Lake Forest Charter School

ONE OF THE TOP PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS IN NEW ORLEANS EAST OFFERS AN INTEGRATED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE.

Lake Forest Charter School, which previously operated as Lake Forest Montessori School, was granted its public charter for grades grades K-8 in January 2006. After seeing her neighborhood and her prior school devastated by Hurricane Katrina, founding CEO Mardele S. Early was determined to open a school in New Orleans East as soon as possible — and Lake Forest Charter School was the first public school to open in the area. In January 2016, Lake Forest relocated from a small, outdated facility to a new state-of-the-art campus on the southwest corner of Lake Forest Boulevard and Wright Road.

Lake Forest Charter emphasizes the creative arts and health and wellness as a way to develop complete young adults who are prepared for the 21st century.

“Students who are solely focused on academics are not being properly prepared to compete with their counterparts,” Early says. “The secondary and collegiate educational experience is no longer segregated to the classroom. As our world continues to shrink, and global competition and collaboration becomes the norm, we must introduce our students to forms of enrichment that allow them to converse and interact on multiple levels.”

Lake Forest Charter also places importance on community service and active parental involvement. In so doing, the aim is to educate and raise socially conscious and communityminded children and young adults.

“When we introduce Lake Forest Charter to our new parents and families, we make sure to emphasize how important they are to this process,” Early says. “Education and knowledge will help a child to change his or her situation, but community involvement will help a person to change the world. At Lake Forest, not only do we want to make a difference in each of our student’s lives, we are committed to producing the next generation of innova

tors, entrepreneurs and global influencers.”

Lake Forest Charter currently has a student population of 660, with a teacher-to-student ratio of 20:1. Students are exposed to an accelerated curriculum — one that Early says is not easily mastered, but which challenges both teachers and students to become the best version of themselves. Students are taught to embrace education and strive to succeed in every aspect of life through research-based strategies, differentiated and individualized instruction, community service, a strong creative arts component, and unwavering parental and community support.

Technological advancement also plays a key role at Lake Forest Charter. For example, touch-screen Promethean boards encourage interactive learning via experimentation and group project assignments that introduce collaboration and problem-solving to students. Lake Forest Charter also offers science and arts classes based on the STEM model, and the school’s yearly science fair pushes students to explore STEM ideas and concepts.

Other extracurricular activities include music, photography, chess, etiquette, drama, art, creative writing, reading clubs and sports (volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, flag football and cross country). A gymnasium with a curtained stage and a performance room play host to musical ensembles, and a new Outdoor Recreation Complex is currently in the works that will expose students and the community to other sports like golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis and swimming.

According to Early, Lake Forest Charter is an Arated school and the highest performing K-8 school in the state. Honors include national and state recognition as a 2013 National Blue Ribbon School for consistent high student performance, National Title 1 Distinguished School for 2009 and 2015 and the 2010 Louisiana School Character Education Award granted by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center.

“Additionally, every year many of our seventh-grade students are inducted into the Duke University Talent Identification Program,” Early says. “The students score 800 or above on the LEAP test, which is the 95th percentile in Duke’s Talent Search Program.”