Call Summary: Faith-Led Education Vision & Prenda Platform Strategy

Overview

Two-part phone call where Gary shared his deepening exploration of the faith-based microschool space, including his visit to a Catholic school COO and research on Prenda. Ida shared her vision for integrating her global citizenship/sustainability curriculum with faith-based education. Both aligned on a vision of youth-led church revitalization through adaptive learning + project-based community engagement + faith formation.

Key Topics Discussed

Gary's Catholic School Visit

• Visiting a friend who is COO of a Catholic school near Austin
• Friend is a former advertising technology executive who Gary met in Rome
• Increasingly devoted to his faith and tech-forward approach to education
• Gary: "I feel called to really explore this and support this intersection of faith and schools"
• Wants tour and to hear his latest thoughts on the future of education

Ida's Curriculum Vision

• Her SEL/character ed/leadership workbook could easily embed scripture for faith-based schools
• "For the different projects... it would be so easy and so simple to embed the scripture and teachings for each project"
• Last Chance Ministries associate pastor mentioned they may want to start a school (have huge buildings)
• Father Alfonso has friend at software company doing SEL who may be interested in her work
• Critiqued a 5-minute daily SEL program her district bought: "It was terrible. It was useless."

Texas Charter School Landscape

• TEA charter school incubator no longer exists (2024 was the last year)
• Ida had been asked to be board member at a charter but declined (didn't align with superintendent)
• Texas ranked 38-40 in education for past 40 years
• Teachers "teaching to the STAAR" unable to be creative
• Ida: "Teachers are leaving the profession because it just doesn't pay the bills"

School District Crisis

• SAISD planning to close 50 of 90 schools
• Northside district also closing schools
• Gary: "Whoa. Public school."
• Ida: "This is happening. This is all happening so fast."

Microschool Concerns & Opportunities

• Ida worried microschools don't require educational certifications (just bachelor's)
• Concern: Kids with behavioral issues often leave public schools for microschools
• "A lot of families that don't want their kids in school are because their individual needs aren't being met"
• Referenced COVID homeschooling working without management systems
• Mentioned free resources: Khan Academy, Cool Math, K12 free virtual school

Alpha Schools vs Prenda Comparison

• Gary's friend still at Alpha: "This is a hopeless nightmare"
• BlackBerry vs iPhone metaphor: "Alpha is kind of like BlackBerry. And then you and I have an opportunity to figure out what's iPhone"
• Alpha still has no demo to show clients after all this time
• Gary watched recorded sales call where Alpha tried to sell to well-funded archdiocese
• Head of archdiocese was patronizing, friends with Coke brother's son
• Alpha's reputation among wealthy school choice people: "kind of a failure"
• Meanwhile Prenda has "humbly growing a network of like a thousand micro schools"

Prenda Deep Dive

• Gary listened to founder Kelly Smith's book "A Fire to Be Kindled"
• Founder: Mormon, BYU grad, MIT physics grad school
• Built huge after-school coding program for thousands of kids
• Micro-schooled his own kids before founding Prenda
• Model: $2,000 per kid per year, targeting ESA states
• Already has church-based schools in Florida
• Gary: "Everything has felt really good from all the research I've done"
• Support system includes click-button math tutors
• Average kid does 1.13 grades per year vs default
• Prenda CEO subscribed to Gary's Substack after head of sales told him about Gary

Gary's Vision for Ida's Role

• Sees Ida as "the overseer" of multiple pods (groups of 10-15 kids)
• Not a traditional principal but similar level of experience required
• Focus on global citizenship, faith, and project-based learning "above the default stuff"
• Gary: "I don't see you enjoying the process of recruiting a math teacher here, English teacher here"
• "I don't think that's the future of education either"
• Vision: Ida as "czar and soul of a network of pods"

Arizona Charter-as-Pods Model

• In Arizona, a school registered as charter school that's essentially "a bunch of pods"
• Prenda enabled this structure
• Gary: "There's ways to go about it"

"Neo School" Concept Development

• Gary debating whether to even call it "microschool"
• Proposed term: "Spirit-filled Neo school"
• "A new kind of school that allows kids to move at the speed of their intrinsic motivation"
• Ida confirmed kids in traditional schools stuck - referenced screaming senior frustrated with lack of dual credit

