TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Tallahassee Community College announced Friday that Jessica Chapman will be the college’s director of charter schools.
TCC said in the news release that Chapman will oversee TCC’s charter sponsorship efforts and the creation of a science, technology, engineering and math focused charter school.
The STEM charter school founded by TCC is expected to have its first school year start August 2023.
“I am excited to welcome Jessica to our TCC family," Dr. Calandra Stringer, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at TCC said in a statement. “She comes to us with a wealth of knowledge about secondary education and has strong ties to our local community. We are looking forward to her creativity and innovation as we work to open our new STEM charter school."
Chapman’s career in education spans more than 20 years. She has worked locally in public education in the Leon County Schools District as a teacher at middle and high schools.
While working with Leon County Schools, TCC notes Chapman spearheaded a Graduation Pathways program which helped Leon County Schools raise their graduation rate from 71% in 2012 to 92% in 2015.
Chapman has a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and a master’s degree from American College of Education.
In February, it was announced that Tallahassee Community College was one of five community colleges across the state that would establish a charter school out of a funding pool of $10 million from the Florida legislature.
Tallahassee Community College was allocated $2 million to begin the charter school.
It will join state colleges Santa Fe, Northwest Florida, Miami-Dade and St. Pete in creating charter schools.
