This is the story about two boys.  It’s not a spreadsheet crammed with numbers and statistics. It’s not a propaganda report selling an agenda. It’s just a story about two boys and their triumph over numbers and statistics.

Once upon a time in the small village of Lansing, there were two brothers who were so different, no one even knew they were related.  Elder son was a giant over 6 feet tall who, despite his strength and grand size, did not enjoy sports.  He was gentle and sensitive.  He liked to hold soft critters and sit in the woods, listening to the quiet song of the forest.  Second son was more concentrated and compact, like a firecracker. He loved to perform plays and sword fight.  His heart wheeled free and his passion for life was contagious.

They were enrolled at The Best School, but with the turn of each year, elder son became more despondent, more melancholy.  Second son would start each year full of hopeful fire and, somehow,  get lost and alone in the second half.   Elder son would determine the class curve in Mathematics… Second son could draw and write with such creative prowess, colors changed at his command!  But, their grades sank somewhere between ambivalence and mediocrity, with the occasional nose dive into abandonment and despair.  The Tests showed all was well. The Tests determined they were on the Right Track. The Tests proved everything was as it should be. Yet, they would beg to stay home. Elder son would make himself physically sick with anxiety. He would close his door and cry. Second son would panic and isolate himself or lash out; scorching the walls with his ire. He learned to lie.

When the High School Fairy Counselor suggested a special, different place for Elder son… he did not hesitate.  Elder son, with a mature reservation, shadowed this special, different place and was embraced wholly, without discrimination or judgment. The students were kind and accepting. The teachers were vibrant and professional. The staff was effusive and diligently impassioned to cultivate each child’s unique success story.  At this special, different place, Elder son grew taller and shown brighter than ever under the nurturing attentiveness of its mentor staff.  So much did Elder son enjoy his new experience that Second son did not hesitate to enroll when he graduated his last year of Middle School.

Both sons have far surpassed any expectation set for their education.  They continue to excel according to The Tests, but their grades have never been higher. They complete assignments. They never beg to stay home. Elder son has friends. He is an Ultimate Frisbee Champion. He is a farmer and scientist. He is a math tutor. He is College Preparatory!  Second son is a chef and patissier . He is a kiln builder. He is an artist. He is a poet. He is a speaker of Spanish.  He loves school.

That would be enough for many promising hearts. That would be the end of this tale.

But, for some…. they want more. They have a powerful ache to see their child at his or her absolute happiest.  There is a drive within them to recapture a lost joy for learning and experiencing new things that they lost somewhere down their own lonely path.  For those aspiring hopefuls who hunger for something enormous out of life, there is a special, different place.  It’s called New Roots Charter School!

Legend has it, in fact, that on one balmy spring time Monday when there was no school in session… both Elder and Second son could still be found voluntarily roaming the halls of New Roots with their teachers and friends.

What a tall tale, you say?... And this is but the beginning of their story!
 
Jill Sommers-Scholl
Lansing

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