Youth-Led Church Revitalization Vision

• Revolutionary concept: Kids as leaders modernizing their church
• Running marketing, CRM, youth programs
• Starting businesses, creating partnerships with local businesses
• Gary: "Having kids play a real role in revitalizing the church feels freaking awesome"
• Kids managing "selling ads through the church" - being "head of ads for the church"
• Churches tithing concept reversed: businesses "tithing" to school for prepping useful workers
• "One of the greatest issues that every church faces is a lack of revenue streams"

PSJA Project-Based Learning Model Reference

• Ida's mentor (now assistant superintendent of sustainability at PSJA)
• Partners from all over country: universities, court system, DA's office
• Kids learned debate, went to state competitions
• Whole school was "giant sustainable world" - self-sustained
• Kids with "zero hope and complete darkness" became robotics world champions, state debate champions
• "They blue [crushed it], they didn't just barely make it"
• Superintendent didn't care what school did - just "keep them out of the news because they were the bad kids"
• Principal went to Harvard, came back to implement sustainability education

Faith Integration Philosophy

• Gary: "You don't have to hide the faith"
• People send kids to Catholic school even if not devoutly Catholic for moral education
• Hiding faith "doesn't serve anyone"
• Vision: "We're a spirit filled Neo school"
• Catholic schools now "kind of like BlackBerry and we can create the iPhone"
• Catholic hierarchy requires Archbishop approval for experiments - barrier to innovation

Student Mental Health Crisis Context

• Ida working with suicidal student for 4 hours the previous day
• Kid never known father, mother left at 12
• Living with mom's ex lesbian girlfriend who took responsibility
• "Unspoken for" kids even from wealthy families
• Ida: "They're irrelevant to their own family... like swipe left, swipe right type of kid"
• Best teacher at school (Dr. Cunningham) nearly broke down from student behavior

Divine Appointment Affirmation

• Ida: "My whole life I have felt like I've been an impactful leader in education and a leader in our faith"
• "30 years, that's tens of thousands of people"
• "There's never been a time in my life where the appointment was not a divine appointment"
• "I know this was part of the plan, Gary. Part of the plan."

Primer Video Recording Plan

• Primer reached out saying they wanted Ida to move to next step (video recording)
• Gary: "Let's do a quick little video and just see what information you can get"
• Plan to record this weekend with Gary's help
• Founder of Primer is Christian - worth being honest about feedback
• Gary: "These are real human beings that aren't just rigidly following a protocol"

Key Quotes

From Gary

• "I feel called to really explore this and support this intersection of faith and schools"
• "Alpha is kind of like BlackBerry. And then you and I have an opportunity to figure out what's iPhone"
• "I don't see you enjoying the process of recruiting a math teacher here, English teacher there. I don't think that's the future of education either"
• "You are like the czar and the soul of a network of pods"
• "We're a spirit-filled Neo school where kids move at the speed of their intrinsic motivation"
• "Having kids play a real role in revitalizing the church feels freaking awesome"
• "No one is articulating a future vision of faith led schools like what we have done on this call"

From Ida

• "For the different projects... it would be so easy and so simple to embed the scripture and teachings for each project"
• "Teachers are leaving the profession because it just doesn't pay the bills"
• "People are losing their humanity. Kids are losing their humanity. Kids don't know how to even be human"
• "When I think of school, it always is all about heart. The heart of the people that are serving"
• "There's never been a time in my life where the appointment was not a divine appointment"
• "I know this was part of the plan, Gary. Part of the plan."

Strategic Framework Developed

The Three-Layer Model

1. Core Layer (Prenda): Adaptive tutors, learning management, assessment, benchmarking
2. Social-Emotional/Faith Layer (Ida): SEL curriculum with embedded scripture, character education, leadership development
3. Global Citizenship Layer (Ida): Project-based learning, community partnerships, sustainability projects, local business internships

Application Process Philosophy

• Screen for: "Are you open to helping revitalize your local community and your church?"
• "They don't need to be super advanced. They just need to have a positive trajectory on their lives"
• Not just remedial kids - looking for intrinsic motivation

10-Year Vision

• Graduates leading great businesses because they practiced "contact with the world constantly"
• Success stories of youth-led church community turnarounds

Action Items

1. Gary to visit Catholic school COO this week for tour and strategic conversation
2. Record Primer video with Ida this weekend
3. Continue Prenda exploration and potential partnership development
4. Gary emailed Prenda CEO and head of sales this morning
5. Ida to consider how her curriculum integrates with Prenda platform
6. Both to develop vision document for "spirit-filled Neo school" concept