Great Hearts Northern Oaks held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 8, 2015 in the multipurpose room of the campus located at 17223 Jones-Maltsberger Rd., San Antonio, TX 78247.
District 10 City Councilman Mike Gallagher welcomed the new charter school to the rapidly-growing north side of San Antonio. Gallagher assured guests that traffic improvement are coming.
Mayor Ivy Taylor (campaign site) is herself a charter school parent; she praised Great Hearts for educating the next generation of leaders who will help San Antonio grow.
Dr. Dan Scoggin, co-founder of Great Hearts Academies and CEO of Great Hearts Texas, shared his excitement about the campus construction, which will continue over the next few years with the addition of a high school building, a gymnasium, and athletic fields.
David Williams, Executive Director of Great Hearts San Antonio, spoke at length about the school’s mission: offering a free public education in the classical tradition. A Great Hearts education helps students develop a wonder and curiosity about the world. As students progress, they read the great books and engage in respectful, meaningful discussions with their peers. The school culture creates balanced gentleman-scholar-athletes and lady-scholar-athletes.
Also attending: Ken Mercer, representing District 5 on the State Board of Education, and Bexar County District Attorney Nicolas LaHood (campaign site).
The Jefferson Bank Library is ready to hold books. Steve Lewis, chairman of the board at Jefferson Bank, shared his enthusiasm for the expansion of Great Hearts in San Antonio. Lewis is also a board member of Choose to Succeed, a nonprofit with a mission to help charter school networks like Great Hearts to rapidly grow the number of seats available for San Antonio students to attend high-performing charter schools.
Great Hearts Northern Oaks opened on August 17, 2015, serving grades K-7. Families may apply online for the 2015-16 school year, although waiting lists have already formed. In addition to Great Hearts Northern Oaks, there are currently two other Great Hearts campuses in Texas: Great Hearts Irving, in North Texas, which also opened in August 2015, and Great Hearts Monte Vista, closer to downtown San Antonio, which opened in 2014 and now serves grades K-10. Great Hearts San Antonio plans to open an additional campus in 2017—location yet to be determined—and eventually grow to a network of six campuses serving grades K-12.
