Ben Franklin High School celebrates Gateway Program

Benjamin Franklin High School has always represented the spirit of excellence.  Through the Gateway Program BFHS reaches beyond its own campus, offering any Orleans Parish 8th grader a gateway to math success.  The celebration will take place Saturday, February 11, 2017, at 11:00 AM in the cafeteria of Ben Franklin High School.
 
Using the Khan Academy platform and in sessions held on eighteen Saturday mornings throughout the year, Ben Franklin teachers and other local teachers work with 8th graders from 19 different middle schools to prepare all for the rigors of high school math.  The program was piloted in the 2014-2015 academic year with students form three schools and expanded this year to include students from Alice M. Harte Charter School, Arise Academy, Arthur Ashe Charter School, Audubon Charter School, Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, Delores T. Aaron Academy, Esperanza Charter School, Gentilly Terrace Charter School, Harriet Tubman Charter School, International School of Louisiana, Lafayette Academy, Lake Castle School, Lake Forest Charter School, Langston Hughes Academy, Pierre A. Capdau Charter School, Samuel J. Green Charter School, SciTech Academy, Success Preparatory Academy, and Wheatly School.  Eighth graders are welcome, regardless of where they plan to go to high school.

This program has been generously funded by grants from Capital One Bank for $15,000; Pro Bono Publico Foundation for $15,000; Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation - $13,510; G.P.O.A. Foundation - $5,000; Freeport McMoRan - $4,992; Michael & Sharon Lester, current parents of Jonathon Lester ’18 - $5,000; and Entergy - $1,000.  The program was recently awarded $3,750 from the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools for the Community Roots Award.
 
February 11th will be a celebration for the success of the 8th grade students and the generosity of the Franklin donors to this program.
 
For more information and to arrange interviews and coverage, contact Christy Read.
 
About Benjamin Franklin High School
 Benjamin Franklin High School, New Orleans’ most outstanding public charter school, has been preparing students for success through academic achievement since it was founded in 1957. Consistently ranked as a “top public high school in the nation” by U.S. News and World Report, Newsweek, and Business Week, Franklin has received the highest School Performance Score in Louisiana, making it the #1 public school in the state, year after year.  Franklin is repeatedly named a National Blue Ribbon School, producing Presidential and National Merit Scholars each year.  The exceptional students, faculty and staff of Benjamin Franklin High School are the best and the brightest of New Orleans. For more information, visit bfhsla.org.