This week, we are excited to profile the extraordinary Geoff Roehm, executive director of Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School and co-founder of the nonprofit Runway Green Educational Collective in Brooklyn.
As a kid, he loved school. As a teacher, he loved school. And now, as a school leader, nothing has changed—Geoff Roehm loves school.
Growing up in New Jersey, Geoff attended the same school from kindergarten through high school.
“For me, it was just a terrific fit. I felt like I belonged. I learned a lot. And I liked being there,” he said. “And for that reason, I only ever wanted to be a teacher.”
Geoff initially wanted to become a teacher so he could be in school every day—his favorite place. Over time, he discovered another purpose.
“As I got older, I started to understand the profound differences and inequities in how kids experience schools and the opportunities to access different kinds of schools,” he said. “I thought that every kid deserves to have at least the educational experience that I had.”
So, Geoff got to work, making sure more kids got to love school.
‘We could be doing things differently’
Geoff began his career at the front of the classroom as a New York City Teaching Fellow. The program recruits and trains college graduates and career-changers to become educators in high-need New York City classrooms.
“I had both a wonderful experience and a hard experience. I loved teaching immediately and felt really happy that I was doing it,” Geoff said. “And also—not that I knew a lot—but it also felt like, from a broader school perspective, that collectively we could be doing things differently.”
Around that time, Geoff discovered NYC Outward Bound Schools, a program that coaches teachers and leaders and offers students programming outdoors. After he participated in their professional development, he was hooked.
“It was a pretty profound experience, being exposed to high-quality project-based learning, constructivist design, learning experiences for kids that were authentic and connected to the community,” Geoff said. “It was at least somewhat more open-walled. That was profound for me. I immediately wanted to be a part of that.”
Geoff wanted to bring what he learned from NYC Outward Bound to more kids and he wanted the flexibility to implement that unique model. So, he founded Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School, serving students in grades 6 through 8. The school opened its doors in 2012 as a NYC Outward Bound School. NYC Outward Bound Schools operates a network of public schools in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. Launch is the only charter school in the network.
‘Wow, there should be a school here’
Launch has been successful—outperforming district schools for three years in a row in math and ELA. Launch students’ growth also outpaces the state of New York. About 90% of Launch students qualify for free or reduced lunch and 97% identify as students of color. Notably, charter schools in New York have been gaining students, while district schools have faced enrollment declines.
Of course, Geoff—ever the school lover—had plenty more to do.
Several years ago, the Launch staff found themselves on a team retreat at a 1,300-acre national park in Brooklyn.
“We didn’t know it existed,” Geoff said. “If you ask most Brooklynites or New Yorkers, ‘Have you ever heard of Floyd Bennett Field?’ They would say no or maybe I’m not sure.”
The staff climbed to the top of an old tower on the park grounds.
“We looked out and thought, ‘Wow, there should be a school here,’” Geoff said. “That idea which originated as ‘let’s build a school here’ quickly grew. How do we transform this incredible piece of land into something that can benefit NYC public school kids?”
Runway Green
In many community conversations and meetings with local partners and business owners, the idea for a charter school at Floyd Bennett Field grew. Geoff and his team partnered with Transcend, which helps communities create and expand opportunities for healthy and positive learning environments. They also visited innovative and unique school models elsewhere in the country, including Crosstown High, a charter school in Memphis that’s the subject of a recent documentary.
In this process, it became apparent to Geoff that Launch on its own was not the best vehicle to boost experiential learning opportunities at this scale.
“We shouldn’t build a school here that’s for a couple hundred or a thousand kids,” Geoff said. “This is a public asset that could benefit all NYC students. That’s what we should try to do, and we should try to do it as a coalition that believes in authentic and powerful learning experiences.”
Instead, in order to serve tens of thousands of kids annually, Geoff created Runway Green—the nonprofit vehicle that connects and shepherds all of the partners in this project. Their vision is to build a transformational education ecosystem—with pathways to green careers—on the 1,300 acres of National Park Service land at Floyd Bennett Field. The hope is that this will not solely be a school, but also a new model for learning: an entire education ecosystem.
The project will ultimately support 50,000 K-12 NYC public school students each year, with resources and experiential learning centers.
This year, they’re breaking ground on the first phase, which includes a farm. Kids will be able to learn about sustainable agriculture while also feeding hungry New Yorkers—connecting multiple partnerships and offering great learning opportunities. It will also be home to Launch’s high school, which is opening this fall.
‘The way we usually get the farthest‘
Building an entirely new educational project on federal land in the middle of New York City is what Geoff calls “a cross-jurisdictional quagmire.”
Unsurprisingly, this quagmire required the buy-in and support of multiple community partners, including (but not limited to) NYC Public Schools, the Billion Oyster Project, The Campaign Against Hunger, Solar One and the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy.
It also required diligent advocacy work and conversations with elected officials. Through these efforts, Geoff gained the support of Sen. Chuck Schumer, NYC Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, and the NYC council in general.
He also leaned heavily on the Charter School Growth Fund, which has supported the project and its community-driven design process.
“Over the last five years, we’ve had a group of students and staff members and community partners who have meet regularly, who have traveled together to different inspiration sites across the country, and who have poured a tremendous amount of sweat equity in to producing the vision,” Geoff said.
He continues to draw inspiration from “many, many schools” in the charter sector that haven’t been shy about embracing innovation.
“This is a dream to be able to work on. There are so many schools that are pushing the envelope,” he said. “They’re not only sharing those innovations, but they’re equally open to listening and learning. That’s the way we usually get the farthest—doing it together.”