Schaeffler is a former public school teacher who is the founder and CEO of DC KIPP, a group of four academically successful charter schools that are publicly funded and privately operated, and serve more than 800 low-income students in Washington.
Why did you decide to start a charter school?
I taught in the public schools for nine years and I realized as time went on, I was having a hard time really making a bigger impact on the larger community and I was also noticing there were really great teachers in a dysfunctional school system.
What was the idea behind the KIPP schools?
I really thought there was an opportunity to create a school of teachers that had a “whatever it takes” attitude and who really embraced excellence, and then I would really encourage them to go the extra mile. I felt like there was an opportunity to attract high-performing teachers to one building — a whole school of high-performance teachers in one facility.
How do you account for the success of the school?
The key to success is just positive energy and a really strong school culture. The principals were all teachers who have taught at KIPP and they are sympathetic to the challenges of teaching and how hard it is.
We also have an extended day, and that really does allow us to do a little bit of everything and not be forced to cut things out of our program because of time.
What is the biggest challenge running four charter schools?
Our greatest challenge is helping kids. Our kids come to us sometimes two and three years behind where they should be. Another challenge is making sure the funding is equitable between the public schools and our schools, especially in this economy. We don’t receive any additional funding for the extended [teaching] day and we spend time trying to raise money to pay for the extended day.
– Susan Ferrechio
