500 W.

Algonquin Road
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
ek11@eneskanter11.com
(862) 254-0897

Enes Kanter School for Exceptional Learning (EKSEL)

Charter School Letter of Intent to Apply

Mr. Ronald Grant

Oklahoma City Public Schools
Charter Schools Administrator

Dear Mr. Grant,

My name is Enes Kanter. I am a professional basketball player who played for the Oklahoma City
Thunder and currently plays for the Boston Celtics. My partners and I are pleased to inform you that we
will be submitting a charter school application on January 14, 2020. Our main goal in opening a charter
school is to provide quality education for the students of Oklahoma City. The name of our proposed
charter school is Enes Kanter School for Exceptional Learning (EKSEL). EKSEL will serve students from 4th
through 12th grade.

EKSEL Charter School will provide high quality and engaging classroom learning experiences for
culturally and academically diverse students in Oklahoma City. The following strategies will distinguish
the proposed school from other public and private school options:

increasing English instructional and reading time in an orderly learning environment equipped
with the most recent educational technologies and tools,
embedding rich sports and arts ac i i ies in s den s daily schedule,
focusing on physical, emotional, and mental health and wellness education
offering a curriculum that highlights reading, writing, math, and science skills,
providing effective supervision of teaching and learning,
attracting, hiring, and retaining high quality teachers with ongoing training, professional
development, and post-graduate educational opportunities, and
providing specific activities for parents to improve their knowledge and understanding of their
children s ed ca ion.

We anticipate that EKSEL will serve primarily minority students who come from low-income families,
many of whom are first generation immigrant families with low English language skills. EKSEL wants to
serve minority students as students of color, students with limited English proficiency, and students
 from low-income families who may not receive quality education equally in math and science related
subjects as students who are from higher social and economic status (Noguera, 2008). In addition,
parents of African-American and Hispanic students are more reluctant to engage i h heir children s
school (McKenna & Millen, 2013). EKSEL will ensure that students, who are currently underserved, will
receive the appropriate instruction and support to achieve academic success.

Our applicant group consists of civic-minded individuals who are well-known in the Oklahoma City
community. The following is a brief background of the key individuals on our team:

1. Mary Blankenship Pointer Ms. Blankenship Pointer is a professional banker with over twenty-five
years of banking experience, including business development, commercial lending, and private
banking. She is currently the Senior Vice President of Frontier State Bank. Ms. Blankenship Pointer
has devoted herself to public service. She has volunteered numerous hours throughout the years
with civic and nonprofit organizations. Ms. Blankenship Poin er s efforts earned her a President's Call
to Service Award, signifying a lifetime achievement for volunteerism of more than 10,000 hours.

She has served in various leadership roles with local philanthropic organizations whose aim is to help
the people of Oklahoma. She was instrumental in ensuring that the missions of the following
organizations were fulfilled: The McBride Foundation, Allied Arts, Huntington's Disease Association,
Traveler's Aid, Prevent Blindness Oklahoma, Central Oklahoma Turning Point Tobacco Use Prevention
Coalition, and Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park.

2. Sam Fulkerson Mr F lkerson is an eq i shareholder and he Managing Shareholder for Ogle ree s
Oklahoma City office. Since 1991, Mr. Fulkerson has exclusively represented management in all areas
of employment law. Much of his practice is devoted to counseling clients on best practices in the
workplace and routinely involves the training of management and hourly employees; counseling on
disciplinary, organizational and general business issues; legal compliance, including hiring practices,
employee classification and wage issues. He has received numerous professional honors such as Best
Lawyers of America and Oklahoma City Labor Lawyer of the Year for the following years: 2012, 2015,
2017.

Mr. Fulkerson received an appointment from former Governor Mary Fallin to serve as the
Commissioner of the Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission from 2016-2019. In addition, he
currently serves as a board member for multiple community organizations such as Homeless Alliance,
New View Oklahoma, Cristo Rey Catholic School, Rotary International, Scissortial Community
Development Corporation (Hispanic community business development), and Urban League of
Greater Community Oklahoma City.

3. Jonna D. Kauger Kirschner Ms. Kirschner is the first ever Senior Vice President of Economic
Development for the Chickasaw Nation Industries Inc. Her current role is to enhance CNI's ability to
grow its economic impact by positioning its businesses to operate and thrive in the competitive
market. Before joining CNI, she served as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of
Commerce where she had been General Counsel for over ten years. She was a member of Class V of
he Go ernor s Economic De elopmen Program for S a e Officials

Ms. Kirschner is a member of various professional organizations including the Oklahoma Economic
Development Council, he Go ernor s Economic De elopmen and Marke ing Team he Go ernor s
International Team, and Oklahoma Champions for Early Opportunities. She also serves on the
Executive Committee of the International Inter-tribal Trade and Investment Organization.
 Ms. Kirschner served on the OETA 60th Anniversary Gala Committee and was the Co-Chair of the 2017
gala, and as he Chair of he YWCA of Oklahoma Ci s th Annual Purple Sash Gala to benefit
victims of domestic violence. She was the Chair of the 2017 and 2018 Oklahoma Symphony Show
Ho se Pa rons Par She ser ed as he Co-Chair of the 2018 and 2019 Private Reserve for the
Community Literacy Centers.

4. Enes Kanter – I am a professional basketball player currently playing for the Boston
Celtics. Formerly, I was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder for three seasons from 2014-2016.
Despite playing for other teams, I continue to return to Oklahoma City to host my annual
basketball summer camps and to support programs that serve the OKC children. Through my
foundation, my philanthropic activities extend to all of the cities where I have played for: Utah,
Portland, New York, and Boston.

While the EKSEL team has been actively searching, we have not identified a site for our proposed school.
However, our goal is to situate EKSEL Charter School where the need is high. Therefore, we will be
amenable to any location that your office may suggest.

We look forward to working with your team. Please let us know if you need any additional information
prior to our application submission.

Sincerely,

Enes Kanter

12/11/2019