8-31-2009 Volunteers of America-Minnesota Announces Charter School Network Excellence Awards
DATE:
August 31, 2009
CONTACT:
Katie Piehl
Director, Charter School Authorizing Program
Volunteers of America-Minnesota
Office 612-201-0292, Email kpiehl@voamn.org
Volunteers of America-Minnesota Announces Charter School Network Excellence Awards
(Minneapolis, August 31)—Volunteers of America-Minnesota is pleased to announce Global Academy, TrekNorth Junior and Senior High, and Metro Deaf School-North Star Academy as recipients of the “Volunteers of America Charter School Network Excellence Awards.” The awards, given for the first time in 2009, honor Volunteers of America authorized charter schools that have demonstrated strength in the areas of educational programming, financial management and oversight, and school board governance.
Global Academy, which opened its doors in Columbia Heights in fall 2008, is the winner of the “Excellence in Educational Learning Program Award.” The school’s innovative approach includes offering Arabic language courses, employing a positive behavior program, and utilizing the acclaimed International Baccalaureate curriculum in its classrooms. The school’s MCA-II exam scores placed it among the top ten public schools serving high-need populations.
TrekNorth Junior and Senior High School, located in Bemidji, is the winner of the “Excellence in Financial Management and Oversight Award” and supports its nationally recognized educational program by ensuring solid management of school resources. TrekNorth consistently wins the Minnesota Department of Education’s School Finance Award and has systems in place to ensure transparent and thoughtful financial decision-making and oversight.
Metro Deaf School-North Star Academy, located in St. Paul, is the winner of the “Excellence in School Board Governance Award” and offers students who are deaf or hard of hearing a unique and rigorous learning environment. The school boards successfully navigated the complex task of merging two schools (formerly Metro Deaf School and Minnesota North Star Academy) into one, and in the process demonstrated a stalwart commitment to the vision of creating a quality pre-k through 12+ educational program for the deaf/hard of hearing community of Minnesota.
The Volunteers of America–Minnesota Charter School Authorizing Program works with schools of the highest quality whose mission and purposes are aligned with those of our organization. Through our Charter School Network we maintain a community of schools, committed to excellence, that develop meaningful professional relationships with each other through common experiences and collaboration. For more information, visit www.voamncharters.org.
About Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America - Minnesota is a nonprofit organization founded in 1896 which offers a wide variety of services to more than 27,000 children, adolescents and their families, students, older adults, persons with disabilities and special needs, and ex-offenders each year. It is one of the oldest, largest and most comprehensive human service organizations in the state and has more than 60 programs, 900 employees and 4,000 volunteers. Volunteers of America has a rich history of developing innovative, quality programs to meet emerging social issues and prides itself on sponsoring programs which are able to articulate explicitly the outcomes achieved in its program participants' lives. For more information about Volunteers of America of Minnesota, visit www.voamn.org, or call (952) 945-4000.
###