Miss Keiller is credited with having instituted up-to-date methods for teaching. She was a pioneer in the modern project method, which involved using mathematics to build models to scale. Annie Keiller invented a fraction ruler that her students used to better understand arithmetic.
She was an inspiration to students and teachers in her own time, and in recognition of her service and dedication, the school, Annie B. Keiller Middle School was named to honor her commitment to the achievement of excellence.
“The Gates of Wisdom” Lead to My School
On September 6, 2005, Keiller Leadership Academy (KLA), a newly converted public charter school, opened her sliding metal gates, now called the “Gates of Wisdom” to 500 resident middle school students in grades 6th – 8th. Months later, on June 29, 2006, those same gates closed for the summer and marked what we now know to be the most significant achievement gains in this school’s history – gains that have all stakeholders standing tall and focused on continued achievement at KLA. How did one school meet all of its targets, gain 58 API points, and move from a ranking of a “6” to a “10” for similar schools in one academic year? Quite simply, the entire school community, along with our partnership with the University of San Diego, came alive with a renewed sense of empowerment, granted by charter privileges that led to a sense of “My School.”
Located in a gang-infested, urban setting of San Diego, the community had suffered decades of feeling disenfranchised by the San Diego City Schools. After failing to reach the school’s performance targets under No Child Left Behind, angry parents, community members, students, and staff took matters into their own hands. They led the charter drive and went door-to-door with charter petitions in late 2004/early 2005. When faced with obstacles created by local school board members who feared losing one of “their” schools to the charter movement, parents, staff, and students banded together to fight for control of their school’s staffing, budget, and curriculum.
The opposition of the school board only strengthened the resolve of parents and teachers to put children’s interests first. During those dark winter months of hard work and battle, a growing sense of My School emerged. Late in the evening of February 28, 2005, in an auditorium packed with the school’s stakeholders, the trustees of the San Diego City Schools voted unanimously to grant KLA a five-year charter.
History was in the making. Rather than opening as a start-up school with one or two grade levels, KLA opened as a conversion charter meaning that all resident students were eligible to attend. With less than seven months to staff the new school and select its own board members, the challenges were many. However, once again, as the challenges increased, so did the growing sense of responsibility to My School.
