Press Releases

Leadership Public Schools Receives $1 Million to Build Network of California Charter Schools
Contribution from Gap Inc. Founders' Pisces Foundation supports Bay Area school growth

San Francisco , CA – August 1, 2005 – Leadership Public Schools (LPS), a not-for-profit network of outstanding charter high schools, has received $1 million from the Pisces Foundation for general operation support. This commitment allows LPS to continue creating a network of high-quality college preparatory opportunities for ethnic and economically diverse Northern California communities.

“This continuing financial contribution by the Pisces Foundation to LPS is critical to our serving thousands of low-income students in California ,” said Mark Kushner, founder and CEO of Leadership Public Schools. “Pisces has supported LPS from the beginning, and our relationship is grounded in the vision that charter schools can serve as valuable learning centers for students and important partners for districts.”

Founded in 2002, Leadership Public Schools is dedicated to improving public education in California – especially among some of the state's most underserved neighborhoods – by creating a sustainable system of new public charter high schools. Its first two schools, LPS-Richmond and LPS-East San Jose, serve more than 550 students; two new schools open in Oakland and Hayward in fall 2005, and two other charters are already approved for opening in fall 2006. Each LPS school emphasizes small, personalized learning environments and rigorous curriculum designed to develop leadership skills and prepare every student for college.

“LPS is a leader in the charter movement,” said Anuja Master Bose, Managing Director of the Pisces Foundation and a Leadership board member. “Their mission of creating a network of schools serving under-resourced communities is the right kind of focus on the right audience.”

Pisces Foundation aims to help educationally disadvantaged students gain the academic knowledge and skills required for an unfettered pursuit of opportunity in America . The Foundation makes large, strategic investments in a small number of organizations nationwide whose products or services bolster student academic achievement, foster choice and competition in schooling, or otherwise expand the public's ability to provide a high quality education to all students. The Foundation makes grants or program-related investments in organizations or companies with a compelling and effective product or service that is consistent with its mission and that has measurable performance objectives, exceptional management, and a sustainable economic model .

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ABOUT LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Leadership Public Schools (LPS) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2002 to serve diverse students throughout California with a network of outstanding charter high schools.  LPS's vision is that all students - regardless of background, ethnicity, or neighborhood - receive an excellent education that prepares them to succeed in college and improve their community.  LPS currently operates schools in Richmond and East San Jose .  In the fall of 2005, LPS will open additional schools in Oakland and Hayward .  Mark Kushner is founder and CEO of Leadership Public Schools.  He previously founded and was the founding principal at Leadership High School in San Francisco (a separate organization), the first start-up charter high school in California , and has been chair of the California Advisory Commission on Charter Schools from 2002-2005.  For more information, visit www.leadps.org .

ABOUT PISCES FOUNDATION

San Francisco-based Pisces Foundation, launched by Doris and Donald Fisher of the Gap in 1997, is the driving force behind the “Knowledge is Power Program” (KIPP) charter schools. KIPP National ( www.kipp.org ) recruits potential principals, trains them for a year, and assists them in launching new high-impact, high-poverty charter schools across the nation. Pisces Foundation is the leading private funder of Teach for America and also supports Greatschools.net, a California non-profit that gives parents up-to-date school comparisons online so they can compare student achievement (providing accessible and understandable information is key to helping parents make good choices when choices are available).

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Steven Gottlieb, Zeno Group (for Leadership Public Schools)
Phone: (510) 332-3857
Steven.Gottlieb@zenogroup.com

Chris Nelson, Pisces Foundation
Phone: (415) 433-7475
cnelson@piscesfoundation.org