Community Outreach in Whitehaven

We passed out information at a church in Whitehaven during an event that was promoting voter registeration.  Everyone loved our shirts!

Barbara & Tamara

The last two days we had the fortunate opportunity to spend some time with Barbara Harris, our founding principal for Memphis and Tamara Buckner, our Memphis Principal Resident.  They were here for a quick trip because we had interviews for a grant.  Both Barbara and Tamara had a great time getting to know the other charter leaders and visiting classrooms.  Feel free to ask them about it next time you seen them!

This is a photo of a mural along the Green Line ( my personal Memphis fav!). I forgot to take a picture of Tamara and Barbara this week. :(

Listening Tours

Last week we started our Listening Tours to give a variety of communities a chance to learn more about Aspire.  Here are the details:

Listening Tour Stops

Thursday, September 13^th @ The Orange Mound Community Center from 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Thursday, September 20^th @ The MAM Grizzlies Center from 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M

Thursday, September 27^th @ Whitehaven Library from 5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M

Thursday, October 11^th @ The Ed Rice Community Center from 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M

Our first Listening Tour was in Orange Mound last week.  We had about 20-25 attendees and hope to see more folks tomorrow night at the MAM center in Alcy Ball.  Last week Tamara and Bria Shine, a parent and student from Alexander Twilight College Prep Academy attended the event. 

Tamara, Bria & Ron.

The Achievement School District

During the past two weeks we had the opportunity to spend time at Westside Achievement Middle School, one of the schools that the Achievement School District tranformed this year. Last week we met the Advisory Council, a group of 15 community members, who will be getting to know each of the charter management organizations who have been approved to transform schools next year.

Orange Mound Parade

This weekend we went to the Orange Mound Parade to celebrate the  Southern Heritage Classic.  We had a lot of fun and passed out information about Aspire. 

University of Memphis Football Game

Last week we attended a luncheon at the University of Memphis to kick off the school year and introduce the new Athletic Director, Tom Bowen, to the community.  It was a great event and a wonderful opportunity to network with the coaches. Every team at UofM is expected to engage the community through service.  We talked to a few coaches about having their teams work with our schools either after school or during the day as tutors.  When I was a principal at East Palo Alto Charter School we had a partnership with the Stanford Women's Water Polo Team and they came to tutor students once a week. 

On Saturday we were invited to the first game of the year- it was great! The team had to stop playing a few times due to thunderstorms, but they still put up a good fight.