T2 Honors Academy • Olivet Town Hall tonight • BPACF Forum • Gerrymandering
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
T2 (“Squared”) Honors Academy is a small community school — i.e. “charter school” — currently operating in Warrensville Heights. Its stated mission is to use “a rigorous, innovative academic curriculum to infuse a passion for people, intrinsic motivation, and self-discipline in its students”.
According to the school’s founder and lead educator, Dr. India Ford, the "T2" stands for the Talented Tenth. It’s a nod, she says, to W.E.B Dubois' premise that ten percent of the African American population would lead the masses out of poverty and become the catalyst to a social reform movement. In alliance with DuBois' quote, T-Squared’s academic curriculum incorporates elements of social activism.
T-Squared opened in 2014 and currently serves 120 students, 99% African American, in grades 7-12. About 54% of the enrollment is eligible for free/reduced lunches, but the entire school received approval for a free lunch program under a community eligibility program.
The school, established in 2014, has made serious strides in its four years of operations. Students typically arrive at T-Squared from challenged area school districts measuring two to three grade levels behind in reading and/or math. T-Squared has achieved a “B” grade relative to its progress in closing these gaps. Its most recent [2018-2019] overall grade is a "C," and includes a valued added grade of "A". It graduated its first senior class in 2018.
The Academy is presently housed in an office space in an active industrial area. Its board of directors and administrators want to purchase a shuttered school building in Garfield Heights and begin operations there in the fall of 2021. They started a GoFundMe campaign last month to that end.
Founder Ford taught in the Maple Heights schools before leaving to establish T-Squared. She earned her Ph.D. in Urban Education and Leadership from Cleveland State University.
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Here’s what happening tonight for the civic and business-minded Clevelander:
• Olivet Institutional Baptist Church and its Olivet Housing and Community Development Corporation are hosting a virtual town hall tonight on health and community in the time of COVID-19. Olivet’s pastor Jawanza Colvin will moderate a distinguished panel of physicians comprising Dr. Edward Barksdale, Dr. Carla Harwell, Dr. Robert Haynie, and Dr. Sonja Haywood.
Among the topics to be discussed: causes and prevention of the virus, its impact on mental health and well-being, and its effects on children and education.
The forum starts at 6PM and will be carried on Zoom and the church’s Facebook page. Registration here is requested but not required.
• The BPACF Leadership program featuring LaRese Purnell, managing partner, CLE Consulting Firm; Vanessa L. Whiting, Esq., President, A.E.S. Management Corp; Dr. Charles Modlin, Surgeon, Cleveland Clinic, starts at 7PM. The guests will discuss the health, wealth and business impact of COVID-19 on the black community in Northeast Ohio. More info here.
• Democracy remains a challenge in Ohio. An online video forum tonight at 7PM addresses "Gerrymandering and Ohio". Participants include Michael Li, Brennan Center For Justice; Kathay Feng, National Redistricting Director, Common Cause US: and Jen Miller, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters-Ohio. Catherine Turcer, Executive Director of Common Cause Ohio will moderate. RSVP HERE.
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