Red Jay Schools (for Unique Kids)
Internal Alignment Document | December 2025
A Prenda-powered, faith-based microschool for students the system gave up on.
The Crisis
Texas has 850,000+ students with IEPs—about 15-16% of all public school enrollment.12 These children face a system that was never designed to serve them.
The outcomes are catastrophic:
- 85% of incarcerated youth have learning and/or emotional disabilities, yet only 37% received special education services in school.3
- Students with disabilities graduate at 59% compared to 79% for the general population.4
- Children placed in special education show more than double the incarceration rate of never-placed peers (26.3% vs. 11.8%).5
- The lifetime cost of a single child's untreated psychological or learning problems approximates $300,000 in lost family income.6
This isn't abstract. These are kids in San Antonio, Austin, Houston. Kids who get suspended, drop out, and end up in the juvenile justice system. Kids whose parents are desperate for something different.
The school-to-prison pipeline is real. By 2016, 66% of state and federal prisoners self-reported a disability. People with mental illness are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized.78
The damage transmits across generations. Children who experience poor parental mental health show elevated distress throughout their entire adult lives. The cycle reinforces itself.9
The Opportunity
Texas TEFA changes everything.
- Base TEFA scholarship: ~$10,500/student
- Students with disabilities: up to $30,000/student10
This creates unprecedented funding for alternative models. But almost no quality faith-based options exist for this population. The market is wide open.
Why churches?
- Underutilized space (classrooms, fellowship halls)
- Built-in community trust
- Pastoral covering and accountability
- Parents already know and trust the congregation
Why Prenda?
- 1 guide, 10 kids, adaptive software
- Designed for differentiated learning (each student on personalized path)
- Already TEFA-approved vendor
- Handles curriculum, assessment, invoicing
- Frees guides to focus on formation, not instruction
Why Faith-Based Intervention Works
The research is clear: faith communities provide protective factors that secular systems cannot replicate.
- Religious coping reduces impact of negative life events and improves psychological adjustment in adolescents.11
- 70% of studies show positive associations between religious beliefs/practices and psychological well-being in youth facing stress, depression, and substance abuse.11
- Christian schools implementing faith-based character development show measurable gains in self-control, empathy, emotional recognition, and moral development. Teachers report fewer classroom disruptions and increased collaboration.12
- When Rev. Alvin Love created a "suspended to church" program, 90% of students were never suspended again.13
Faith-based residential programs for troubled youth report transformation that secular programs struggle to achieve: improved mental health, academic recovery, restored family relationships, and reduced risky behaviors.14
For students with disabilities experiencing trauma, poverty, and family instability, spiritual formation can be literally life-saving.
The Philosophy
We're not building an elite school.
Alpha Schools and similar models optimize for getting kids into top universities. That's a fine goal, but it's not ours.
We serve kids the system gave up on.
Our students might be two grade levels behind in reading. They might have been suspended five times. They might have diagnoses that make traditional classrooms impossible. Their parents might be at the end of their rope.
Every child is one-of-one.
We believe every child is designed by God with a unique calling. That calling might be in ministry, trades, entrepreneurship, art, or something we can't imagine yet. Our job isn't to force them toward a standardized outcome. It's to help them discover who God made them to be.
We believe in miracles.
Many of these families need exactly that. Not just better curriculum or smaller class sizes, but genuine spiritual breakthrough. We're not embarrassed about this. We pray with students. We expect the Holy Spirit to show up.
The question isn't "How do we compete with prep schools?"
The question is: How do we keep these kids out of prison and help them know they're loved by God?
The Model
6-Hour Day, Church-Based, Prenda-Powered
Morning: Adaptive Core Academics (2 hours)
- Personalized learning software for reading, math, writing
- Each student moves at their own pace
- I-Ready diagnostics track progress
Midday: Spiritual Formation (1-2 hours)
- Chapel and worship
- Scripture integration
- Character development grounded in biblical wisdom
- Prayer and encounter
Afternoon: Real-World Skills & Projects (2-3 hours)
- Project-based learning
- Life skills and vocational exploration
- Mentorship and internship connections
- Church contribution (students serve their community)
The Team
Ida Villavicencio | Principal & Superintendent
30+ years transforming at-risk youth across Texas.
Credentials:
- Masters in Educational Leadership & Administration
- Masters in School Counseling | Licensed Professional Counselor
- Certified Pre-K through 12
Experience spans every level:
- School-Based Therapist at Bexar County Juvenile Justice Academy
- School Counselor / Crisis Intervention Specialist
- SEL Counselor at 2 charter school systems
- School District Boot Camp (6th-12th grade)
- Ministry to gang-affiliated youth and teen parents since age 14
Philosophy: "We reverse engineer schools that were the devil's playground. To disassemble the plans of the enemy against schools and children."
Ida has spent her career with exactly this population. This isn't a pivot for her. It's her calling.
Tamara | Special Education Lead (TBD)
Currently working in special education. Specific role to be defined.
Gary Sheng | CTO
- Forbes 30 Under 30 | Former Google Engineer
- Top graduate of Gauntlet AI engineering bootcamp
- Systems builder and community architect
Success Metrics
We measure what matters:
| What Alpha Measures | What We Measure |
|---|---|
| % admitted to top 10 universities | Reading/math improvement (grade levels gained) |
| Test scores vs. national benchmarks | Self-confidence and emotional regulation |
| College acceptance rates | Zero school-to-prison pipeline outcomes |
| Students articulating their God-given calling | |
| Parent testimony: "My kid loves learning again" |
Prenda's I-Ready diagnostics give us hard data on academic improvement. But we also track the things that matter more: Does this child know they're loved? Do they have hope? Are they staying out of trouble?
The average Prenda student sets a goal of 1.8 grade levels of progress and achieves 1.3. That's dramatically better than traditional schools—and for our population, it could be life-changing.15
Why "Red Jay"?
- Connects to Ida's existing brand ("The Red Jay Guidance and Counseling")
- "For unique kids" signals differentiation without clinical language
- Memorable and distinctive—not generic "Christian Academy" branding
- The red jay is bold, distinctive, and impossible to ignore
The Stakes
If we don't figure out how to serve these 850,000+ Texas students, the trajectory is clear:
- Education collapse: More students pushed out through suspensions, expulsions, and "counseled out" transfers
- Economic devastation: Hundreds of thousands entering the workforce without skills or credentials
- Criminal justice explosion: Another generation absorbed by an already-overwhelmed system
- Generational transmission: The cycle repeats with their children
But TEFA opens a door.
For the first time, families have the funding to access alternatives. The question is whether anyone will build something worth choosing.
Red Jay Schools is our answer.
Next Steps
- Ida review - Decide if this is at all interesting. If so, iterate and continue.
- Ida call with Tamara - Align on vision, clarify her potential role
- Identify pilot church partner in San Antonio with space and pastoral alignment
- Define target student profile - Which IEP categories? Age range? Geographic focus?
- Build parent outreach strategy - How do we find families who need this?
"I imagine myself rolling up my sleeves and walking into hell to bring light to those in complete darkness." — Ida Villavicencio