K12 Chairman and CEO Nate Davis on National School Choice Week

By: Nate Davis
This post first ran on ThinkTank12 on Friday, January 31st, 2014. 
On Monday January 27th, I joined eight remarkable students and a dedicated group of teachers, parents and school leaders from the Newark (NJ) Prep Charter School to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange and kick-off a nationwide bell-ringing celebration in support of school choice. We were also joined by representatives from National School Choice Week and parent leaders from PublicSchoolOptions.org.
You can watch the bell ringing ceremony here.
National School Choice Week is America’s largest-ever series of education-related events, focusing on expanding education options for all children. Events stretched from New York City to California and spotlighted the importance of having choices in education and empowering parents with the freedom to decide on the school best suited for their children.
Watching the Newark Prep students ring the opening bell was exciting, but I especially enjoyed talking with the students and listening to their powerful stories about why school choice matters to them and their future success.
Support for school choice exists across the political spectrum and is rooted in the firm belief that parents know their children best – on this there is no division. At K12, we work hard to put students first and we know parents are putting their children first every day. We respect parent choice in education because we firmly believe that children can succeed when placed in a supportive environment that suits their individual needs.
Not to be overlooked is how school choice positively impacts many thousands of teachers across the country, providing them new opportunities and exciting ways to teach kids. Some of the strongest advocates for education options are professional educators who freely choose to work in schools of choice, and passionately defend the right of parents to exercise educational choice for their children. (One such educator is Dr. Cherie Ichinose who recently wrote a piece in Education Week about her experiences teaching at K12). K12 is a company of educators. We are proud of what we have done to provide new jobs and opportunities to thousands of high quality teachers across the country.
K12 is committed to increasing education options to families, from online and blended charter schools, to innovative digital learning programs offered through school districts nationwide. We believe our children are the leaders of tomorrow and therefore we must do everything we can to give them the best education possible today. A critical element to achieve this goal is expanding school choice for all families.

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Students and teachers from Newark Prep are joined by representatives from K12 and National School Choice Week to ring the opening bell at NY Stock Exchange.
Students and teachers from Newark Prep are joined by representatives from K12 and National School Choice Week to ring the opening bell at NY Stock Exchange. Newark Prep students cheer after ringing the opening bell to start National School Choice Week 2014.
Newark Prep students cheer after ringing the opening bell to start National School Choice Week 2014. Click to view full size.

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Newark Prep students cheer after ringing the opening bell to start National School Choice Week 2014.
 
Mr. Nate Davis, CEO and Chairman of the Board of K¹² , received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in engineering computer science at the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.
 
K12Inc is a Getting Smart Advocacy Partner. 

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