This school year, Cleveland-area parents can send their daughters to a new all-girls school serving grades 6-10: The Ginn-Thompson School for Girls.
The tuition-free public charter school is starting this year in partnership with the all-boys Ginn Academy, a school noted for its strong athletics and a graduation rate that outpaces the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s average.
Ginn-Thompson is currently accepting applications for its 2024-2025 school year, which will start on Sept. 4. The school, which can accommodate about 150 students, has recruited about 60 students in the eight days since it opened enrollment, according to Ginn-Thompson Vice President Sherree Ray Dillions. The school is only serving grades 6-10 this year but plans to expand to 11th and 12th grade next year.
Realizing a longtime dream
Ray Dillions spent about 27 years as an administrator in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, she said. She helped Ted Ginn Sr., the well-known coach of Glenville’s football team, launch Ginn Academy in 2007. Since then, she said she has dreamt of opening an all-girls school in Cleveland.
“I wanted something on the level of the private schools that we have for girls here in Northeast Ohio,” Ray Dillions said. “I felt that girls, regardless of race, color or creed, should be able to experience that greatness and that high academic achievement in a tuition-free school, in a non-traditional school, here in the City of Cleveland.”
Ginn-Thompson is not part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. ACCEL Schools, an organization that manages charter schools, is running the new academy. Ray Dillions works for ACCEL and is directing the school’s curriculum and day-to-day operations. St. Aloysius, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit focused on serving youth, is acting as the school’s sponsor and is responsible for ensuring it complies with state laws that govern charter schools.
Athletics and extracurriculars
Ginn-Thompson is operating out of a school building in Cleveland’s Asiatown neighborhood that used to house Health Careers Center High School.
Similar to Ginn Academy’s model for athletics, Ginn-Thompson will partner with high schools in Greater Cleveland to bolster its in-house sports programming. The school is also planning to offer international learning opportunities. Ray Dillions said she hopes to send students to an ACCEL partner school in London during the 2025-2026 school year. Ginn-Thompson and Ginn Academy will also partner to host cotillion and beautillion events.
“Our goal is definitely to produce, academically, National Merit finalists and, athletically, worldwide champions,” Dillions said. “I am overly excited for the faculty and staff that we have because they’re highly committed and invested in this mission.”
