the classroom. We are definitely a hands-on type of school which I appreciate and adapt better in this smaller school setting. Kumu Consuelo is from the island of Lanaʻi. Our class got to visit her island and learn about Lanaʻi. It was a great opportunity for kids who do not have any traveling experience.

Kumu Consuelo goes above and beyond an expectation of a teacher. She treats all of her students as if they were her own children. Through this type of family-oriented teaching/learning I, along with others give her and other teachers the respect they deserve. During these difficult online learning times, Kumu Consuelo is the backbone to the online technology that we are all learning to get used to.

They say it takes a village to raise a child our school is definitely my village. Kumu Consuelo is the foundation of who I am today. My teachers have mentioned that I have “blossomed”. Now that I am older, I am definitely more comfortable with my class. I have tried to help my classmates as much as possible and although I am still the observer I definitely speak my mind. These qualities could not have been achieved on my own without Kumu Consuelo. Because of her, believing in me, I truly believe all things are possible.

Mahalo to Hālau Ku Mana for being that “village” and Mahalo to Kumu Consuelo for helping me to build confidence and believing in me, IEP and all!

Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year, we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.

This week, we bring you a story written by Acacia Wilson about Mrs. Gatz of Freeman Elementary. in Woodland, California.

Honestly, I could write about several different teachers but of course, I’m not going to. The teacher I chose to write about is my old 6th-grade teacher Mrs. Gatz.

The year before 6th grade I was a very difficult child to deal with. I was very stubborn and very hard-headed. All of that ended once I was a part of Mrs. Gatz’s class.

Whenever I called myself catching an attitude or trying to be disrespectful to my teachers Mrs. Gatz would always stop me, she would sometimes even raise her voice at me. When I was younger, I hated her for it I thought she was just picking at me because she didn’t like me. After getting yelled at a couple of times and being talked to instead of talked at I realized she was just trying to help me.

After 6th grade whenever I would get in trouble or almost get in trouble, I would think about what my 6th-grade teacher would say. We did rotate classes but the only teacher that I think actually tried to help me or make sure I stayed on task was Mrs. Gatz.

When I became a 6th grader in Mrs. Gatz’s homeroom I was no longer a little kid I then became a young leader and a role model for the younger kids in the school So, for my entire 6th-grade year I don’t have 1 referral thanks to Mrs. Gatz. My senior year is the year that she will retire and I feel like I should pay her a visit to thank her for helping to mold me into the young woman that I am today. Anyone who has had her as a teacher is a very lucky person.

Mrs. Gatz is the teacher who made the biggest difference in my life.

Each year, Charter School Capital hosts the Dewey Awards to honor teachers who have significantly impacted students’ lives. Two Genesee STEM Academy students wrote the following stories about their homeroom instructor, Mrs. Brasseur. It is a testament to Mrs. Brasseur’s positive influence in her young charges that two separate students wrote us to tell us about her.

From Myracle Hunter:

Hello, I am Myracle Hunter a junior at Genesee STEM Academy. In this essay I will be writing about my homeroom teacher Mrs. Brasseur.

I choose to write about Mrs. Brasseur because she has had the biggest impact on my life. She helped me when I was going through a bad time in my life. She helped me stay positive and motivated to keep going. She’s always there when you need advice. In this paragraph. I will be telling you how she had the biggest impact in my life.

I say she has had the biggest impact on my life as a teacher because when it felt like no one else understood where I was coming from. Mrs. Brasseur sat down with me and let me explain myself and the situation and even thought it was complicated she understood it and helped me throughout it. She guided me to see my purpose in life and encouraged me to help others. Next, I would like to tell you why I believe she tells you the best advice.

