Alan Rosskamm

 

CEO of Breakthrough Schools

 

by Jaelyn Myers, crew 6

 

 

"Follow your heart, go for it,” said Alan Rosskamm. “Don’t worry about what you don’t know. Keep learning. Move forward. And, most importantly, stay humble.” Alan Rosskamm, the CEO of Breakthrough Schools, encourages students to take risks and take advantage of every opportunity to learn that they get.  He believes that each student has the right to a good education. Through his work at Breakthrough Schools Mr. Rosskamm is providing quality schools for students in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Mr. Alan Rosskamm decided to leave the company Jo-Ann Fabrics and help create Breakthrough Schools in 2009. Mr. Rosskamm says he thinks Breakthrough’s job is to get kids in grades K-8 ready to go to high quality high schools. Mr. Rosskamm first became interested in urban education when he was a senior in high school and helped freshmen with reading and math.  Mr. Rosskamm’s interest in education developed even more when he retired from his business career. After retiring he wanted to find a way to help his community more.  He found a way to do this at Breakthrough Schools.

Breakthrough Schools are public charter schools in the Cleveland area. They are high-performing schools that do not charge tuition. With schools like C.L.A., Citizen Leadership Academy, there is only limited space in the classrooms so students have to hurry to get spots before they fill up. Breakthrough Schools thinks that when class sizes are small, then the kids can get a better education because teachers can take time to help each student. There are currently nine Breakthrough schools in Cleveland.

 

Mr. Rosskamm was happy when he got the chance to become involved with Breakthrough Schools. He believes that a good education is the key to reaching the American dream.  Mr. Rosskamm says that quality education is a civil right and is an issue today. Most schools in Cleveland have D’s and F’s in their report card from the state when they should have A’s even B’s. Parents find it hard to find good schools that will give their kids a good quality education.  This is a big worry for a lot of parents. This is what Mr. Alan Rosskamm and his co-workers are working to fix.  They want to make sure that all kids have good quality schools in their neighborhood to attend.

 

Currently Breakthrough Schools serve around 3,000 students. However, there are still 30,000 students in Cleveland that go to school where the teachers don’t know how to control or even handle the students that go to the school. There is a girl that goes to a school in her neighborhood and went to a school were the teachers couldn’t handle the students. In the middle of one of her classes the students had snack and one of her class mates started throwing food. The teacher didn’t know what to do so she walked out of the classroom and didn’t come back in until the students stopped throwing food. These are the types of schools that get rated F or D on the state report card. Now this girl goes to a high preforming school and her grades have come up really well. Now she is an A and B student. She is just one example of a student who has benefitted from being able to attend a high quality public school. Mr.Rosskamm has helped grow the number of good schools in the Cleveland area, and is helping students like this girl attain a good education.

 

Did you know that people that made Breakthrough schools didn’t sit down to have a meeting or anything they just wanted to give kids a better education and believed that kids can have a better education and future for themselves. After all, students are the face of the future. So they should have a good education. People that believe kids are the future and will be the future also created the charter organization plain to help build the schools are people like Mr. Rosskamm.

 

When I asked Mr. Rosskamm about the possibility of a Breakthrough high school he got a big smile. “Even though Breakthrough high schools won’t be around for a while they are still a plan for the future,” he said. Mr. Rosskamm tells me that in four or five years there could be the possibility of a high school. For now, however, Breakthrough manages elementary and middle schools that are working to get their students into the best high schools in the area.

 

Overall, Mr. Rosskamm shows that it takes a lot of work to be in the Breakthrough School business. It may not be easy, but Mr. Rosskamm is committed to helping to provide quality schools for as many students as possible in Cleveland. His plan to continue to expand Breakthrough Schools will continue to make this goal a reality.