Innovations Academy (IA) founder and school director Christine Kuglen is not afraid of hard work. She raised four children and homeschooled them until her oldest son decided he wanted to attend school. Disappointed with the options available and realizing that many others in the community were as well, Christine opened her own school, Innovations Academy seventeen years ago. Learn more about our fearless (well, except for poisonous snakes!) leader and our tuition-free public charter school serving K-8 grades.
Please tell us about your background and how you decided to found Innovations Academy.
I was a public school teacher until I gave birth to my first child. Once I held him in my arms, I knew that he needed me more than anything or anyone so I became a “be-with-my-child” mother, what I consider to be the most important job anyone has the opportunity to hold in their lifetime.
When he was of school age, it was apparent that attending school full time was not in his developmental interests, so I decided to homeschool. After all, I have a firm belief around parents owning their role as primary educators of their own children. I had three more children and continued to homeschool my children, another of the best decisions I have made in my life.
Once my oldest was approaching middle school, he asked to attend school and I began my research. I saw that there was a large demand for a school like the one I was seeking for my own children and ultimately made Innovations Academy for my children. I am passionately connected to the mission and vision of this school that has now been around for 17 years!
What’s the best part about your role at Innovations Academy? What’s the biggest challenge?
I am the founding director and I consider my job to lead the school forward while keeping us grounded to our mission. I will do anything from picking up trash to teaching a group of students. The biggest challenge is trying to protect the school community from the excessive and needless bureaucracy that is ever encroaching on our small school.
What do you LOVE about Innovations Academy? What sets it apart from other schools?
I love the connected community that has taken hold. I think we set ourselves apart in many ways including the curriculum design, the learning structure, the teacher freedom and the student engagement.
Tell us about some of the programs you’ve helped with and/or created for Innovations Academy.
As a leader I am into listening, creative thinking and flexibility. Our programs have come from teacher and parent input and then my creativity and action. These include our nature studies class, our ceramics program, the ambitious growth of our performing arts program, our Spanish program, our social emotional program in place since 2008, our middle school redesign (2024-25), our Solution Center counseling program and more.
What are some events you enjoy at Innovations Academy?
There is nothing nicer than seeing parents having fun with their children. This includes, first and foremost, our Exhibition Nights, which happen twice a year and showcase student learning. Other events are the Halloween Carnival and Valentine’s Dance and, of course, our school performances put on by our amazing performing arts teacher and crew.
How do you help students powerfully create their lives?
We all create our lives through self-expression, compassionate connection and purposeful learning, components of our mission that you will experience daily.
-Self-expression involves students having a voice, learning about their interests and abilities and learning to take ownership of their opinions, thoughts and knowledge.
-Compassionate connection involves making sure we all know each other and about each other and that we learn to work with everyone and directly resolve issues as they arise, because they will arise.
-And purposeful learning is about making sure that academics are learned in context as much as possible and we help students understand the application of the skills they are learning.
There are great Social Emotional Learning activities/opportunities at Innovations Academy. Can you share a story about seeing learners using them in action?
Students learn over time that we are solution seekers. Whenever there is an issue to resolve, it is best to face it, to speak with the other parties, to apply our self-regulation skills and to overcome issues and misunderstandings. Children come into our school expressing fear of being punished and “getting in trouble” which inhibits them from discovering that we can have conflict and make mistakes and learn from those experiences to continue to move toward our goal of doing the right thing when nobody is looking and use our mistakes as opportunities to learn.
Fun Facts About Christine:
I am the proud mother of four amazing children andnd the wife of a wonderful man. Raising my children made me the person that I am today.
I love animals and my love for my own most recent dog who passed away in 2020 (and other pets throughout my life), is the reason you will see dogs (and other animals as class pets) on campus throughout the week.
I am very into my health. I believe I am responsible 100% for my own health. I eat vegan (except when out in public and the only version of vegan is a lame salad), I practice deep breathing and cold immersion and I do hot yoga.
I believe in personal responsibility and living a no-blame game in life. That is very hard to do. I fail often and I get up and keep moving forward.
Thanks Christine for sharing more about yourself and our incredible school! Find out more about Innovations Academy and enroll today!
About Innovations Academy:
Innovations Academy is a tuition-free public charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in San Diego, California. Our small school values a hands-on, inquiry-based education with high academic standards using self-expression, compassionate connection, and purposeful learning. Our new modern campus is intentionally designed with curiosity and exploration in mind. Join our innovative school today! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Find us at innovationsacademy.org.