For years, Wilson Willard was frustrated by the lack of minority students in advanced classes he taught at Robert E. Lucas Intermediate School in Sharonville. He decided to do something about it. He opened his own school for inner-city students.

Wilson Willard founded W.E.B. DuBois Academy in Over-the-Rhine after seeing few minorities in advanced classes. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        “Low-income students were being underserved, and I was tired of all the excuses why they weren't doing well,” said Mr. Willard, a graduate of Walnut Hills High School, a college-prep school in Cincinnati Public Schools.

        Mr. Willard says he wasn't a great student at Walnut Hills. He said educators let him slide through the system. He wanted to make a difference for inner-city students, and Ohio's charter school law passed in 1997 presented just the option.

        Mr. Willard, 32, is just one of the dozens of faces behind Ohio's movement to create charter schools.

        His school, W.E.B. DuBois Academy in Over-the-Rhine, opened in 2000. Of the 180 students enrolled at DuBois, 99 percent are African-American.

RACIAL BREAKDOWN

Racial breakdown of the 12 community schools open in Cincinnati in 2000-01 school year:   • Black: 90 percent.   • White: 8 percent.   • Other*: 2 percent.   *(Indian, Asian, multirace, Hispanic)   Racial breakdown in Cincinnati Public Schools in 2000-01:   • Black: 70.9 percent.   • White: 24.7 percent.   • Other*: 4.4 percent.   *(Indian, Asian, multirace, Hispanic)   Source: Ohio Department of Education, Cincinnati Public Schools

        Many of the faces behind charter schools include former educators like Mr. Willard, but they also include private companies and even a former Cincinnati city councilman. Tennis star Andre Agassi operates a charter school in Las Vegas.

        Charter school founders in Greater Cincinnati include:

        • Phil Heimlich, former Cincinnati city councilman. Mr. Heimlich obtained charters for Life Skills Center of Cincinnati in Walnut Hills and The Riverside Academy, a K-8 school in Riverside. The schools opened in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Life Skills caters to dropouts or at-risk students, while Riverside has a heavy concentration on reading and phonics.

        • Pauline Childs, a former teacher at Summit Country Day. In 1998, she opened Oak Tree Montessori, now in Over-the-Rhine. The tiny school offers hands-on lessons.

        • Kate Bower, former member of the Hamilton County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services board and former school administrator in Lakota and Forest Hills school districts. She opened Dohn Community High School this year in East Walnut Hills for high school-age youth impacted by drug or alcohol use.

        Mr. Willard said he wanted his school to serve minority youths who weren't being challenged in traditional public schools.

        “We started out throwing out everything we knew about school and said "What do kids need?' ”

        His school has no homework because students in grades 3-6 would attend class 10 hours a day — from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Kids are expected to tackle their work at school. They attend school 250 days a year, rather than the 180 days typical of traditional public schools.

        He requires martial arts for physical education. The classes are free, as are lunches, class pictures and school uniforms.

        Mr. Willard went knocking on doors in urban Cincinnati neighborhoods in early 2000 to sell his vision and recruit students. He opened the school with about 120 students that fall, holding classes in a bingo hall on Central Parkway while the basement was being renovated.

        Mr. Willard, known as “Mr. Will” to his students, would arrive at 5 a.m. to set up temporary walls in the bingo hall. Though he lost 31 students in those four months, he gained the respect of many more parents.

        “When my kids were in CPS (Cincinnati Public Schools), I didn't see them learning anything,” said Dorthea Harris, who transferred her three daughters to DuBois last year. “There wasn't enough one-on-one help.”

        “Now they're asking me questions where I have to say, "Let me see that workbook!' That's what I want to see.”

        Students share the enthusiasm. “We learn more than other kids because the school day is long,” said 11-year-old Angel Harris, a fifth-grader “It don't seem like it's long. And I like the martial arts.”

        Mr. Willard tells parents to call him anytime on his cellular phone. He takes pride in knowing all of his students by first name.

        On a recent Friday, he walked the halls and hollered out to passing students, “Tuck in your shirt,” and “I like the way you're walking, Mr. Williams.”

        He spoke with pride about students who had earned their yellow belts or who won trophies in a martial arts competition the previous weekend. “We offer a different product,” he said. “We're getting out what we put in — time, money and love.”

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