This week, we are profiling the incomparable Frank Baxter, founding board member and past Chairman of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools in Los Angeles — one of innumerable meaningful contributions Frank has made to improving educational opportunities.
When Alliance College-Ready Public Schools was returning from the pandemic, Frank Baxter was doing what Frank Baxter does best: energetically, generously and thoughtfully pushing new ideas to expand opportunities for students.
The pandemic had brought about uncertainty and despair. Schools were struggling to respond, and students were hurting. But Frank—ever the optimist—was focused on the bigger picture. He reached out to the Alliance’s CEO Pablo Villavicencio.
“There was a lot of reevaluation at that time of what is the purpose of education, in service of where we want our kids to go,” Pablo said. “Frank had lots of ideas, as he normally does. The darkness and the negativity and the hopelessness that was there, he wanted to make sure we didn’t fall within that. He wanted to ensure that I was leading from a place of hope.”
Frank has more experience and has made more contributions to educational opportunity than can be covered in a CharterFolk X piece. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay, on the NASDAQ board, and as Chairman Emeritus of the global investment bank Jefferies & Company Inc. He’s served on the boards of After-School All Stars, the California Institute of the Arts and Los Angeles Museum of Art. But his work, and who he is as a person, is best typified by the success of the Alliance.
“There’s nothing wrong with the kids”
When Pablo was growing up—in the same community the Alliance serves—public schools were marred by low attendance and low access to AP courses. Very few kids were going to college. But in 2004, the Alliance was founded by educators, civil rights activists and Los Angeles community leaders, including Frank. The belief of the organization was simple, but an articulation of the deep, optimistic faith in people that Frank holds: All children are capable of learning and achieving at high levels—regardless of their ZIP code, income, ability or background.
In the two decades since, the Alliance has become one of the largest and most successful public charter school networks in the nation, serving nearly 13,000 students and over 20,000 alumni. It operates 26 high-performing middle and high schools across Los Angeles County.
Over 95% of Alliance students have graduated from high school and been accepted into a two- or four-year college. In fact, Alliance students graduate from college at 3.5x the national average when compared to students from similar socio-economic backgrounds. Their success is rooted in a dedication to innovation, transformation and the belief that better is possible.
“When I think about what options our kids had 20 years ago to now, it’s leaps and bounds,” Pablo said. “Kids are now going back into the community and you’re beginning to see transformational change.”
Frank played a huge role in that, determined to never settle for the status quo.
“What Frank did was set that higher bar and set a proof point through the Alliance to say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with the kids, there’s something wrong with the educational system,’” Pablo said.
Being there, showing up
Anita Landecker, president and CEO of ExEd, worked with Frank when she was supporting the financing for some early Alliance schools. She’s always been struck by his ability to show up.
“He did a lot of showing up for this field,” she said. “He’s always been there. He shows up. Just being there, being someone you can check in with, being a listening ear. I think his lasting impact is that he honored the educators, the schools and the leaders by being there. ”
In so doing, he came to learn a great deal about the latest trends in public education, and in the same way that he served as an ambassador representing our country, he came to be an ambassador for our movement. That included not only showing up for charter schools, but also for blended learning, a subject he came to understand well enough to offer a TEDx Talk that has now been viewed over 14,000 times.
It’s a presentation exuding the “optimistic, joyous and curious” spirit that Anita has seen Frank bring into setting after setting. Ultimately, decades of such showing up have resulted in Frank having a cumulative positive impact on public education rivaling that made by any other Angeleno.
Channel your inner Frank
Charter school leaders are tasked with navigating the waters ahead. Those may be difficult and uncertain waters. There are no doubt times you might feel defeated or pessimistic or unsure. To help fight those feelings and move forward, consider channeling your inner Frank.
Part of that, according to Anita, means showing up: “Be there, be around, commit.”
But it also means approaching challenges with a sense of curiosity and possibility. “Don’t get into an us-versus-them, just be open,” she said. “He always approaches things with curiosity and openness.”
For Pablo, it’s about humility.
“This man doesn’t have any ego,” Pablo said. “You can meet people who are really trying to elevate their name. He’s here for the right reasons. He has a consistency in him that speaks to his integrity.”
It’s also, most importantly, about an optimistic, unshakeable belief in what’s possible—the same belief that grounds the work of the Alliance and bolsters their successes.
“Frank knows people can rise to their best selves. There’s an optimism that he continuously holds onto,” Pablo said. “He’s so laser-focused on the big outcome, he is a relentless champion of kids and he’s unwavering to the very end on that.”