Dr. Elaine Ruiz Lopez: champion of education and charter school pioneer

It is the alumni who will continue telling this story and my hope and desire is they will be inspired by my story, that they were part of that.”

Dr. Elaine Ruiz Lopez

The International Leadership Charter High School, located at 3030 Riverdale Ave., is hiding a little-known secret — its founder, Dr. Elaine Ruiz Lopez. 

Lopez built the charter school from the ground up, opening in 2006 and, to date, graduating 14 classes of students. 

Growing up in the South Bronx, Lopez said, she was raised during a time of true upheaval in her neighborhood, when landlords were responding to unprofitable buildings with arson and racial tensions between the Puerto Rican and the Black communities were high. 

At the age of 16, Lopez gave birth to her daughter, which led her to feel neglected in high school, and she dropped out. Still, she pressed on, receiving her GED and continuing her education at City College so she could pursue a career in teaching. 

For Lopez, returning to the South Bronx after graduation was just as important as the degree she’d earned. She wanted to make a difference in the lives of children who looked like her and her siblings, giving them a chance at a quality education.

Once she started teaching, she knew she wanted more. Her dream of opening her own school was just out of reach, so Lopez continued her own education, earning a Master of Science from Bank Street College of Education and a doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College. 

“I was determined to open up a school that would make a difference in the lives of children in the community,” Lopez said. 

She began daydreaming about the design of her dream school in the 90s. At that time, Lopez said, there weren’t many opportunities to establish an independent and autonomous school through the New York City public school system. 

The National Center for Education Statistics published data depicting the rise of charter schools beginning in 2010, with enrollment doubling over the next 10 years. When Lopez opened her school in 2006, it was the beginning of the rise of charter schools. 

Charter schools differ from other public high schools because they do not answer to a superintendent or district, instead, they have a board that serves as the decision maker. This also means charter schools are not offered the same funding, ultimately receiving 25 to 30 percent less per student for costs like operations, salaries and rent. 

The International Leadership Charter School currently occupies a building it owns, purchased in 2013, after operating in a commercial facility for 10 years and paying rent for the space. Today, the school continues to pay the mortgage on top of the other management costs. 

Dispelling one of the main rumors often circling charter schools, Lopez said the students are hand-picked to meet the standards of the school. Charter schools operate on a lottery system in which children apply for acceptance and the applications are selected on a lottery system. 

Lopez’s goal? “A high school that would treat all students as…capable and as if they were gifted and talented, and provide them with opportunities they may not have elsewhere,” she said.  

For her, the main sign of her success has been watching her alumni succeed after graduating. At Lopez’s recent signing for her memoir, held Sept. 25 in her school, a number of graduates returned for the event, to her delight. 

“It is the alumni who will continue telling this story,” Lopez said. “And my hope and desire is they will be inspired by my story, that they were part of that.”

In June, Lopez released her memoir, The Fight for Equity in the Bronx, a tale of her childhood in the South Bronx and how it shaped her lifelong pursuit of providing education for others. 

Residing in Riverdale, Lopez said she takes great pride in her work at the school over the last nearly 20 years, even more so now that they are building a campus for their middle school to join them on West 232nd Street. 

The high school services more than 400 students, and Lopez says all them graduate after getting accepted to the colleges of their choice, 95 percent graduate in four years and 100 percent graduate in five. 

Lopez has faced numerous obstacles in the building of her lifelong dream, but she was determined not to let anything stop her. The vision for the school was a community-grown institution, which she feels she’s achieved. Lopez continues to serve as the chief executive of the high school while residing in Riverdale with no plans to leave either anytime soon. 

“It is my desire that our scholars will continue the fight for equity in the Bronx and for social justice,” she said.