I remember one time me and some other LGBT+ students were kind of lost about others that shared the same interest as us. So, Mrs. Brasseur threw a little pride get together where all the ones who didn’t know about pride or felt like there wasn’t anyone else like the could come together and meet other students like them and shared the same believes and interest. Of course, there was requirements to attend the gathering. You didn’t just have to be part of the LGBT+ community you could’ve just been a supporter. It was an in-school event, so you had to meet the school requirements to. After the pride event it started some bonds with people and showed others there not by their selves and its others going through the same thing. I think there’s a lot of student that need a Mrs. Brasseur in their lives.

When I say” there’s a lot of student that need a Mrs. Brasseur in their lives” I mean someone who is caring and loving but isn’t scared to show you tuff love kind of like a mom but your teacher. This is why I think Mrs. Brausseur is the best teacher with the biggest impact on me she taught me how to not to be selfish and care for others. She also taught me how to communicate and get my point across without arguing.

From Mariyah:

Today we are going to be talking about one of the teachers that made and impact in my life and her name is Megan Brassuer but as her student I call her Mrs. Brassuer. Now, Mrs. Brassuer was my homeroom teacher from last year which was the 8th grade and she’s been helping me since day one I went to her a lot when there was something on my mind and she listened. Mrs. Brassuer was not only a great teacher and still is a great teacher she also listened to her students’ problems and always checked to see if they were ok mentally.

She is one of the teachers that have helped me though good and bad times rather it had been about school or my mental health , I will say I’ve had my days and her and a few of my other teacher would ask me how I’m doing but she always gave the advice that I needed to hear. It wasn’t just for me either I wasn’t the only student she had cared for she cared for all her students. I really took in her advice because a lot of stuff I was going through she had went through to for example struggling with weight gain, so she gave me a lot of good advice on that.

At the time I wasn’t really self-motivated, and she was one of my teachers that pushed me other than my math teacher. Mrs. Brassuer also brought me out of my shell I wasn’t as talkative as everybody else she kind of told me like hey its ok to ask for help and talk to your peers so really her and my other teachers helped and still are helping me become who I am today and they’re helping me get to where I need and want to be. She is still my teacher this year as well and she still keeps us motivated and checks on us even though school is virtual. She helps me a lot this year too like I was struggling at the beginning of the year and she basically told me and the class that we can get it together and pick our grades up before the time is up and she also checked up on me when I was sick and she does this with the other students too. Even when talking to my mom she addressed everything I was going through mentally and she also told them when I was struggling in school. She talked to her about my progress, and about everything.

So, she really made a difference in my life and I appreciate her for looking out for me.

Article by Karen D’Souza, John Fensterwald, & Daniel J. Willis (republished from EdSource)

The pandemic has intensified a multi-year trend of dwindling student enrollment statewide, causing a steep drop this year. More than a third of the decline stemmed from 61,000 missing kindergartners.

Statewide, enrollment in K-12 public schools in California fell by almost 3%, or 160,000, students in 2020-21, according to annual data released Thursday by the California Department of Education. That’s the largest drop of the last 20 years, surpassing a 1% drop between October 2008 and October 2009.

That’s a net loss in students attending publicly funded schools. The last year has also seen an increase of 22,542 students attending publicly funded charter schools, which enroll about one in nine students in California.

There was also a notable dip at the level of 6th grade, with a decline of about 24,000 students. But the loss may not be as severe as it appears since this year’s 6th grade class is smaller than other years. The drop from last year’s 5th grade to this year’s 6th grade was 7,000.

The falling numbers were spread across the state, with the four largest school districts accounting for about a sixth of the decline in enrollment. Los Angeles Unified School District enrollment fell by 20,841 (4.76%); Long Beach by 2,003 (2.8%), San Diego by 4,270 (4.2%) and Fresno 909 (1.3%). In the Bay Area, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties all lost more than 3% and Marin fell by 4.7%.

There are some big variations among the state’s 2,291 districts and charter schools. Excluding county offices of education, 83% of traditional districts saw a decline in overall enrollment compared with only 48% of charter schools.

Most growth occurred outside of urban areas. Kern Union High School District, the state’s largest high school district with 41,854 students, grew 3%. Other districts where enrollment increased include Placer Union High School District, outside of Sacramento; Grossmont Union High School District in San Diego County and Dublin Unified, in Alameda County.

