Congressman Congratulates Academy Partnership on $473,852 Award

MONDAY, September 30, 2002  — U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers announced today that the Charyl Stockwell  Academy in Howell, along with the Livingston Technical Academy and Grand Traverse Academy, is being awarded a $473,852 U.S. Department of Education grant for the first year of a four-year project to plan, design and test a comprehensive character education program.

 The project, authorized under the “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001, will develop a program applicable to schools across the nation. Charyl Stockwell Academy leaders headed up the grant application process, seeking funds for the program to help create schools that are free of discipline problems.

“Educators and parents across America are looking for ways to make classrooms more learning-focused,” Rogers said. “Congratulations to these academies as they come together to pool resources and expertise in an effort to create classrooms that teach children to practice good study habits and better interpersonal skills.  This grant program is highly competitive and receiving this major grant of nearly half a million dollars is a remarkable achievement.”

Chuck Stockwell, founder of Charyl Stockwell Academy and CEO of Smart Schools Management in Brighton, said the three public school academies managed by his organization are a natural foundation for creating the model educational curriculum.

“Character is something we stress in all our schools,” Stockwell said. “We focus on teaching students in many different ways how to make appropriate choices and we integrate choice into our lessons and the regular procedures and routines of the daily schedule.”

In addition to the leadership of the three public academies, expertise for the project will come from the Michigan State University researcher who published the original effective schools research, Dr. Larry Lezotte, author of “Learning for All;” Dr. William Glasser, world renowned psychiatrist, creator of “Choice Theory Psychology” and author of “The Quality School,” a book based on Deming’s quality management principles shaped especially for schools; and Dr. Matthew Burns from the Michigan Center for Assessment and Education Data at Central Michigan University. Burns will maintain the scientific research on the project.

“Clearly, the schools involved in this project have drawn together a highly respected team to develop a program that will serve the children of Michigan and eventually our entire nation,” Congressman Rogers said. “It is exciting to see an idea initiated here in Livingston County, Michigan that could touch the nation for generations to come.”