Kairos Academies: St. Louis

Watch out, Messi! Kairos soccer stars are coming for you. Thank you to Premier Charter School and Lafayette Prep for the effort and team spirit you showed on the field

INTRODUCING OUR NEW TEAMMATE: Madeline Grillot (English Teacher) Madeline Grillot has years of experience teaching English literature to elementary, middle, and high schoolers. She specializes in providing targeted interventions to students with literacy gaps. Madeline holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of MissouriColumbia and a Master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language from Webster University, where she graduated with academic honors.

New Orleans recently became the first major city where all public-school students attend charter schools. Graduation and retention rates and student test scores increased; 62% of students attended the state’s lowest-performing schools (F-grade) in 2004-05, but that share fell to 8% by 2018. To help disadvantaged students narrow the achievement gap, some New Orleans schools adopted a competency-based approach to learning as opposed to one based on seat time. Others formed part...nerships with Teach for America and hired teachers with nontraditional backgrounds. Some schools offered specialized curricula focusing on math and science. Katrina didn’t create the problems in New Orleans. The school system was plagued by failure and was the target of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into fraud and theft. But Katrina’s devastation did create a sense of urgency. Reforms that would have been rejected as too ambitious to consider before 2005 were quickly adopted. Adults who are invested in the status quo insist progress requires ever more patience, time and money, but children have only one chance to grow up. They get only one shot at a good education. The current system too often traps minority and low-income children in failing schools. The results in New Orleans won bipartisan praise and support, but much more work remains to be done. Louisiana’s post-Katrina experience produced several insights: All parents want a great education for their children. Parents know their students better than anyone else. A one-size-fits-all approach to education doesn’t work. If the money follows the students, schools will focus on meeting their needs. Education reform should be based on the needs of students, not the needs of adults.

Our first outdoor adventure trip of the semester with Kairos Academies: St. Louis was a smashing success! Students were able to explore Forest Park, enjoy an immersive sensory walk, and use ecological science equipment to track turtles with the Saint Louis University Ecology Club

Collins told Insider that there's an outdated image of hiding wealth where it's all stored offshore but that the US is the No. 2 destination for "global kleptocratic capital." Instead of storing money offshore, he said, the wealthy can turn to places like South Dakota, Wyoming, or Delaware. "The thing I think we don't understand is we are now the tax haven," Collins said. In the book, Collins details the myriad, complex systems that the so-called wealth defense industry uses ...to obscure money. One is "artports," or art-storage facilities that could be in your neighborhood, full of incredibly valuable paintings. While one of those facilities could be blocks away from you, these ports are technically in free-trade zones, and the art never actually enters US commerce. Or take, for instance, those brand-new glass towers in your downtown, where the wealthy could be parking their wealth by buying up units. Collins used the Millennium Tower in Boston as an example. Those empty apartments, with their panoramic views, function as "wealth storage units" Collins writes that over 35% of the units there are owned by shell companies and trusts.

What's the sign of a transformational community partner? When your students design, make, and sell Black Lives Matter shirts as a fundraiser for their non-profit, and instead of just accepting the donation, they send the Executive Director AND Board of Directors to come talk to your kids! Thank you Black Girls Build Inc for sharing with our students how you're using entrepreneurship and real-world skills to empower historically marginalized communities. You're a role model for all of us

Just a Friday stroll through the Kairos Googolplex

"I came to Kairos because of the choice-based learning. You get to work at your own pace and select skills that you're personally good at." We love you too, Dylan!

Congratulations, to Mayor Elect Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones! We were proud to get out the vote, but at Kairos, we teach students that civic engagement goes beyond just voting. It means speaking out out about their beliefs and explaining their reasoning. As equal citizens, our students have an important role to play in our democracy. That’s why we were so thrilled to have two state representatives and a state senatorState Representative Steve Butz, 81st District MO, State Rep...resentative Donna Baringer, and State Senator Karla May (Karla May 4 State Senate)visit us last week for a 90 minute conversation with Kairos parents and students. (Thank you to the Children's Education Alliance of Missouri - CEAM for organizing!) Our families talked about the magic of self-paced learning, the value of practicing real-world time management skills in K-12, and the sense of love and respect they felt from Kairos teachers. Our students asked tough questions, and they made sure their representatives answered directly. The kids argued that they deserve the same state funding as their classmates in district schools. (Currently, charter public school students receive ~10% less in state funding per pupil than district public school students. For more information, check out the Missouri Charter Public School Association or go to bit.ly/3uwkOSk). Our parents argued that if wealthy peers got to choose their children’s school, either through paying tuition or paying a mortgage in the county, then all parents should have school choice made available to them. And our reps shared nuanced perspectives on the politics around education reform (and other issues facing our state). In the end, the visit was an incredible, hands-on learning experience for our students! We all agreed that a system which put power (like the power of the purse) back in the hands of our city’s most vulnerable parents would, inevitably, produce better results for our city’s most vulnerable kids. We’re so proud of our students and parents for advocating on behalf of all of us

#TBT Field trip to Claire Gempp Park with Gateway to the Great Outdoors (@ggo_nonprofit). Nature hike and nature art, inspired by artists who make temporary works out of natural materials. (Of course we tried to make the Kairos logo, representing choice and self-direction, out of wood.)