When it comes to kindergarten, however, the declines were more universal, a shift many experts expected. Across the state, more than four out of five districts with kindergartners saw a decline in kindergarten enrollment, and nearly 60% of charter schools that offer kindergarten also saw a decrease in kindergartners.

Causes for the slide in enrollment are myriad, complicated by existing trends including declining birthrates and people’s continued exodus from the state, as well as the sudden economic chaos wrought by the pandemic.

Confronted with the struggles of remote learning, including requiring a 5-year-old to sit still in front of a computer for hours daily while simultaneously balancing work and toddlers, some kindergarten parents simply kept their children in preschool, which offered the in-person interaction that young children need. Some parents also opted to send children to private schools, many of which resumed in-person instruction far more quickly.

Parents of about 20,000 students filed private school affidavits in 2020, bringing the total annual enrollment to about 517,000 students. The majority of these pupils shifted to homeschooling, state data show.

The loss of the kindergarten experience will reverberate for some students, even as educators consider how to make up for the lost time. Also, enrollment may bounce back if kindergartners return as 1st graders, as districts anticipate they will.

“California has among the largest achievement gaps in the country, and we know from research that those gaps are present before children arrive at school, so it is especially worrisome that so many kids missed out on kindergarten this year,” said Samantha Tran, senior managing director of education policy at Children Now, an advocacy organization. “This obviously was a hard year for children and families, and distance learning doesn’t really work for young kids. At this point, it will be critical that educators plan for and implement strategies to best serve all of the students who missed out on this critical step in their early schooling.”

Like kindergarten, 6th grade is also a traditional inflection point, when many students switch to a bigger middle school or shift to a private or charter school. Some families may have opted out of schooling entirely during the strife of the pandemic, or they may have left the state, seeking cheaper real estate and in-person instruction, all of which would cause a drop in the number of enrolled students.

“There’s not one single answer why. This is very complex because every family has their own circumstances,” said Stephanie Gregson, California’s chief deputy superintendent of public instruction. “We’ve seen a lot of people move out of California. That may have had an impact. Look at homeschool and look at private school. There are so many different factors that we can’t give you one succinct answer.”

It’s important to note that the state’s overall kindergarten figures include children in transitional kindergarten, a bridge between preschool and kindergarten for those born between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2. While these pupils will simply move up to kindergarten in the fall, traditional kindergartners will be expected to go to 1st grade, where experts say they may struggle. This issue is heightened by the fact that 1st grade is more academically rigorous now than in years past.

“In 1st grade, many children who have not been in kindergarten show more anxiety and sometimes completely shut down because they can’t do what their peers are doing,” said Janet Amato, a 1st-grade teacher in San Mateo. “I feel many parents don’t truly know all of what their child is expected to learn in kindergarten, so therefore don’t feel the need to send their child to school until first grade.”

Early childhood advocates have been calling for policies to support children who missed out on kindergarten due to the pandemic, especially since kindergarten is not mandatory in California.

“What will they do with the children who missed? Can they repeat? Can they go forward? What are we going to provide in the summer and fall going forward?” said W. Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). “We need to address the learning loss and trauma due to the pandemic.”

Otherwise, some children, particularly those from low-income families, may struggle to keep up with their peers, worsening the already unsettling achievement gap. These concerns led Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, to introduce Senate Bill 70, which would require all students in California to complete one year of kindergarten before entering the 1st grade, beginning with the 2022-23 school year.

“Missing kindergarten for most kids raised in comfortable, highly literate families will make little difference long term,” said Bruce Fuller, professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley. “It’s the millions of children raised in homes where both parents work irregular hours, sitting before the TV in cramped housing. These young children, unable to attend kindergarten, will now enter public schools with weaker language and preliteracy skills.”

What steps should be taken?

