GEMS

Oct. 20, 2024

• College Access Night will take place on October 22 from 430-8:00pm at The Charles School at Ohio Dominican. This event is for students in grades 6-12. It includes an international dinner, and information from experts on Financial Aid, graduation pathways, career technical education, and much more!
• Middle School Students have an opportunity to attend the fall dance. The fall dance is on Wednesday, October 23 from 6 to 8. Students must have an 85% Kickboard positivity rating to be invited to attend. The cost is $2 and paid at the door.
• Join us on October 29, 2024, from 6-8 for our Trunk or Treat Event- we are looking for candy donations as well as those who may want to volunteer to pass out treats from their trunk. Information has been shared with families. If you have not received information, please feel free to reach out
• Monday, October 21 & Wednesday, October 23- 3rd Grade with participate in Ohio State Testing- please ensure your students are at school and ready to do their very best
• There is no school this Thursday and Friday for students. These days are professional development days for staff
• Please continue to remind your students of our 5 school-wide expectations:
• We always walk in the building
• We keep our hands, body, and objects to ourselves
• We stay where we are supposed to be
• We put our phones and electronics away during the school day- we are a cell phone and earbud-free building from 830am to 315pm
• We communicate using school-appropriate language
• Thank you for your continued partnership as we continue to grow and develop our school community

• All 3 schools achieved a performance index of achievement that meets or exceeds the requirements that Ohio considers when determining high quality schools.
• TCS was able to meet the High Quality Charter School funding requirements for the second year in a row and GEMS was able to meet these requirements for the first of two years for qualification. 
• TGS has met one requirement (performance index) and aims to continue working towards the progress score needed to meet the first year of qualification for High Quality funding. 
• GEMS & TCS achieved an Overall Rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars. They achieved 4 stars out of 5 stars in Progress.
• TGS maintained steady scores with overall improvements to the Performance Index and more than doubled their percentages for helping students to be “Prepared for Success” as determined by the state report card.
• TGS achieved a 4-year graduation rate of 85.4% and a 5-year graduation rate of 90%.
• TCS more than doubled their Prepared for Success percentage and scored over 60% in their Performance Index for the 2nd year in a row
• GEMS received an improved Early Literacy rating that almost tripled their improvement rate from last year while continuing to Close the Gap, a 3-year track of progress in this area. 

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.