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Bluum’s mission is to create, grow, and support high quality schools across Idaho. Research shows that quality school leadership is one of the primary drivers for improving student achievement. For the past four years, Bluum has offered the Idaho New School Fellowship (INSF) to help elevate top education talent into the ranks of Idaho’s public school leadership.
The Idaho New School Fellowship is a one to two-year program that prepares future leaders to develop and launch an effective, innovative, and financially sustainable public charter school. Bluum has supported 19 fellows since 2016 with funding and access to resources to design, build, and launch high-performing public charter schools in a range of Idaho communities; from Garden City, to Caldwell, to Fruitland, to Kimberly, to Island Park to northern Idaho.
The Fellowship provides:
- Full-time salary, benefits, and other financial support to participate fully in weekly reflection, professional learning, and a number of projects to prepare for the opening of a new charter school;
- Learning the processes and systems necessary to build and launch a successful public charter school in Idaho;
- Access to Bluum’s connections to Idaho and national experts on leadership and charter school development;
- Travel and support for school visits; and
- The opportunity to make a difference for an increasingly diverse group of students in one of America’s fastest growing states.
Earlier this year, Bluum announced our 16th Fellow Marita Diffenbaugh. She will be working to expand the leadership capacity at Elevate Academy. Partnering with Elevate Academy’s co-founders Monica White and Matt Strong (INSF Alumni, 2017), Marita will plan, develop, and launch Elevate Academy North – a 6-12th grade Career Technical school in northern Idaho, based on Elevate Academy’s model.
This month, three new fellows will be joining the 2020 New School Fellowship Cohort.
Jewels Carpenter & Phil Diplock
There is tremendous interest from other Idaho communities in providing a school option modeled on Elevate Academy’s hands-on education, mastery-based Career Tech Education (CTE) model. Jewels Carpenter and Phil Diplock, veteran educators and CTE experts, will work directly with Elevate Academy’s leadership team to build their experience in running a high-performing CTE school so that they can launch a new school for at-risk students in Nampa in August 2022.
Jewels Carpenter is a 20-year education veteran and has been a teacher, high school administrator, state-level program manager and a district-level administrator. She most recently served as Director of Career and Technical Education for the Nampa School District.
Carpenter graduated from Sonoma State with a BS in Kinesiology and became a Nationally Certified Athletic trainer, who worked with both high school and college athletes helping them prepare mentally and physically for their athletic seasons. She relocated to Idaho with her husband and two children in 2000, and quickly realized she had found her “passion” when she had the opportunity to teach Sports Medicine and Medical Terminology.
“I absolutely love teaching and serving the people in my community of Nampa. We have been here for 20-years and I can’t wait to continue to help this community be stronger and healthier,” shared Carpenter.
Phil Diplock most recently served as a law enforcement instructor, Dean of Students, and Vice Principal for Columbia High School in Nampa. He was also their Varsity Baseball Coach.
Diplock was born in Manchester, England and grew up in Orange County, California. During his college years, he became interested in Law Enforcement, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and took CTE courses to obtain a Specialist Certificate in Law Enforcement. Diplock then served for 10-years as a deputy with the LA County Sherriff’s Department.
Diplock, with his wife and two daughters, relocated to Nampa in 2001, where his career in education began at East Valley Middle school in 2003, working with students with special needs.
He became the Dean of Students as well as the lead teacher for the Law Enforcement Program in 2008-09. As the program director for Law Enforcement at Columbia High in Nampa, Diplock worked with the district School Resource Officerss and expanded the program before becoming Vice-Principal in 2013, a role that he held through the 2020 school year.
“My greatest accomplishments are seeing young people grow, learn and become engaged and active in their education and beyond. I look forward to this new opportunity and serving students and their families as we work together to support their child in any path they choose,” said Diplock.
Keelie Campbell
Keelie Campbell is a veteran educator who is currently serving as Director of Programs for the Kimberly School District in southeast Idaho. She was drawn to become an educator because in addition to education being an anchor in her own life, she “saw that education opens doors of opportunity and I wanted to help others see that as well.”
Campbell began her career in Wendell, ID, where she taught middle school math for over a decade, and in her role as Athletic Director for three years, coached various sports along the way. She has taught Online Health and Senior Projects for the Richard McKenna Charter High School for 18-years, and also served as the Charter School Program Manager for the Idaho Public Charter School Commission. She also led, as an administrator, the high performing North Valley Academy charter school from August 2012-July 2013.
The Kimberly School District has had a 29 percent enrollment increase over the past decade as the community near Twin Falls has grown. The Idaho New School Fellowship will allow Campbell, a highly accomplished Idaho educator, to partner with her local school district (who will serve as school authorizer) to launch and support a new school model in a growing rural community.
This year, Bluum will have five schools being operated by fellows and three being developed (or getting ready to launch in the next year).
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