Winfree Academy Welcomes TCSA

(DALLAS) – Texas Charter School Association Executive Director, David Dunn and Member Services Associate Erin Tholen visited the newest Winfree Charter School Campus on Tuesday December 8th, 2015. This is Dunn’s first visit to the South Dallas campus.

Winfree Academy is a free public school for grades 9-12 and has been in existence for over 15 years. The relocation to South Dallas is fairly new as this location has only been open a little over one year. After one full academic year, the Winfree Dallas Campus has grown significantly from 6 to 215 students and hasmore capacity for growth. “We serve a number of youth with 97% being at-risk of dropping out of school. We see our learners as At-Promise, so we’ve worked hard to establish a great community where our students have developed a high level of trust with their teachers and fellow classmates,” says Principal Brad Landis. “That is what makes this place unique.”

Tuesday’s visit highlighted student jobs, student appreciation events, and current/future graduates. Dunn walked the halls and greeted the staff and students along with Winfree Superintendent Brandy Schott, Region 10 Teacher of the Year Lekesha McGuire, and Executive Director of Compliance Deirdre Staples. “We are always honored and grateful for David Dunn and TCSA to visit Winfree Academy,” says Superintendent Schott.

With December being a busy month at Winfree, the TCSA visitors were unable to experience some of the normal activities of the campus. However, the halls were lined with various displays of events that students participated in during this school year. For example, students participate in Community every week, which allows them to engage, discuss, and develop networking opportunities in the local job force.   Some of these leads were displayed on the Job Openings board. TCSA visitors were also able to view photos and personalized notecards from the “Hot Diggity Dog” Student Appreciation Event held last month.

This marks the second visit this year from TCSA to Winfree. Director of Advocacy, Martha Fernandez visited Winfree Grand Prairie in September earlier this year. Dunn and his associates visit their member schools in efforts to remain current with the needs of Texas charter schools and how TCSA can better serve them. Dunn will be visiting other North Texas Charters through the end of the week.