MLK Charter School of Excellence Planning to Open in 2005

By Alan Katz

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” The proposed Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence proclaims that its students will:

Read and write well.

Be skillful mathematicians.

Earn high scores on MCAS.

Develop exemplary character.

Be young people we are proud of.

MLK Charter School of Excellence’s founding group is asking the Massachusetts Department of Education to grant a charter for a school in Springfield based on the values of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK Charter School will be a free, public school that prepares kindergarten through fifth grade students of Springfield for academic success and engaged citizenship through insistence on rigorous, challenging work and incorporation of Dr. King’s commitment to the highest standards in scholarship, civic participation and the ideal of the beloved community. The Massachusetts Board of Education will decide in February, 2005 whether to grant the charter.

On October 11, 2004, MLK Charter School will begin to accept registrations of students to participate in the admissions lottery. Parents can register any Springfield child who will be entering kindergarten, first or second grade in September, 2005. The telephone number for information about the school is 413-746-3655 ext. 127.

MLK Charter School is creating the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Curriculum: Building a Beloved Community. This character development curriculum will teach respect, public speaking, and Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community of all people. All students will participate in community service learning.

MLK Community Center will be the partner of the school. The Center will operate before-school and after-school programs at the school. The Center’s youth development and social services will be available to the students and their families.

MLK Charter School plans small classes averaging 20 students. The school will have high expectations for all students and their parents. Parents will read with their children, insist that homework is complete, limit the children’s television watching, and require the children to get a good night’s sleep. The school and parents together will honor the accomplishments of the children. MLK Community Center will host celebrations of the children’s achievements four times a year.

The founding group members are: Mass Mutual executive Beverly Holmes; MLK Community Center executive director Dora Robinson; attorneys Alan Katz and Lisa Baker; Springfield College professors Joseph Gianesin and Jason Irizarry; community volunteers Marie Stebbins, Armando Feliciano, Denise Jordan, and Brenda Frye; STCC assistant vice president Myra Smith, Elms College vice president Anne Harrison; Hector Toledo of Fleet Bank, AIC professor Gus Pesce; teacher Sherril Willis; and retired principals Robert Brown, Jr., Richard Denniston and Terez Waldoch.

Dora Robinson stated that “The school founders have Dr. King’s missionary zeal to educate Springfield’s children, all of whom can achieve excellence in scholarship and lives of engaged citizenship inspired by the ideal of the beloved community.” n