Hrag Hamalian to head new charter middle school in San Fernando Valley

Tuition-free Valor Academy now accepting applications for next year’s fifth graders

Published: Thursday May 28, 2009

Los Angeles - Following 18 months of planning and preparation, educator Hrag Hamalian has earned the approval of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to launch a charter middle school in the San Fernando Valley.

The new school, Valor Academy, will open its doors this fall with a class of fifth graders. It will add a grade each year until it becomes a full-fledged, fifth- to eighth-grade middle school. With plans to be located on Woodman Avenue, Valor Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school, which will serve North Hollywood, Arleta, and Panorama City. Although any California resident may apply, seats are limited to 120 fifth-grade students in 2009.

If more than 120 fifth-grade children are signed up, a lottery will be held at the end of the sign-up period to determine admission.

"Valor Academy is being established to address the longstanding educational crisis in the Arleta-Panorama City-North Hollywood area, which is also home to a growing number of Armenian families," said Mr. Hamalian, who will lead the school as its principal. "We are launching the area's first-ever charter middle school, and our goal is to put every one of our students on a clear path to college."

According to Mr. Hamalian, Valor Academy will place equal emphasis on educational excellence and character building. Toward this end, he explained, the academy will feature a longer school day, a highly qualified corps of teachers, free tutoring, a disciplined school culture that aims to foster self-respect and initiative, frequent communication with parents, and an overarching focus on literacy and math.

A former member of the Teach for America Corps, Mr. Hamalian was associated with Locke High School in Los Angeles, where he served as a biology teacher, department head, and co-founder of the School of Math and Science. He has spent the past two years working in a school-leadership residency with Building Excellent Schools, a nationally recognized incubator for new schools. Studying and analyzing over 25 of America's highest-performing urban charter schools, Mr. Hamalian has drawn from the country's best practices to lay the foundations of Valor Academy. Many of his achievements as an educator are chronicled in the book Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America.

In fulfilling his vision for Valor Academy, Mr. Hamalian worked closely with Valor Board chair William Ryan and community leaders, elected officials, and the LAUSD. "As a result of their incredibly generous work, we have reached this milestone and are poised to open our doors in a few short months."

Mr. Ryan noted that as a charter school, Valor Academy is allowed "to operate with more freedom compared with a conventional public school, in terms of innovative teaching methods and curriculum."

Although Valor Academy has secured core public funding to open the school, a mix of additional and ongoing assistance is needed to ensure the envisioned quality and full range of its services, Mr. Hamalian said. The school seeks donations as well as volunteers to sign up families for the school, attend fairs, pass out flyers, and spread the word. It also seeks "community partners," to provide the school with in-kind products and services such as uniforms, printing, and afterschool programs, or to invite Valor Academy personnel to community events where there might be families interested in the school.

The academy is also hiring employees, including teachers and various staff members.

connect:
1-818-528-5467
valoracademy.org