The mission of MelodiousOne Educational Institute (MEI) is to inspire students to own the entire learning process through organization of thought and actions, building lasting relationships, supportive teaching methods, and commitment to the community we serve. Our vision is to be a beacon of hope for arts education in America by creating a community of artists who inspire leadership and cultivate social responsibility through artistic rigor and academic excellence. This approach is important to us because we see students in our community lose hope every day. We are a year-round school providing students with a safe place to learn and grow alongside community partners who allow for consistent, hands-on application of knowledge acquired.
At an early age, our students give up on academic achievement because they believe learning is too difficult. Gangs begin recruiting our students as early as 7 and 8 years old. In our community, gun violence and suicide take the lives of too many students every year. We believe inspiring our students through the arts will help them build relationships, network in the community, and cultivate a skill or trade that will allow them to identify their place within the community they serve. Through this proposal we are seeking assistance with initial capital that supports down payment assistance for property purchase (Letter of Intent already signed), site assessment, preparation for building a new facility, and salary for our Founding Director/Head of School and Assistant to the Director during the initial planning year (July 2022- June 2023). The start date for teachers will be July 17, 2023, and the students' first term begins July 24, 2023.
At the start of the 2023-2024 school term, student enrollment is projected as 120 students in grades K-5th grade. Each year thereafter, enrollment will increase by one grade level reaching a maximum of 300 students from grades K-12th grade. Monthly income is based on student enrollment, therefore, at 65% enrollment (~78 students), our monthly income is $78, 651. With 00% enrollment (120 students) year 1, our monthly income is $118,871. These projections are based on the Georgia FY22 statewide weighted funding/FTE for each grade band with applicable student counts per grade band.
MEI is committed to maintaining small, multi-grade classrooms and supportive teaching methods by inspiring leadership and cultivating social responsibility through artistic rigor and academic excellence. Rigor is woven into the fabric of our curriculum. Students engage in immersive academic and arts learning experiences through action based supported curriculum. We place a high level of importance on moving students from Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) level 1–acquired knowledge–to level 4–augmentation. The mastery learning model provides teachers and students the opportunity to progress from simple recall to strategic thinking and ultimately extended thinking while consistently engaged in complex reasoning, planning, and thinking to make real-world applications in new situations. Implementing flexibility through year-round school calendars, hybrid learning model, multi-age classrooms, personalized education plans for each student, and tiered enrichment scheduling will allow us to meet or exceed performance-based goals and increase student achievement.
The school’s initial organizational structure consists of:
Director/Head of School;
Assistant to the Director for Academic Instruction who also serves as instructional specialist;
Student Services Director who also serves as our Special Education teacher;
Core Academic and Core Arts Faculty who often serve dual roles based on their areas of expertise;
Support Staff who are responsible for the overall operation of the school.
Initial members of MEI’s governing board were identified and selected over a period of four years by their dedication to artistic and academic achievement of students, professional background, and service to their communities. Due diligence completed included consulting with leaders of other independent and charter schools regarding appropriate selection of members, background checks and network profiling. The skill sets represented by current elected/appointed governing board members are:
Chair - real estate advisor;
Vice-Chair - attorney;
Treasurer - accountant and member of the Chamber of Commerce;
Secretary - community member;
Community Member - higher education professional and performing artist.
The skill sets represented by ex-officio board members are:
Director/Head of School-music teacher;
Director of Arts Education/Music/Theater teacher
We look forward to the opportunity to partner with you as we educate the next generation of artists. Feel free to browse our website to learn about our board members and founding director at www.mei-arts.org. Thank you in advance for considering our proposal.
