The School:
TGS is a public community secondary school with a charter granted by the State of Ohio. Open to Ohio students in grades 9-12, the school's main focus is experiential education in a small-school setting where all students are known by all staff members. The Graham School serves approximately 250 students annually. Its demographic characteristics reflect those of urban Columbus and Central Ohio.
Mission:
The Graham School will forge powerful relationships among staff and students, and support each member in social and emotional development, experiential learning opportunities, and collaborative academic learning, while encouraging career exploration which empowers graduates to thrive in their personal and professional lives.
Vision Statement:
The Graham School strives to be a unique collective of learners. We cultivate ownership of our educational journeys to develop strong hearts and minds. We purposefully build lives that positively impact our communities.
Core Values:
At Graham...
- We are a safe, positive school climate
- We solve problems together in a peaceful, restorative way
- We embrace diversity
- We reflect on our experiences in order to gain fresh perspective and inform future outcomes
- We encourage a growth mindset for students and staff
- We believe that learning is a priority and time spent in class and community is essential
- We use these Habits of Learning as foundational principles --Adventure & Risk, Perseverance, Self-Direction, Service & Stewardship, and Teamwork & Collaboration
- We believe that cultivating these habits has a profound impact on student achievement and the ability to thrive, both in school and beyond
- We create belonging within our school and honor our connection to the world community
- We celebrate an open mind, an open heart and an open hand
- We are CREW, not passengers
Habits of Learning
Self-Direction: We are dedicated to the learning process and set goals for our learning and behavior. We take ownership of our work and our actions; take initiative when we are supposed to, and especially when there is no one looking. We strive for mastery and expertise through the process of revision and pride in craftsmanship, ultimately seeking to become artisans.
Perseverance:
We never give up. We work hard and keep trying, even and especially when it gets tough. We recognize when we need help and elicit it. We are resourceful and work to solve problems creatively. We understand that some things are going to be hard- yet we persist to achieve more than we thought we could. We can adapt to challenges, remaining diligent and establishing a network of social and academic supports. We continue to revise our work until expectations are met or exceeded.
Teamwork & Collaboration: “We are crew, not passengers.” We work together to meet our goals, supporting each other through the journey. We celebrate each other’s successes and problem solve, when necessary. We are a team. We hold each other accountable for our actions, goals, and achievements. We cultivate relationships to enhance and strengthen bonds of commitment to our community.
Service & Stewardship: We “get smart to do good” in our community. We see service not as an isolated action, but as a way of being a member of a community. We take responsibility for our community and the environment around us by caring for each other and our surroundings. Our campus reflects our talents, creativity, and commitment to maintaining beautiful spaces. We think about how our words and actions affect the people around us; work to be kind and considerate to others; and seek to understand and relate to diverse perspectives.
Adventure & Risk: We honor and model our school motto, “Encounter the World and Engage the Mind” by pursuing challenges and opportunities outside of our comfort zone that allow us to grow. We are courageous, passionate, and attentive to our self-discovery. We understand that there are many routes to knowledge and realize that failure along the journey is essential to learning. We believe that success without the experience of adversity brings only a limited sense of accomplishment.
The Graham Family of Schools welcomes our new Co-Superintendents
The Graham Family of Schools (TGFS) is pleased to welcome Co-Superintendents Ed Ingman and James Kutnow as our new leaders for the 2024-2025 school year. Together they have been Assistant Superintendents since 2022. The Graham School, The Charles School at Ohio Dominican University and Graham Elementary and Middle School Founders, Eileen Meers and Greg Brown, officially passed the torch to their successors September 1, 2024.
Ed Ingman has been with TGFS since his arrival at The Graham School in 2003, fresh out of college, to teach high school science. In 2007 he joined the initial staff of The Charles School at Ohio Dominican University as a teacher, followed by a promotion to Dean in 2009. James Kutnow moved to Columbus to join The Graham School staff in 2007 as the Experiential Coordinator and was on the development team for Graham Elementary and Middle School, becoming its Dean in 2010. Ed and James subscribe to the values intrinsic to The Graham Family of Schools, and look forward to carrying these values forward expanding growth, achievement and prosperity for these schools which provide unique, rigorous, relational, safe and innovative public educational options to K-13 students in Central Ohio.
Eileen Meers and Greg Brown envisioned providing educational opportunities for students in Central Ohio that allowed them to experience the world with support and reflection before being released into our communities as expectant citizens. They also believed in a model of collaborative leadership that can be seen in all of our schools today.
In 2000, The Graham School (TGS) opened in Clintonville as one of the first public community schools in Ohio. It was founded in the belief that students needed the opportunity to own their learning, while encountering the world around them so that the education they received was focused on experiencing growth and knowledge both within and outside of the classroom. The school focuses on this experiential education in a small-school setting where all students are known by all staff members. In 2007, leadership from TGS expanded their vision by opening The Charles School at Ohio Dominican University (TCS@ODU), an early college high school in partnership with Middle College National Consortium and in 2010, Graham Elementary and Middle School (GEMS) in partnership with EL Education opened to serve students in grades K-8.
Eileen’s legacy of providing both the students and staff she worked with opportunities to grow, reflect and thrive has been one that pays forward and continues to inspire the work of The Graham Family of Schools and our community. Greg’s extensive experience in communication, leadership and education provided him with an authentic platform from which to collaborate and create learning environments that students and colleagues could learn and reflect from.
Ed and James are embracing their senior roles with TGFS and look forward to serving a diversity of Central Ohio students and families over many impactful years alongside their dedicated and well trained staff.