Love Elementary is a school with high poverty, high mobility and low parental involvement. It got a D grade from the state last year, despite a very promising jump in writing scores. With principal Rosa Thomas in tow, Fryer strides into a classroom and gathers the kids around to talk about reading and writing. Two days earlier, these kids took the state's writing test. A dozen hands shoot up.
Fryer is all smiles.
John Love Elementary is one of the schools that adopted Fryer's favorite school design program, called America's Choice. It takes time, money and a lot of work, especially at first. Fryer loves the program, and, as he does with everything, he read all he could and researched the issue before making a decision. He personally pleaded and pushed to get 14 schools to adopt the program a couple of years ago. Now 63 of Duval's 153 schools are America's Choice schools.