Every student deserves the best education they can get,” says Shelly Blakely. “Kids and parents need options.”
This motto led Shelly to serve as a key player in establishing Golden Eagle Charter School, a public charter school offering personalized learning for students in Siskiyou County and Castella, CA.
In 2004, Golden Eagle opened with 165 students, seven teachers, and Shelly as its executive director. Now, almost two decades later, school enrollment has tripled. Dave Theno, a teacher and program manager at Golden Eagle, attributes much of the school’s growth to Shelly’s “strong and stable leadership” through the many shifts that have “fundamentally changed schools everywhere,” including charter school law changes, “the emergence of modern digital culture,” and COVID-19.
A personalized, mostly home-based education model
“Ever since she created this school with a handful of other educators, Shelly has held strong to a vision of a school based on positive relationships and creative ways for students to learn,” Dave says. “She’s been the steward of our personalized, largely home-based model of education that has made it possible for countless families to homeschool their children with the resources and help of credentialed teachers.”
Among the countless, the Wilden family holds Shelly in special regard. “Shelly sees the whole child and the whole family,” says Jessye Wilden. “She makes space to know them, and then she teaches and encourages from that place.”
Jessye’s eldest daughter, Katrina, studied with Shelly from first grade through high school. For years, Katrina struggled to read and had been diagnosed with dyslexia. “She hated reading, she hated school, she hated learning,” Jessye recalls. Undaunted, Shelly kept trying different resources and approaches to help Katrina. Through these trials and errors, Shelly discovered the true source of Katrina’s struggles: Irlen’s syndrome, a condition that affects how the brain processes light. “We got her some glasses,” Jessye says, “and it changed her whole life.”
Jessye credits Shelly for not only persevering to understand Katrina’s condition, but for caring and giving her a love for learning. Now, at age 21, Katrina is finishing her fourth year of college and is applying to get her teaching credential. “Katrina wants to give her life to teaching and helping kids like Shelly has,” Jessye says.
Hiring teachers who care well for their students
Shelly also helped the Wilden family through a period of shock and grief when the Wildens unexpectedly began raising their niece and nephew. Shelly added the children to her caseload, wrote education reports to facilitate their adoption, and asked questions to identify and support how they were processing their parents’ deaths. “She just respected their grief so well. My kids felt like their heads were above water because of Shelly and the phenomenal teachers she hires,” says Jessye.
Finding teachers who care well for students probably comes more easily for Shelly because she cares so much for them. She especially enjoys high school age, “when they start questioning the world and figuring out who they are and what they want to do with their lives.”
About a year ago, Shelly ran into a former high school student. “At the time,” Shelly says, “she was on the verge of dropping out, her brother was in a gang, and their home life was challenging.” Every week when they met, the student would announce she was dropping out of school. Every time, Shelly simply responded, “I’ll see you next week.”
“You kept showing up,” the student told Shelly as they recalled those difficult years. “You helped me get my diploma, and it made such a difference in my life. Thank you for never giving up on me.”
“The kids are our future”
Always one to step into the area of greatest need, Shelly recently stepped back from teaching in order to focus on the increasing administrative demands of the charter. Although she misses having daily interaction with the students, Shelly focuses on empowering them through her role. “I work with a great administrative team,” she says. “All these roles have to be filled in order for Golden Eagle to exist for the kids. We’re all part of a team to make the world better. The kids are our future. I think everybody who works here feels like they’re contributing to the future.”
Thanks to Shelly, the staff and students at Golden Eagle can look forward to that future – one of benefitting their communities and soaring to new heights.
Posted in: Be The Change
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With all the negative news nationwide about public schools, it’s refreshing to see some positive news. I have known Shelly since she was a child. She has always been a standout!