• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jun 28, 2009 - Page: 1B

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At least 125 children and their parents attended Charter Day Extravaganza in north Baton Rouge to learn about educational opportunities at eight charter schools in the state-run Recovery School District.

The event, held at the S.E. Mackey Community Center on Saturday, featured free food for all and inflatable moonwalks for the kids.

Shirl E. Gilbert, superintendent of Recovery School District Region 2, stressed his dedication to making sure these schools improve.

“Our guarantee to these parents is that we’re going to turn these schools around,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said the day was focused on recruiting students and showing parents the positive changes underway at the schools.

“We want parents to understand that this is a gamble worth taking,” he said.

Linda Morgan attended the event to enroll her 13-year-old nephew, Darius Stampley, in Capitol High Academy at the school’s booth.

Stampley wanted to move from Natchez, Miss., where he lived with his grandmother, to Louisiana for high school, Morgan said. Stampley was attracted to Capitol because of its strong basketball program, she said.

Morgan said she has been researching area charter schools and was impressed by Capitol because 100 Black Men, the organization that runs the school, provides positive male role models there.

The doctors, lawyers and other professionals that make up 100 Black Men try to maintain an active presence on campus, said John Smith, vice president of programs for the organization.

Smith said that the school aims to prepare students to become professionals in whatever field they choose. 

Last year, the school’s first, was pivotal, and involved creating new expectations about the kind of place Capitol could be.

“The brightest part of last year was we had students who said ‘I think Capitol is going to be a good school,’ ” Smith said.