Brian Osborne has joined the Flex Academies ONE team as senior advisor to the CEO.
Osborne is currently a professor of practice in educational leadership at Lehigh University’s College of Education. He has also served as the superintendent of schools for two districts: New Rochelle, New York and South Orange-Maplewood, New Jersey.
As senior advisor, Osborne will be tapping into his education expertise to support Flex Academies CEO Joshua Chernikoff. One of Osborne’s first tasks will be assisting in the formation of an advisory board for the company.
As a former superintendent, Osborne says he has always been a believer in supplemental enrichment. Schools in his districts had programs run by their PTAs, but given everything involved with that task, he sees the advantages of having Flex Academies manage the programs to help provide consistency and access for all students in a district.
And now that schools have migrated to online instruction during the pandemic, Osborne believes that Flex Academies ONE is providing a vital service by offering virtual day care, virtual summer camps, and online enrichment that is safe, social, and engaging.
“With current online instruction, the big challenge now is how to ensure that students are engaged positively and productively — not only that they continue to make progress through typical academic areas but that they also stay sparked and motivated,” says Osborne. “Kids need movement, creativity, and socialization to keep them engaged, and enrichment learning is the key to that, because enrichment encompasses all the fun things kids like to do.”
Osborne believes that parents should look to Flex Academies ONE for that online day care and enrichment, because he says that Flex “has a reliable platform, reliable vendors, and a solid track record” to provide what they want for their kids.
CEO and founder Joshua Chernikoff says that Osborne will be a huge asset to Flex Academies ONE as it brings virtual camps and virtual before and after-school care online.
“As schools consider reopening under different scenarios, including hybrid models and staggered sessions, we’ll be relying on Brian to guide us as we help school administrators and parents,” says Chernikoff. “Bringing online enrichment to help parents during the pandemic was just the beginning. I’m excited to see where we go from here with Brian’s help.”
Osborne says he is looking forward to his new role.
“There are challenges to be met in this new space, but Flex Academies ONE has all the right ingredients to meet them, and I’m happy to be of service,” says Osborne.