At Kairos, we're huge fans of Prof. Ross, "a radical Black feminist who has been doing human rights work for decades." Calling in is a strategy we teach students as they learn to work across lines of difference. https://nyti.ms/32UOqNN "Call-out culture has taken conversations that could have once been learning opportunities and turned them into mud wrestling...The antidote is 'calling in.' Calling in is like calling out, but done privately and with respect. 'It’s a call out done with love.'"

"We can't just ask students to take notes. We need to teach them how, and more importantly, why. [Kairos teacher] Julia Larimar is doing that today. She's emphasizing that students are creating study guides for themselves, directing them to use the key terms associated with each focus area as a checklist to make sure the notes are complete, and giving immediate feedback to students while they are developing their notes."

"If you need help with some work, you can ask your coach because everybody gets their own coach. It doesn't have to be school related. At Kairos, I got better at reading; I know more words." We love you too, Dario!

GOOD MORNING, ST. LOUIS! Polls just opened in our fair city, so go out and help choose our next mayor. No matter who you vote for, MAKE SURE YOU VOTE! P.S. You can click here to look up your nearest polling place: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov//board/voter/polling-places.cfm

Kairos incubated in the previous incarnation of Sherita Love's Education Equity Center of St. Louis, which envisions a transformed education system that is free of racism and harmful practices, policies and systems negatively impacting black and brown students. Sherita's unflinching advocacy helped make us the school we are today. For anyone who cares about the city's ed reform, we encourage you to check out her upcoming Anti-Racist Education Saturday School Workshops.

Thank you Diverse Charter Schools Coalition for inviting Kairos to present and run workshops at your upcoming convention, "Interrupting Inequity: Creating anti-racist and liberatory practices at intentionally diverse charter schools." We're honored to share our innovations, and we look forward to continuing this work hand-in-hand with other leaders in the field.

Public Servants Work For The People (www.stlmag.com/longform/public-servants-in-st-louis) Trevor Hicks (teacher at Kairos Academies) worked with Palmer for three years and calls her lessons life-changing. Now the student has become the teacher: Hicks finds himself a few months into his own career as a history teacher at Kairos. So many teachers and mentors poured into me, Hicks says, and I just want to pour into my students as much as I can and expose them to the world that they live in.

6th-8th: www.kairosacademies.org Today, Kairos students get to see a Black, South Asian woman ascend to one of the highest positions of power in our country. In unprecedented numbers, from both parties and at all levels of government, candidates from historically underrepresented communities have been elected by their peers to lead. Political wins are important, but no matter which policies we prefer, people everywhere can celebrate that this nation has affirmed the equality ...of human potential and the audacity to aspire. There's more work to be done, but Americans have always known that. The Constitution's clear: our country is not a finished story; it's a draft in revision. We the People came together centures ago, and come together again today, "in Order to form a more perfect Union." We come together not just for ourselves, but for our children. "We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. And they will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." (Barack Obama, New Hampshire Primary Speech)

Kairos was just featured in Education Week! This is huge recognition for our community. (https://tinyurl.com/KairosEdWeek) Kairos Academies also increased the level of support students had from their coaches. Since the school was founded two years ago, teachers have had a group of 10 students for whom they provide one-on-one support for executive functioning tasks, such as completing assignments on time and maintaining productive study habits. Students used to meet with their... coach one or two times a week, but last spring, the frequency increased. Coaches could check in every day: ‘I know you’re alone at your house, let’s set some goals. Do you know how to log in?’ recounted Gavin Schiffres, the chief executive officer of Kairos. Schiffres said the full-time coaching model was so successful that teachers are continuing to meet with their students more frequently, even now that students are back on campus some days. This semester, Riley Foster said she has been meeting with her podlings individually for 10-15 minutes three times a week. She helps them set goals for their learning, makes sure they’re on track with their assignments and able to navigate the Summit platform, and encourages them to channel their interests into their projects. There are some students who really thrive working on their own, and some who struggle a bit more and lack the skillset, she said. If it weren’t for the coaching model, self-directed learning would not be successful. [It’s] getting them to the point where they can take control of their learning.

Learn more: kairosacademies.org Thank you 4 Hands for awarding Kairos 1st place in your City Wide Scholarship competition. Every day, Kairos strives to redefine what public education can and should be in St. Louis. We're proud to partner hand-in-hand with you on that journey.

Happy Halloween from the Kairos Team! Hope to see everyone at school tonight for our outdoor TRUNK-OR-TREAT, 6-8 p.m. The evening will be made even more SPOOKTACULAR by the full moonthe first on a Halloween since 1944. Beware the werewolf. (Artwork by Bella F., 7th-grade extraordinaire)