Some say parents should have the option of placing a child in kindergarten instead of 1st grade, a stance that has champions in the Legislature. Assembly Bill 104, introduced by Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, would give any parent or guardian the authority to request that their child be held back a year.

Others believe that programs, such as summer school and tutoring, can help children catch up before they enter 1st grade. Those same strategies would likely benefit students in all grades, including those who opted out of 6th grade.

State leaders are hoping to help school districts reach out to those families who became disengaged with schooling during the tumult of the public health crisis. They also predict many students will return when in-person instruction resumes.

“In a year that has been so challenging for educators, students and families, it is concerning to see this decrease, especially those in our youngest grades,” said Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. “While there are many reasons to stay optimistic that enrollment will rebound as conditions improve, allowing more schools to safely return to in-person instruction, we also must help schools identify opportunities to engage with families who either sought new options for their students during the pandemic, or need additional resources and support to connect with school and succeed.”

Many educators are confident that children and families can bounce back from the tumult and loss of the past year.

“Incoming students survived a pandemic. We have to remember that. In normal years, I would encourage all families to enroll in kindergarten. But this year was different,” said Gennie Gorback, president of the California Kindergarten Association. “Every family had their own situation and made educational decisions based on their needs and resources. We have to respect their decisions. Then, we must get to know our students’ individual learning needs and plan accordingly.”

Any economic impact postponed

The decline in enrollment this year should not affect funding, either statewide or in districts that saw a drop. Funding is tied to the average of daily attendance throughout the year, not on enrollment, which is based on how many students were enrolled on the first Wednesday in October. For funding purposes, districts and charter schools get to choose whether to report the attendance of the current or previous year, whichever is higher. Because daily attendance was difficult to calculate this year, districts will choose last year’s figures before the pandemic sent students home, but adjusted for the whole year.

Next year, however, the Legislature is expected to revert to a standard way of calculating attendance, which means that some districts whose enrollment does not bounce back this fall will have to assume lower revenue in their 2022-23 budget.

Digging Into The Demographics

Enrollment fell in all ethnic and racial groups this year, but white students had the largest numerical decline — 77,000 — and second biggest percentage drop: 5.6%. Only the loss of Native American students — 6.6%, due to a drop from 30,282 to 28,331 students — was larger.

The number of African American students has fallen yearly since 2014-15. But the drop from 325,000 to 310,000 – 4.5% — was significant for one year.

Even though Latino enrollment fell by 61,000 students to 3.3 million, Latinos now comprise 55.3% of the state’s students, up 0.4%, which is a record proportion.

Overall, there are more seniors this year than in any year since 2015-16. That could reflect an increase in fifth year seniors who had trouble completing credits last spring after their schools rushed into distance learning, and they decided to return in order to graduate.

Each year, we highlight the work of outstanding charter school educators and celebrate the impact they have on their students via The Dewey Awards. Named after the teacher who inspired one of our founders, the awards are easily one of our favorite initiatives every year. While our selection panel is charged with picking three winners, all of the stories are inspiring and worthy of sharing.

Here’s a story sent to us by Madeline Reiff, a student at Options Charter Middle School, about Mrs. Kimberly Massaud.

I want to tell you a little bit about myself and why I think Kimberly Massaud should be recognized for this honor.

In the last week of 5th grade, there was a school shooting in my local district. I was so afraid that I didn’t ever want to go back to school. I had depression and post-traumatic stress and refused to go back to public school.

I started attending Options Charter Middle School in the second semester of sixth grade for an hour a day. It was hard to just be in a school but by the end of the semester, I was going every single day. Then in seventh grade, Kimberly became a teacher there!

When I first met her, I was very happy because she was very kind and happy to have a new student! She made me feel safe because when I am upset or another student is upset, we talk and tell her our problems. Then she helps us stop getting angry or sad with each other and we can go back to class.

Every time we have a fire or active shooter drill, Kimberly tells me right away before it starts because I still get shocked and frightened. This helps me because when the school shooting happened, alarms were going off and I felt helpless. Now Kimberly helps me get ready for the drills. School is feeling safer all the time.

