Houston-area charter system to add its first-ever elementary schools

Yes Prep Public Schools, a Houston-based system of public charter schools, is opening its first elementary schools in fall 2020.

Yes Prep will open two elementary schools adjacent to its North Central and Southeast campuses, at 1900 Strawn Road and 507 Crenshaw Road, respectively. Michelle LaFlure, a principal at North Central’s secondary school, will lead North Central Elementary School, and Diana Rios will lead Southeast Campus Elementary School.

Beth Carlson-Young, head of elementary schools with Yes Prep, said that the system is expanding to elementary schools as part of its mission to create college-ready children. Even the youngest students need to be college-ready, she said.

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Beth Carlson-Young is the head of elementary schools for Yes Prep Public Schools.

YES PREP COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

“We want to do this right,” Carlson-Young said. “There’s so many different moving pieces of it to making sure we have rigorous curriculum that will also meet our kids where they are.”

That includes choosing teachers who are aligned with Yes Prep’s mission and choosing principals who “inspire and hold teachers accountable.”

“These two principals (LaFlure and Rios), I think, really are an amazing combination. They believe, and so do I, that their diverse skills will make better schools for our kids,” Carlson-Young said.

The schools will be 74,000 square feet each and will have 42 classrooms apiece. Together, they will have 34 teachers and 24 staff members. During their first year, the schools will serve students in kindergarten through second grade and will later add Pre-K and third, fourth and fifth grades. The schools have capacity for 125 students per grade.

By 2025, Yes Prep expects to have 10,000 elementary students over 10 total schools. Yes Prep plans to add two new elementary schools a year over the next five years, but there are no details yet on where those schools will be.

As the schools expand grade levels, Yes Prep also will add extracurriculars, including fine arts, STEM and a bilingual program, where Spanish-language students will learn to become fluent in both English and in academic Spanish.

Should Yes Prep receive more applicants than slots available, students will be admitted to the schools through a random lottery. The lottery for the elementary schools opens Nov. 1.