School’s in session at Essence Prep, a school founded to center San Antonio’s Black children. But this day almost didn’t happen.
Last month a new charter school opened on San Antonio’s East Side. Essence Preparatory Public School was founded with a specific mission: to serve the Black and brown children that the public school system was consistently failing, developing those children into leaders for their community.
But as Essence Prep made its way throughTexas’s charter approval process, they were drawn into the state’s battle over how race and history is taught in public schools. The school was even forced to update their charter application, with state authorities saying that they used the words “Black” and “brown” too many times. They lost months of preparation and a multi-million-dollar bond deal. And they accrued thousands of dollars in legal fees along the way.
But through it all, Essence Prep made it to opening day, and Into America was there. This week we take you along for the ride – the highs and lows that founder Akeem Brown traversed to get to this point, as well as the voices of the students, teachers, and parents that make up the community Essence Prep was founded to serve.
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