The International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas), a free public charter school system, is expanding in Liberty County, with two new campuses coming soon in the Colony Ridge communities south of Plum Grove.
ILTexas, which boasts a 99.9 percent four-year high school graduation rate, opened its first campus in Liberty County – ILTexas Brigadier General Ramirez K-8 – in the 2022-2023 school year. Located at 1954 CR 5715, the first campus quickly filled to capacity. Now, due to demand, ILTexas is constructing a second K-8 campus – ILTexas MSG Ramirez – and is planning construction of a new high school campus – ILTexas Liberty High School.
A short distance north of the ILTexas Brigadier General Ramirez K-8 campus, in an area of Colony Ridge that is still unmapped, will be the new elementary campus will be known as ILTexas MSG Ramirez K-8 campus. Both K-8 campuses hold approximately 1,400 students. ILTexas Liberty High School, set to open in 2025, will be constructed adjacent to the new ILTexasMSG Ramirez K-8 campus.
ILTexas MSG Ramirez will be led by Dr. Imelda Andre. Andre came to ILTexas with 20 years of experience in education. She taught as a kindergarten bilingual teacher, served as a bilingual peer facilitator, and administrator in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, and seventh through eighth-grade campuses. Andre attended the University of Houston for her undergraduate degree in Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations and a minor in Psychology. She then attended the University of St. Thomas for her Masters in School Administration and Doctorate in Ethical Leadership.
As the second K-8 campus is already under construction, ILTexas has opened up its lottery for admissions for Fall 2023. Families are asked to submit enrollment applications for their children by Feb. 28, 2023. The lottery will be held on March 2, 2023. Afterward, families can still apply for enrollment and students will be accepted in the order in which they apply, as spaces become available.
“Families currently attending ILTexas BG Ramirez K-8 can also transfer to ILTexas MSG Ramirez K-8 if they would like or if it is a more convenient location,” said Caitlin Madison, executive director of communications, marketing and public relations for International Leadership of Texas.
“Ninth-graders currently attending ILTexas BG Ramirez K-8 will be served in portables and out of ILTexas MSG Ramirez next year,” said Madison.
The permanent campus for ILTexas Liberty High School will open in 2025. As students matriculate out of the K-8 campus, they will have the option of joining the new high school campus. Within four years, the new high school campus will serve all four grades, 9-12.
At ILTexas, the mission is to prepare students for exceptional leadership roles in the international community, which is summed up in the mission statement of: “To prepare students for exceptional leadership roles in the international community by emphasizing servant leadership, mastering the English, Spanish, and Chinese languages and strengthening the mind, body, and character.”
“An ILTexas education provides students opportunities unlike any other. One of the foundations of what we do is our Road Scholars trips. Students in seventh grade can go on the Texas Road Scholars trip, which takes them to major cities throughout Texas over a week. Students in eighth grade can go on the U.S. Road Scholars Trip, which takes them up the east coast to places like Jamestown, Washington D.C., and New York City. Once in high school, students can go on the China Road Scholars trip, where they travel throughout China and interact with Chinese students to put their language skills to the test! ILTexas is also proud to offer our Leadership Speaker Series, which allows students to interact with some of the world’s greatest international leaders,” said Madison.
Some of these past interactions have been with Ross Perot Jr., General Jim Mattis, Ambassador Kristie Kenney and Former Mexican President Vicente Fox.
To apply for admission, go online to https://www.iltexas.org/
