Good morning, CharterFolk.
Today it is our distinct pleasure to recognize Jennifer López, CEO of Carmen Schools of Science and Technology in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as CharterFolk Extraordinaire.
As the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants growing up in Sacramento, California, Jennifer experienced firsthand the inadequate and inequitable public education that thousands of families are subjected to in California’s capital city. When it came time to attend high school, fortunately, Jennifer was able to access a quality option …
… one that was committed to ensuring that all of its graduates would be prepared to thrive in college. In the early going at the new school, Jennifer’s lack of readiness for a college preparatory program was painfully obvious, but she managed to persevere and ultimately to attend Occidental College in Los Angeles. But the experience of having been so woefully under-prepared during her K-8 years never left her, and it filled her with a deep personal conviction to make things better for others.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Jennifer joined Teach For America and accepted a position with the Alliance for College Ready Public Schools, a charter management organization that has secured college acceptances for 95% of its 18,000 alumni.
Many of the Alliance’s 27 schools are recognized to be among the highest performing public schools in Los Angeles. Among the most respected of all …
… is Dr. Olga Mohan High School, the school to which Jennifer was assigned. To say that she fit right in would be an understatement. A year after she arrived, the school was named CCSA’s school of the year …
… with Jennifer being featured in the video showcasing the school’s renowned instructional practices.
Within another couple of years, Jennifer had received a master’s in school leadership from Loyola Marymount University, and had been hired as the Assistant Principal and Dean of Students at Valor Academy …
… another of Los Angeles’s most respected charter high schools with a mission to prepare students to succeed in college.
A few years later, accommodating some changes in her family life, Jennifer found herself in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was drawn back to a high school very much like the one she graduated from in Sacramento …
… only this time she served as the organization’s Chief Academic Officer!
Like Sacramento, Milwaukee’s public school system has had a long history of challenge and disfunction. It has led to the city being home to some of the most urgent education reform efforts in the country, including the establishment of a robust voucher program and a thriving charter school sector. One of the most respected charter school organizations in the city has been the Carmen High School of Science and Technology. Founded in 2007 with a mission to ensure that all of its students thrived in STEM fields and graduated ready to succeed in college …
… Carmen also made it a hallmark of the organization …
Molina, Escalante and Novello
…to honor its founding namesakes – great Latino and Latina leaders across a wide range of endeavor.
From its inception, Carmen’s first school was recognized to be among the highest performing public schools in Wisconsin. Serving a population of students that is 80% low income, Carmen has consistently sent all of its graduates to college …
… and has been repeatedly identified as one of the highest performing high schools in Wisconsin.
These kinds of results led to great demand from parents that Carmen expand its offerings. By the summer of 2019, the organization had grown to serve 1700 students across four sites. When school Founder Patricia Hoben decided to take a new position focusing on expanding quality options more broadly across Milwaukee …
… after a nationwide search, Carmen found its new leader right in its own backyard.
It was a tumultuous moment for any new leader to join the organization. Earlier that year, despite Carmen’s track record of success, the organization had seen a politically fraught renewal process.
A month after Jennifer started on the job, the simmering conflict with the school district boiled over into public protest.
And just six months after that, the pandemic hit. Through it all, Jennifer helped keep the organization right on stride.
Opening a new campus …
… continuing to secure recognitions for the organization’s academic results …
… and ensuring that all students at all campuses demonstrate outstanding readiness for success in college.
Along the way, Jennifer was recognized for the extraordinary work she did to help Carmen families access the additional support they needed through the Covid crisis.
Given the impact of COVID-19 on Carmen families’ jobs and access to basic needs, López also led an effort to raise $157,322 in emergency funds to cover families’ utility costs and rent/mortgage for parents and guardians who lost their income, medical and funeral costs related to COVID-19, grocery expenses through partnerships with Pete’s Market and El Rey, and small businesses’ unexpected costs incurred during the pandemic.
This leadership has resulted in Jennifer being recognized as one of the most influential Latinos in Wisconsin.
It’s all evidence that Jennifer understands that the path to helping students achieve new levels of readiness for college and career success is demonstrating a personal readiness to take on the great challenges of leadership that await in the charter school movement’s compelling next chapters.
It’s why we couldn’t be happier today than to recognize Jennifer López as CharterFolk Extraordinaire.