Pastors Allan Sherer and Windell Rodgers believe they have the answer when it comes to helping low-income students avoid low achievement and trouble: The Judson School.
The new private school is located in the Judson Mill neighborhood, where 76% of households live below the federal poverty line. The school will open Sept. 5 at Greater Mount Calvary Baptist Church, where Rodgers pastors. It will initially have about 20 K3 and K4 students.
But within just three years, Sherer and Rodgers expect to serve about 120 students through the fifth grade.
Sherer said the student-to-teacher ratio should be between 12-to-1 and 15-to-1.
The school is funded in part through community stakeholders, churches, businesses and individual philanthropists, but there will also be a “pay what you can afford” tuition model for families. There’s already growing support in the Upstate for opening similar schools, according to Sherer and Rodgers, and the South Carolina Legislature could pass an education savings bill that will provide vouchers for private schools.
“We have to give children an alternative to what they’re given,” Rodgers said.
The goal is to steer clear of an overreliance on test scores and instead build a holistic program that incorporates more Christian themes, with programs specifically designed for students in lower-income neighborhoods, Sherer said.
“We want to flip the script and provide the most excellent education possible,” he said. “All the research shows it’s make or break at the earliest ages.”
The Judson School values:
- Intrinsic value.
- Community and culture.
- The whole child.
- Individual needs.
- Exceptional education.
- Collaboration.