The most important thing that Kimberly helped me find was my passion which is art, animation and how to create your own art style. I have dyslexia, so school is hard for me. But art and animation allow me to feel smart, confident, free and joyful. Kimberly is encouraging and fun. When Kimberly says, “drawing time” I feel excited because my brain can finally relax!

Kimberly says, “As long as it is “school appropriate” you can “art it”. Kimberly is a big fan of telling students that “your art skills should not affect your creativity”. No matter what you say about your art like, “It sucks”, Kimberly loves to say “even though you think your art is bad, you are still being creative in your own way!”

In art class, Kimberly plays calming music in the background. We can sometimes play our music (but only appropriately). It’s my favorite time of the whole day because it is peaceful. Kimberly also teaches history and English. She helped improve my reading because she read the books out loud. I was able to follow along and understand better. This made me feel more confident and that I am not dumb.

Kimberly is helping me realize that I am smart, but I just learn differently. So every day for a year and a half, I wake up happy knowing that i am smart and creative.

This past year, I wrote a book about George Floyd using art and animation because Kimberly helped me find my passion. His death was the most shocking and horrific thing I have ever seen and it happened on live TV on May 25, 2020.

I was heart-broken, very sad and a little bit terrified. I wanted to show my feelings and understand what happened and that his life mattered. I was trying to not get so overwhelmed and upset and crying. I couldn’t get the images out of my head. I started to imagine what I would have done if I had been there and could have saved his life. So, I put the book together from animation slides to show the world what it is like being black, brown and light brown.

I wanted George Floyd’s family to know that I was sorry for their loss and it should not have happened. It was important for me because as a beautiful brown girl, it is hard to make people understand that we are not bad people and we don’t deserve this hate. I want other young people to know that even though we have different colored skin, that we are people, too. We are not mean or harmful. We are kind, lovable, and even though we have different colors doesn’t mean we are different. We are just the same as you. I want people to treat each other with kindness, compassion and empathy.

Working on this book helped me to cope with my feelings of sadness and fear. When you see injustice in this world, pick one thing that you can change. Be brave and be strong and find a way to kind to one another. Here is a link to this project.

Kimberly has taught me to stand up, to use my voice and to speak up through art and animation and sometimes just my voice. This year I used my voice for George Floyd.Kimberly is so deserving of this incredible honor.

Thank you for the opportunity to share all of the good things about my wonderful teacher, Kimberly! She impacts the middle school students every single day by helping us find our way. She works really hard to make me and others feel safe. Art is my passion and Kimberly helped me discover it!

Art & story by Tim Smith 3
Submitted by Susan Bakst

For the past four years, Charter School Capital has held the Dewey Awards essay contest. The awards aim to highlight the outstanding impact charter school educators have on their students.

Selecting the three winners is a challenge – all of these stories are inspiring. While our panel chose three winning entries for 2020, we felt this entry needed to be shared.

Here’s Tim Smith 3’s story about William Jones, a math teacher and advisor at Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School.

Mr. William Jones, Real-Life Hero – by Tim Smith 3

Teachers don’t get the credit they deserve. That’s why today I’m celebrating my friend William Jones, who is a math teacher. And I’m drawing him the Marvel way.

My name is Tim Smith 3. I’m an artist and a storyteller. I also manage the Comics Department at Marvel. Today I’m drawing my friend William Jones, a brilliant math teacher and advisor, to recognize him as a brilliant teacher and a real hero.

Mr. Jones teaches at Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School. It takes skill, patience, and understanding to teach hundreds of kids daily. Mr. Jones does that, and more. Not only does he help teach math – an essential skill for every person on the planet – but he’s also an advisor to the kids, helping them understand complex algebraic equations and at the same time helping them cope with real-world problems.

