The Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy (Discovery) charter school community presented a huge $36 million Valentine to the families of Kenner and Jefferson Parish by breaking ground on construction of a new high school made possible by a partnership between its dedicated school family and the leaders at Jefferson Parish Public Schools.

CEO Dr. Patty Glaser joined Jefferson Parish Public School System Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley, the Friends of Discovery Board of Directors and Jefferson Parish community and civic leaders turned shovels at a site near Kenner City Park Pavilion, as the Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy Band and students cheered them on.

Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy (Discovery) is growing their current music program and is raising money to buy instruments, music, and basic equipment for orchestra and band classes.  Students are collecting pairs of gently worn, used or new shoes to support micro-enterprise vendors in developing nations. Micro-enterprises are small businesses in developing nations that are typically operated by one person or family and friends.

Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy (Discovery) announced today the school earned an academic “A” rating for the 2015-2016 school year from the Louisiana Department of Education. This is the second consecutive year the school earned the high academic rating. Discovery is a Type 1 public charter school in Jefferson Parish, which does not require testing for admission. 

This academic accomplishment is remarkable since Discovery has had an at-risk preference for admissions for 2 consecutive years. A student is considered at-risk if they are eligible for free and reduced lunch, identified as special education, or reads 2 grades below grade level. Discovery has made great progress over the last 2 years to reach at-risk enrollment goals. Discovery currently has a student body comprised of 74% at-risk students. 

Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy (“Discovery”) has reason to celebrate because its students read more than 2,074,424 minutes this summer, ranking Discovery #14 in the world and #1 in Louisiana for the 2015 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. This is the second year Discovery placed #1 in the state. The school will be listed in the 2016 Scholastic Book of World Records and will receive a special personalized plaque to commemorate the students’ summer reading achievements. This summer, children from across all 50 states and 28 countries read 286,611,349 million minutes in Scholastic’s 9th annual summer reading program.

This free, global summer reading program, created by Scholastic and powered by Energizer®, encourages children worldwide to “Power Up & Read” and to log the minutes they spend reading in order to unlock 12 original stories written by favorite children’s authors and earn digital rewards for reading milestones.  The program aims to avoid the effects of the “summer slide” – the learning losses which can occur when school is not in session.