Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters Tours Comanche Academy

Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters to toured the Charter School’s new facilities on July 25 at the Dorothy Sunrise Lorentino Education Center.

 He said it’s one of the most unique schools in Oklahoma. Walters said he was able to meet with the faculty and staff.

“What I wanted to see is first of all, I wanted to see the secret of their success,” he said. “And I wanted to see what were the barriers and issues that they faced, and ‘How might we help other folks that want to start their own schools like this?’ ‘How can we help them get started?’ ‘How can we replicate the great work here?’ And I absolutely got to hear that from the leadership here today. Got to see how they were able to connect, how they were able to troubleshoot all their issues to make this really unique experience available for these kids. So, it was a great time, I learned a lot from them, and it's a great, unique school here in the state of Oklahoma, so we are very excited at what they're providing for the students here.”

Walters said the difference between the Comanche Charter School and other charter schools was the use of language and culture throughout their lesson plans.

“What they're able to do is teach Oklahoma academic standards very proficiently, but also teach their culture in a way that inspires these young people here to want to continue to be leaders in the world,” he said. “And it's very inspiring when you listen to the teachers here, you see how great these classes are for these young people, and they're very inspirational, and this is how you get the most out of young people. You inspire them, and they obviously do an incredible job with that here.”

Walters said the main takeaway is to duplicate what the charter is doing to teach the standards in Oklahoma in a way that inspires kids and connects with young people.

“In everything that they do, they're tying it back to the aspirational goals for our young people, and that's what we want to continue to do. They talked today about creating leaders for the future. That's what we want to see for our young people,” he said. “We want leaders for our state, we want leaders for our country. And so, one of my big takeaways is to make sure that when we're talking about standards, that we provide more examples like this, more curriculum that helps go beyond the standards to make sure that we're creating those leaders.”

Walters said charter schools are unique, and parents should have options in the state on where they send their kids.

“So, one of the things that my administration is trying to do is make sure that we have high-quality charter school options around the state, and that parents know about these options,” he said. “So, I love to be able to come visit schools, to be able to tell their story, and this is one of the most unique schools in the country. And so, to be able to let parents know, you have an option to send your kids here, and look at what they're doing, look at the results they're getting, look at how inspirational they are with young people. And so, my administration is going to continue to want high-quality charter schools in the state, and we love, love the idea of the cultural immersion that's going on in these schools, so we're going to continue to support that.”

Comanche Academy Charter School Principal Dava Fratello said his team wanted to stop by, and it was incredible to have the administration reach out.

“They said that they had heard great things about Comanche Academy, and they wanted to stop by and meet everyone, and get to know a little bit more about what we're doing here,” she said.

Fratello said it was important for Walters to visit to show the support the school has.

“Opening up this charter school and all of the trials we've been through has not been easy,” she said. “But we have, from the beginning until now, a team of passionate, vision-minded people, and we're excited to also have the support of the Comanche Nation, so having the support from the State Department to our tribe and our community is a huge deal for us.”

Fratello said the charter school is preparing for the school year and is currently in the process of renovations.

“And we're just real excited to get our kids back in the doors and meet our new families,” she said.

Fratello said the school looks forward to growing and meeting the community's needs.

“We are a public school, so anyone can attend, but almost all of our students are from Comanche families and households,” she said. “And we're excited to offer them a different kind of education that is focused on the whole child and centered around our Comanche language and culture, so we're excited to meet those needs.”

Fratello said parents still have time to enroll their students for the upcoming school year.

The charter school is the only tribally funded charter school in the United States.