The continuing struggle for equality and inclusion has hit an Apex lately with the Black Lives Matter movement. Mr. Jones has shown empathy and understanding on the highest level. He has been and continues to be a pillar of support for the kids he teaches.

COVID-19 has forever affected our lives. Kids need all the support they can get, and Mr. Jones has been there for them every step of the way.

I admire the way Mr. Jones keeps his cool under such extreme conditions. His power is his ability to shape the next world leaders with courage, wisdom, and confidence.

I can draw traditionally and digitally. For this piece, I chose to do it digitally. The computer has kept us all connected. It’s a digital age where online learning has helped continue the lessons teachers started before the pandemic. I thought it would be fitting to keep that idea going.

Mr. Jones is an inspiration to others, especially his students, and I wanted the look & feel of my drawing to show that. On his chest is the mathematical symbol, an upside-down A. It’s a universal qualifier that means “for all.” And I’m using bright colors – in his suit and even in the sky, to show hope as he looks towards the future with a smile.

Mr. Jones, you’re amazing. A part of me will forever be attached to every child you helped. Continue to be the hero you already are.

The Diverse Charter Schools Coalition is a national association of 190 racially, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse student populations. Their goal: Band together these diverse populations with a focus on intentional diversity and inclusion.

We had the pleasure and honor to attend this year’s Converging of Diverse Schools Coalition – Interrupting Equity – named “Creating anti-racist and liberatory practices at intentionally diverse schools.”

The Keynote Speaker was activist, educator, and writer Brittany Packnett Cunningham. Brittany is a former teacher, education leader, and fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

The convening split its agenda into four tracks: Academics, Community, Culture, and Operations. We found the schedule of this conference comprehensive, and it was great to have the ability to choose from these various tracks. The sessions themselves were so content-rich that it was hard to decide what to attend.

Under Academics, there were sessions on grading, AP courses, and removing barriers that perpetuate inequity in learning. Under Community, sessions dived deep into the definition of Diversity, disrupting the opportunity gap, and communal classrooms. Under culture, the sessions focused on shifting mindsets, restorative circles to build community, staff culture, and creating an authentic and inclusive community. Under operations, the focus was on centering BIPOC, along with time management and distribution.

One thing that struck us was the school visits. These were breakout sessions where the convening’s guests got to witness virtual classrooms and environments at six intentionally-diverse schools. The vulnerability displayed by the schools, and the teachers themselves, was remarkable. They invited us to watch, critique, and discuss. It was a commendable example of transparency and a fantastic opportunity to assess, ponder and learn.

The schools delved into their intentional cultures, including their “crews,” which might be comparable to homerooms but with a heavy diversity focus. One school had different cohorts of second-graders through fifth-graders, where they tackled a curriculum focusing on racial equity. One group created a poem and a quilt for Black History Month.

It was beneficial for the teachers to be able to compare approaches. We watched videos of schools engaging in virtual teaching, and we had honest discussions as to what seemed to be working well and where there might have been room for improvement.

During these visits, we were particularly impressed with the Yu Ming Charter School of Oakland, CA, a Mandarin-language immersion school with a highly diverse student population.

This K-8 charter school won the Diverse School award for the year. It’s easy to see why this charter school has a 500-person waiting list.

The Convening also organized three affinity groups, including a healing & solidarity space for Black participants, a healing & solidarity space for Non-Black People of Color, and an awareness & accountability space for White participants.

The conference’s sponsors included the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, PANORAMA Education, The Walton Family Foundation, the Cohen-Schneider Law firm, the NWEA, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Be on the side of freedom, justice and young people” @MsPackyetti yes yes yes! #DCSC2021

— Elyssa Yuen (@elyssadayyuen) January 28, 2021

“Educators were essential before the pandemic!” @MsPackyetti #DCSC2021

— Megan DH Ohlssen (@MeganOhlssen) January 28, 2021

A Los Angeles native, Tommy is passionate about family, authenticity, and analytics. He graduated from Boston University, where he focused his Bachelor of Business Administration on Marketing and Marketing Management.

