Our Heritage (continued) Parent members of our Parent Mobilization Project (PMP) were one of the focus groups for legislators writing this new charter school legislation. Their articulate and passionate response to the questions of what parents wanted for their children helped inform political leaders across the Commonwealth that parent involvement and parent leadership in new schools could help raise the bar, particularly in urban communities. Upon passage of the Education Reform Act and the call for charter schools, members of the Lawrence Family Development and Education Fund, Inc.’s PMP knew this was a historic movement and asked that LFDEF, Inc. apply for a charter school that would offer their children a real path to the American dream, would value their language and heritage and would include parents in the plan and leadership of the school. Months of research and writing, scores of community meetings and hundreds of parent signatures culminated into a successful application for the Lawrence Family Development Charter School, one of the first in a group of fifteen public charter schools in Massachusetts to open in September 1995. Today, Lawrence Family Development Charter School (LFDCS) enrolls 678 children from early Kindergarten through grade eight. With small classes (15-20), dual-language proficiency, attention to data and high academic achievement and a commitment to excellence at all levels, LFDCS continues to raise scores on standardized testing with students outperforming the local districts and significantly outperforming students with similar demographic profiles across the Commonwealth. LFDCS is led by a team of qualified, credentialed educators and a Board comprised of LFDCS parents, and LFDEF, Inc. Board Members. LFDCS graduates the majority of its students to private-independent and religiousoperated rigorous secondary schools, which helps to ensure a path to higher education and a positive, successful future. As Lawrence Family Development Charter School (LFDCS) grew to become a school district and by Spring 2012 and 2013 with highly successful MCAS test scores, it placed in the top 10% of public schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for adequate yearly progress and its strong performance as a Level 1 School brought it additional notoriety. Due to the high standards at the School, LFDCS hit the State expectations for MCAS performance and then opened an Academy of Early Academic Preparation. After that, LFDEF began discussions with the Lawrence Public Schools (LPS) on ways in which our experienced educators and RTI/ESL services might be disseminated in early childhood education for School Year 2014-15. This led to a 2014 application by the Lawrence Family Development and Education Fund, Inc., which is the Charter School’s Management Organization, to use the Charter School’s best practices and become an approved Preferred Provider/Turnaround Operator for Massachusetts school districts in need of targeted assistance. Beginning in September 2014, the first two-year contract with the Lawrence Public Schools will open a demonstration project called Lawrence Family Public Academy. This project involves LFDCS’ sharing of staff members, including the Academy’s former Head of School and two teachers, who will be assigned to this project. Their task will be to provide targeted assistance to LPS with teacher preparation, academic skills, language acquisition and social advancement of young children. LFDEF, Inc. Board Leadership and Commitment to students: “Reach for the Stars” In 2007, at the retirement of the founding school leader, the board established a scholarship endowment fund with a plan to raise one million dollars over ten years to ensure that promising graduates had the necessary financial assistance to meet the tuition gap between parent contribution and financial awards of rigorous secondary schools. The PFK Scholarship Committee leads an annual fundraiser to build the endowment, along with approving policies to transfer significant fundraising dollars to the endowment. 8
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