Alan Rosskamm

 

CEO of Breakthrough Schools

 

by Ronald Louis Kincaid II, crew 5

 

 

In many areas schools aren’t doing very well and more than 30,000 students in Cleveland attend schools that rate D or F on their state report card. Alan Rosskamm chose to work with Breakthrough Schools to get better schools for children in Cleveland. He uses his extensive business experience to help guide Breakthrough as they continue to grow their network of schools in Cleveland.

During World War II Mr. Rosskamm’s grandparents escaped to the United States of America from Germany before the Nazis took over. They became big believers in the American dream as they watched the way their hard work paid off here. They started a family business, JoAnn Fabrics, and watched it grow.

 

As a young man Alan Rosskamm attended Swarthmore College. He said after he graduated he had to make some hard decisions “I wanted to go into urban planning but I knew my family had a business,” he said. “So I went down the middle and went to Chicago Law School.” After he worked in a law firm for two years he went to work at Joann Fabrics, the company that had been started by his grandparents. For many years he worked at this business and became the CEO. After he retired from his business career he wanted to find a way to serve his community. He joined Breakthrough and has a job helping many children get good educations.

 

Alan Rosskamm said he first became interested in urban education when he was in high school. His high school had a mentoring program with another Cleveland school. He said when he was a senior he worked with freshman helping them in English, language artists, and mathematics. “But my real interest came when I retired,” Mr. Rosskamm said. “I was too young to retire so I thought what could I do for my community?”

 

Unlike many people Alan Rosskamm kept working after retirement. While most people use their retirement to go on trips, plan vacations and buy houses to relax, Alan joined urban education. “I was very lucky that right when I was looking to help, Breakthrough was looking for a business person to reach other students.” Today he helps manage nine charter schools across the Cleveland area.

 

Alan Rosskamm and the leaders of Breakthrough Charter Schools first went to other cities to figure out who was running a good charter organization. “The first thing we did was not think we were smartest people, but see other great organizations in action,” he said. By learning from other organizations Breakthrough is able to more effectively manage and develop the schools it manages. He thinks they’ve really grown the number of great schools in Cleveland. Over the past few years Breakthrough has grown from serving 1,100 students to 3,000. Alan Rosskamm works to make sure all the employees have good insurance and students have good technology. Mr. Rosskamm also helps to save the schools money so they can open up more excellent schools.

 

Even though Alan Rosskamm and Breakthrough have done some amazing things already, they still have some big plans for the future. Alan Rosskamm is a big believer of the American Dream and will not rest until all students have an equally good chance for a great future. A good elementary and middle school in a neighborhood can make the difference for students in whether or not they will get a chance to succeed in life. Though they don’t have plans for a high school right now, Mr. Rosskamm said that there could be the possibility of a high school in four to five years. Currently Breakthrough is focused on the goal of having 20 schools in Cleveland by 2020, serving 7,000 students. This is a big goal, but with the help of people like Mr. Rosskamm Breakthrough will achieve it.

 

In conclusion, Alan Rosskamm is a very remarkable man. He was the CEO of his family business, Joan Fabrics and today uses his experiences to do incredible things as the CEO of Breakthrough Schools. His ultimate goal is to make sure that every student in Cleveland has the opportunity to realize their dreams. He strongly believes that the only way to do this is by providing quality schools so that students can gain a good education.