After graduation, Tommy started as an intern at a family-run real estate firm. Now, nearly a decade later, Tommy leads the facilities acquisition team here at Charter School Capital (CSC). Tommy lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two-year-old daughter. In his team spotlight, he reflects on his field and his journey with CSC.

Tommy’s Beginnings

Tommy is one of five children and a first-generation American from Argentinean parents.

After graduating from Boston University, Tommy worked in real estate firms in New York for several years. Then, a job offer brought him to California. It was a good move for his career and brought him closer to his family.

After a couple of years, Tommy and his wife decided to move to Portland. He continued to work in real estate until a recruiter reached out to him. The recruiter told him about a real-estate related position, but in the education space. Tommy was intrigued.

The conversation with the recruiter piqued Tommy’s curiosity and led to an interview with Jamie Bradley (Director of Facilities & Financial Risk at CSC). Tommy fell in love with the notion of combining his expertise in real estate with a real opportunity to make a positive impact in the charter school movement.

Joining Our Team

One of the many things Tommy enjoys about CSC is how we contribute to bridging gaps in education by supporting schools financially. Charter schools help many students achieve a solid education, and CSC helps these schools thrive.

Tommy’s role within the company focuses on facilities, which are then leased back to schools. CSC acts as a landlord, a partner, and a champion for charter schools. Once schools begin working with CSC, our team continues to find resources geared at helping the schools succeed.

Tommy finds his work invigorating. He credits to the fact that he gets to work on complex challenges with people who are passionate about finding solutions, people who are genuinely interested in their organization’s mission, and people who care about the impact of their work.

In terms of work/life balance, Tommy believes it’s possible to take time for yourself and be productive. And in his field, keeping his mind sharp and his vision fresh is a necessity. Tommy loves working with numbers and doing creative problem-solving with those numbers.

Tommy is an ardent believer in following one’s passions, whether professionally or personally. He believes that making decisions with his passion in mind led to many of his most fulfilling journeys. His advice, “Go and find what your passions are and follow them.”

Thinking about the nation’s youth, Tommy would like young people to have access to, Tommy volunteers “Career Building.” This would be a mix of personal finance and workplace skillsets. How to manage your funds, invest, how to save, and ultimately think about your future. Combined with how to sell yourself in an interview, while staying humble, and building your resume.

Looking at our world today, Tommy would like to see less arrogance, more curiosity, and more open minds to our society’s inequities.

Focusing on the Future

Tommy would like to see people be more willing to be vulnerable and open themselves up to conversations that may be uncomfortable. These conversations lead to growth and help develop a well-rounded perspective.

In terms of Charter School Capital, Tommy wants it to continue to help the organization scale up, especially in facilities. He’s passionate about continuing to make the school-onboarding process as accessible as possible so that charter schools can get assistance in a swift, fluid manner.

Tommy would like to see charter schools have more access to strong partners, including school leaders, investors, and champions such as Charter School Capital. He’d like to see more schools learn and leverage best practices that lead them to full sustainability.

Every year for the past four years, Charter School Capital has held the Dewey Awards essay contest. This contest highlights the wonderful impact charter school educators have on their students. Selecting the three.winners is a challenge – all of these stories are inspiring. While our panel has chosen the three winning entries for 2020, we felt this entry needed to be shared.

Here’s a story by Jaci Chuaunsu, student at Kihei Charter.
Jaci writes about Mr. Jake Hamman, engineering teacher and Jaci’s advisor.

How my teacher has impacted my life – by Jaci Chuansu

I was still new to the island of Maui when I first enrolled in Kihei Charter. It was the first time I went to an American school, and I had no idea what to expect. I kept to myself for the most part, but what I didn’t expect was how nice and friendly people were, even if I was just “the quiet kid.”

