Author Ian Rowe to Share Lessons from the South Bronx during School Choice Week

Evening with Rowe to discuss educational leadership, power of student agency

CHICAGO, Jan. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — In the wake of Chicago officials’ conversations about eliminating selective enrollment and magnet schools, a School Choice Week event with author and educator Ian Rowe next week will send an important message about the positive difference school choice makes for students’ futures. Drawing on Rowe’s firsthand experience as an educational leader, “The Power of Agency: Lessons in Transformation from the South Bronx” will highlight the pressing need for choice in Illinois.

The evening discussion will be held on Monday, Jan. 22, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Hosted by New Trier Neighbors, the event will feature a discussion and audience Q&A, followed by a networking opportunity and light refreshments for attendees.

The highlight of the event will be an inspiring conversation between Rowe, a leading voice in the school choice movement, and Ted Dabrowski, president of Wirepoints and board member of New Trier Neighbors. Rowe will be interviewed on upward mobility in education, the school choice landscape in Chicago, and the connection between choice and personal agency. Rowe will draw on his firsthand experience in starting up charters in the South Bronx, as well as his inspiring book “Agency.” They will then be joined by individuals on the ground active in innovative private school models in Illinois including Cristo Rey Network schools and hybrid school Classical Consortium Academy.

Community members will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in open conversation with Rowe and the panelists.

Rowe’s experience in education includes serving as CEO of Public Prep, a nonprofit network of public charter schools; cofounding Vertex Partnership Academies, a network of character-based International Baccalaureate high schools inaugurated in the Bronx in 2022; and cofounding the National Summer School Initiative.

Pre-registration is required, and details can be found at schoolchoiceweek.com/events/chicago-town-hall-community-event-2024.

“The past few years have dramatically underscored the increasing need for school choice options as many have realized their local schools are simply not the best fit for their children. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to hear from Mr. Rowe this School Choice Week to highlight that having more high quality, innovative school choice options benefits kids,” said Beth Feeley, President of New Trier Neighbors.

New Trier Neighbors is a community organization founded by residents of New Trier Township to promote the ideas of common sense, free enterprise and the Golden Rule.    

The evening discussion is open to the press and timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (NSCW), which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states to raise equal and positive awareness of the traditional public, public charter, public magnet, private, online, and home education options available for families. Nearly 1,000 of these celebrations will take place in Illinois.

Loyola Academy is located at 1100 Laramie Ave. in Wilmette. The event will take place in the auditorium.

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and homeschooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

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SOURCE National School Choice Week