Parents of Antioch students hear Rocketship charter school proposal, Thursday night

(L to R) Delta Bay Church of Christ Pastor Lamont A. Francies, Rocketship Associate Director, Family Recruitment & Growth Nick Hunt, Rocketship Nashville Regional Director Shaka Mitchell, Rocketship Futuro Academy Principal Jason Colon, Rocketship Milwaukee Regional Director Brittany Kinser, Rocketship DC Regional Director Jacque Patterson, Rocketship Chief Growth and Community Engagement Officer Cheye Calvo, and Rocketship Bay Area Regional Director Marie Gil.

(L to R) Delta Bay Church of Christ Pastor Lamont A. Francies, Rocketship Associate Director, Family Recruitment & Growth Nick Hunt, Rocketship Nashville Regional Director Shaka Mitchell, Rocketship Futuro Academy Principal Jason Colon, Rocketship Milwaukee Regional Director Brittany Kinser, Rocketship DC Regional Director Jacque Patterson, Rocketship Chief Growth and Community Engagement Officer Cheye Calvo, and Rocketship Bay Area Regional Director Marie Gil.

Antioch School Board to hold required public hearing Wednesday night

On Thursday evening, November 3rd, eager parents and community supporters filled the seats of Delta Bay Church of Christ to hear from Rocketship Education about their application to open a new public charter school in Antioch. The event was organized by Antioch community members who are in pursuit of improving education in Antioch, and hosted by Dr. Lamont Francies, pastor of the church.  Regional directors from Rocketship schools in Milwaukee, Nashville and DC joined Marie Gil, Bay Area Regional Director to share perspectives on starting schools in new communities and serving a wider diversity of students.

Rocketship Education is a nonprofit organization that opened their first 10 schools in high-needs areas of San Jose and has since expanded to Concord, Redwood City, Nashville TN, Milwaukee WI, and Washington DC. Focusing exclusively on elementary education, Rocketship engages parents to become advocates for their children, inviting families into schools and making them active drivers of their children’s learning. Principal Jason Colon of the new school in Concord, Rocketship Futuro Academy, noted that he came to Rocketship five years ago to teach because he was “moved by the focus on parent engagement.” Mr. Colon says that he sees parent engagement at Rocketship “not as empowering parents, but it’s collaborating with them. Let them [parents] see that they have the fire and the ability to change the future for their kids.”

Parent engagement was a big focus of the questions from Antioch parents at the event. One community member, Arireanna Lombard, said that she’s heard a lot about engaging parents, but wants to know how Rocketship will actually do it as it can be hard to organize people.

Jacque Patterson, of Rocketship DC, said that the difference is that Rocketship shows up with and for parents, year-round, working with elected officials, instead of just every four years when candidates come to ask parents for votes.

“When kids are in classrooms, there’s not a whole lot of difference,” shared Shaka Mitchell, Regional Director for Rocketship Nashville. “We’re making sure all kids are getting exactly what they need at the right moment. We have to be sensitive to parents of different backgrounds having different relationships with the school. All of our faculty do home visits to meet our families where they’re at and where they are comfortable. We’re helping build the skills to be strong advocates in elementary school and beyond.”

Rocketship is also known for high achievement, with their Bay Area network of 10 schools ranking in the top 10% in both math and English Language Arts among all elementary school districts serving a similar student population across the state, on last year’s California assessment. These students also stay ahead, as once they graduate from Rocketship schools they are a year ahead of their classmates in math and reading, after the first and second years of middle school.

Pastor Francies welcomed Rocketship into his congregation, citing the need for quality schools in Antioch and his belief that, “there are some teachers who can’t teach, but there are no students who can’t learn.” According to Francies, Rocketship brings the opportunity for Antioch kids to experience high-quality, personalized learning that will prepare them for success later in life.

Gil began the meeting by introducing herself and sharing a bit of her story as a single mother in Antioch many years ago.

“To be able to come back to the families and children of Antioch is very meaningful,” she said, having eventually moved her family out of Antioch in search of better schools. Gil cited the power of parents as the driving force to demand better outcomes for their children as the reason for the interest in Rocketship in Antioch.

Parent questions and responses from the panel of school leaders covered Rocketship’s special education model and extended school day. Rocketship uses what’s called an inclusive model of special education, which means that children designated as having special needs spend 80 percent of their time in the classroom with their peers and the rest is personalized support by specialists. This specialized support level is decided upon in consultation with parents. Principal Colon promises that “we’ll collaborate and decide what’s best for your child.”

There was also a discussion of the many different language needs in Antioch, with Brittany Kinser, of Rocketship Milwaukee, noting that every meeting is translated into as many languages as parents need. Homework is also translated so that parents can work with their children.

Rocketship Education is proposing a free, public charter school in Antioch to offer elementary school beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.

“You shouldn’t have to dig deep into your pockets to get a good education,” said Shaka Mitchell.

The Public Hearing will be held on November 9, 2016 at Lone Tree Elementary School at 1931 Mokelumne Drive in Antioch, beginning at 7:00 PM in the Multi Use Room.

For more information about Rocketship Education, visit www.rsed.org.


the attachments to this post:


rocketship-meeting-panel


No Comments so far.

Leave a Reply