People in Maui were very open, welcoming, and nice to everyone around them, showing their aloha spirit. I was in middle school when I first came to Kihei Charter, and I tried to adjust as much and as quickly as I could by familiarizing myself with the place and the people around me. My classmates were all cool, and they were friendly enough to me, a newcomer, to make me comfortable while in class. I became closer to some of them as the school year dragged on. The teachers were also nice, though some were stricter, and I learned a lot from them.

My advisor that year, Mr. Jake Hamman, was my engineering teacher. From what I understand, he was part of the school staff the year before, and this was his first time to be a teacher at Kihei Charter. Regardless of how much experience he had, and the little amount of time I was able to spend with him as a teacher, I would say that he was a nice, cool, chill teacher who always had a smile on his face. As an engineering teacher, we did more hands-on activities, rather than papers, and some computer lessons as well. Mr. Jake always made sure that the activities he planned for us had something new we could learn or improve on, all in the most interesting and fun ways!

You see, I was always the type of student with a mindset that there was a given answer to the problem, just like how math problems have a formula to find a solution for every problem. In his class, however, I had to think out of the box to solve all sorts of problems and be creative in our projects. But I also learned to be somewhat resourceful and to simply enjoy all the fun activities set out for us. It was comforting for me, as I was nervous due to not having an engineering class before (because I was homeschooled).

For some activities, especially the messy ones, he would almost always be the one to clean up everything (as it was his room) after a class even if it was supposed to be our (students’) mess to clean up. Although he was a little annoyed about it, I always just saw him brush it off, grab the broom and dustpan, and clean up the mess, ever so patiently. Of course, he would always tell students to clean up after themselves. There were those times where they didn’t, and I felt bad for him every time I saw him cleaning up after students’ messes. I became more conscious of making sure to clean up after myself from then on. At least I hope I wasn’t messy!

There was one activity where my class was divided into groups to assemble a robot. In another activity, we made a bridge (e.g. suspension, truss, arch, cable, beam) using only the given materials such as bamboo skewers, tooth floss, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, tape, and a glue gun. During the bridge project, the whole process of building the bridge was really fun. We used up a few lunch breaks and advisory time, but it was worth the sacrifice! It was also convenient for my group since he was both our engineering teacher and advisor, allowing us to work on it during those times. The fact that he let us use his classroom to work on the bridge during his lunch break (a.k.a. supposed free time from kids), is something I was thankful for and one of the things I admired about him – his love and sacrifice for his students.

Whenever we worked on the bridge during breaks or even in class, Mr. Jake would give us some words of encouragement here and there, sometimes even gave us some beats to listen to while we were working, which really brought up the mood. Later on, I found out that my group and I were the ones whose bridge withstood the most weight. Mr. Jake even had to use something to push onto the bridge until one of the legs of our bridge finally gave in and broke! That made my day, where all our efforts paid off with Mr. Jake’s supporting us.

Remember how I said that he was also my advisor? Well, he was literally the best advisor I could ask for! During engineering class, we had an activity that had to do with vibrations – sound. This was when he showed us how he made a homemade, one-string guitar. He even let us use the strings from his own guitars for this activity. Mr. Jake loved music and he wanted to incorporate something related to it into our class, hence the one-string guitars. When he found out that I liked playing guitar, literally playing with the guitar, since I only knew a couple of chords then, he let me borrow his guitar whenever I wanted during advisory. Throughout the entire school year, during advisory, I would always borrow his guitar as I did not have one at the time. A couple of months later, online school started and I couldn’t play anymore since we could no longer go to school (physically anyway), but I missed having class in person with him and the other teachers even more! Although we no longer met physically, we still had classes online, and it was cool my teachers adjusted fairly easily from what I could see. Because of this, Mr. Jake also had us do a bunch of research and design. We even tinkered around folding a paper airplane that could go further than just a couple of feet. It was a fun school year, and despite some unexpected events.

I’m really glad to have had Mr. Jake as my advisor and engineering teacher. He is a cool guy and a great teacher! He is one of the best teachers I know and has always been there to support his students. To me, there will never be another Mr. Jake.