As our school enters its fourth and final year of growth to 600 students in grades 9 - 12, I continue to be bound by the vision I had twenty years ago growing up in the Williamsburg Community. Schools should be places where young people are transformed, challenged, and pushed to think and ask questions on their own. A good school is a rigorous place for learning and research, a supportive community of learners at all levels, and a place where young people are prepared to take their place in the world with all the requisite skills needed to succeed. A good school cares about the prosperity of each and every student and creates a culture of success, inviting adults who share these same principles to join.

Unfortunately, such learning environments are exceedingly rare. My observations of the extreme inequities, the continuous politicizing, and the lack of clear vision in the business of education were all extremely depressing. For years, education has not been about young people. It has been about power, money, politicians, administrators, and interested parties and has been controlled by a host of entities at various levels. Against the odds, I decided to create a learning community where parents, educators, youth, and the community facilitate young people's participation in their own education. This is the primary goal in our quest for equity and I am extremely proud of our success thus far.

Great achievements involve great risks. We have risked it all, we have attempted it all, and each and every young person, parent, and staff member who has joined this journey has received greater rewards from it then we ever imagined.

This is not to say that peril does not always lurk around every corner. As a charter school we are scrutinized in every aspect of school functioning - instructional, fiscal, and operational. However, accountability is the name of the game, and our performance points to continued and increased success, even without the usual support of the organized money, politics, and power. We are a mom and pop charter school which embodies the originally envisioned spirit of the charter law. We will adapt to the environment as it changes and we will continue to do what we promised we would do - educate our young people for successful and enriched lives.