Galileo Preparatory Academy to open first location in Franklin in January 2022

Nearly 400 years ago, Galileo challenged the conventionally held belief that the sun rotated around the Earth.  

Now imagine a school that challenges conventions in the same way Galileo did. What if learning could be fully personalized, providing a tailor-made educational experience for students? What if students could benefit from a learning experience that revolves around their individual needs, talents, and dreams?  

After spending years working in the education industry, Mark Claypool and John McLaughlin wanted to create such a learning experience for students, and with the opening of Galileo Preparatory Academy (GPA), that dream will become a reality.  

GPA, a learner-centric, personalized private school, will open the doors of its first campus in Franklin, Tennessee, in January 2022. The school, which is under construction at the corner of Moores Lane and Franklin Road, will bring together the best of traditional in-person instruction, virtual learning, and technology-focused coursework by creating an academic environment that is focused on each individual student. Families can enroll at any time, and the school will serve students in grades six through twelve. 

“My entire career has centered on providing children with the tools they need to have a successful life,” Claypool said. “With GPA, we are reinventing learning for students in grades six through twelve. Our first campus will open in January 2022 in Williamson County, and we will open multiple locations across the Southeast by fall 2022.”
GPA will offer a family-friendly scheduling model that allows parents and students to choose how, where, and when learning happens. Students can attend school at Galileo’s building each day, or they may choose to attend a mix of online and in-person classes

There is nowhere else a student and their family are able to have so much control and freedom in their schooling.

At GPA, parents are able to create a schedule that fits their family’s own unique needs, and since each student’s curriculum is personalized, students can begin at any time of the year. GPA will offer a subscription model that is inclusive of all technology and learning materials rather than a traditional tuition-based model. 

“After well over a year of working and learning remotely due to COVID-19, many of the traditionally held norms we have around education have been challenged,” Claypool said. “We believe parents and students want more flexibility in learning in much the same way many employees are asking their companies to provide flexibility in scheduling and working from home.” 

GPA’s curriculum will consist of four pillars: core, which includes traditional studies; focus, which allows students to individualize their learning by selecting fields of study such as graphic arts, IT, or gaming; dialogues, which develops problem solving, communication, and self-expression skills; and community, which expands interests and skills that improve the common good. 

“Galileo is a unique schooling experience for students and their families,” McLaughlin said. “Our team has worked hard to ensure we are providing something that is not found anywhere else in the state. There is nowhere else a student and their family are able to have so much control and freedom in their schooling.”  

For more information, visit Galileo’s website at galileopreparatoryacademy.com.