This week, we are profiling the dedicated Jana Lapoint, an extraordinary board member at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland, Maine.
When Jana Lapoint was serving on the Maine State Board of Education, the board president alerted the board members that the state was establishing the Maine Charter School Commission (MCSC). The Maine legislature had just approved the state’s first charter school law in 2011, and it required that MCSC consist of seven members – three of whom must be sitting members of the State Board of Education.
Jana, a lifelong educator with a keen interest in innovative approaches to teaching, liked the idea. So she volunteered to serve. “Little did I know what was coming ahead of me,” she said. “It’s been a real journey, I have to say, ever since that time.”
Jana has been enthusiastically dedicated to that journey. Her passion for improving education to meet the diverse needs of all children is apparent – it shines through when she talks and it’s reflected in her history of service. In addition to the State Board of Education and MCSC, Jana has served on the board of the Maine Community College System and as a trustee at Dean College and Cheverus High School. Currently, she’s on the board of Maine Connections Academy, an online public charter school, and Baxter Academy for Technology and Science, a college prep charter high school in Portland.
As a member of MCSC, Jana approved the very first charter schools in Maine, including the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, which opened in 2012. In this role, she listened as charter school advocates and visionary education leaders made the case for establishing charter schools in Maine. She was excited about the prospect of adding more choices for families. The sector has since grown to nine schools. (The state’s law limits the number of charter schools allowed to be authorized to 10 in the first 10 years.)
“They wanted parents who could not afford private schools to have a choice. I think it really boiled down to that,” she said. “Not every child learns the same way, but our schools were pretty much cookie cutter.”
Jana also approved Maine’s first and only charter high school focused on STEM – Baxter Academy, where she is now a board member.
At Baxter, students learn through inquiry. They use a project-based STEM curriculum and have a unique program called Flex Friday, where students manage their own long-term projects that are relevant to their individual goals and passions. Students identify a real-world problem, define how they might solve it, craft their potential solution, argue that solution in front of a faculty board, consult with outside experts and then, of course, they get working. Students get to spend 20% of their school week working on this project, including outside of the walls of the school.
Baxter students are also the reigning Maine State Chess Champions – the school offers a unique chess program led by U.S. Chess Master Majur Juac.
Jana is proud of the work Baxter has done and of its students. “I walk out of there and I’m just flying high,” she said of every time she visits Baxter.
Of course, their success exists, in part, because of her dedicated journey. Though she’s humble in talking about her impact on Maine’s charter sector, preferring to emphasize the hard work many, she acknowledges that she has been incredibly dedicated.
“I’ve always believed in education for kids,” she said. “I’ve just hung in there. I love it.”
Jana is also proud of the work of the charter sector – in Maine and across the country.
“Not every child learns the same way and we need to find those ways for our kids,” she said. “And the charter school movement to me has definitely done that.”
While Jana has accomplished much in her lifelong career in education, she’s looking forward to the road ahead, where she hopes Maine will thoughtfully consider the existing cap it has on charter schools. She’s even been working with charter school students to educate them about charter schools and how to get organized for advocacy efforts. She’s continuing along on her journey, ever dedicated to the charter movement and the children of Maine.