Executive Director, Libertas Academy Charter School

When Modesto Montero-Forman was named to the 40 Under Forty class of 2020, the school he founded — Libertas Academy Charter School in Springfield — was already a burgeoning success story, expanding from just 90 sixth-graders at its start in 2017 to a full middle school. But plenty of growth was still to come.

“We found a building on Chestnut Street that served as our starter home — an office building that we converted into a school and blew out some walls to open a number of classrooms,” he recalled. “And the focus for the first portion of our history was really getting the school off the ground and getting the right academic performance.”

Modesto Montero-Forman when he was named to the 40 Under Forty class of 2020

Today, after adding a grade each year — with a slight pause for the pandemic — and expanding to both a middle and high school, Libertas Academy now serves just under 600 students in grades 6-12, having graduated its first senior class in 2025.

“As a college prep school, our goal is to prepare our students academically, socially, and emotionally for the demands of college. And last year was the first year that we got to do that. We’re proud to say that 100% of our students were accepted into a four-year college,” Montero-Forman explained, with 87% of them choosing to follow that higher-ed path.

While opening a school almost a decade ago was a major challenge, he added, “in the second half of our founding story, the focus has been on getting the high school right, ensuring that we have a robust college prep program and support. Our college team supports our students throughout the entire process, everything from SAT preparation to crafting their college list to writing the personal statements for their applications and working with families on the FAFSA.”

It all culminates in an energetic ‘senior signing day’ when the students’ achievements and future plans are celebrated. That all resonates with Montero-Forman, who has always described himself as forward-looking.

He said his upbringing — in a low-income, Christian home — fostered a sense of focus and a dedication to finding a way to make a difference in his community.

As an immigrant, he initially thought about becoming an immigration lawyer, but while in college, he worked for an Upward Bound program as a mentor and tutor, and was instantly drawn to working with young people in communities like the ones Libertas now serves, he told BusinessWest, explaining his path into the education world.

Part of that trajectory, in recent years, has been securing the school’s current home on Liberty Street, a new structure that Libertas leases, and raising $3 million from private individuals and foundations to outfit for its March 2025 opening.

“We just had classrooms before, no specialty spaces, and we knew that our students deserved and needed so much more than that,” he said. “So we were able to secure a partnership with a private developer here in Springfield who was able to work with us to design a school to fit our model. So now we have a gym, a cafeteria, an art room, a weight room, a music room, a library — all those things that we didn’t have before. And this is our permanent home.”

“Now we have a gym, a cafeteria, an art room, a weight room, a music room, a library — all those things that we didn’t have before. And this is our permanent home.”

It’s also one of the highest-performing charter schools in Massachusetts. In the most recent MCAS results, students have shown dramatic increases in proficiency; the school ranks first in Massachusetts for student growth in math and third for growth in English language arts (ELA). Libertas is also one of only 13 school districts that is outperforming pre-pandemic performance in both ELA and math.

“Seeing our mission come to fruition — getting students to graduate from high school and, more importantly, persist in college — has been very gratifying,” Montero-Forman said, adding that those efforts include a scholarship program and other supports for alumni that help them stay on their path in college.

“Most of our students are, like me, first-generation college students. And that may not have been the trajectory they would have experienced in a different school system. I think we’ve played an integral role in showing them what was possible and preparing them academically, and then providing the right supports along the way so that not only could they envision themselves in those spaces, but they could actually be admitted into those institutions and now persist.”

Montero-Forman is persisting in other ways; he’s currently board president of the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley, and he was chosen for a program called the North Star Fellowship, through which he has worked to research and understand the education landscape in Connecticut, specifically Hartford, since it’s close to Springfield and serves a similar population.

“We are very much considering opening a second school in the Hartford community, hopefully by the fall of ’28,” he said.

He has also married since his 40 Under Forty recognition. “We are hoping to adopt,” he told BusinessWest. “I will continue to do good work here at Libertas, but growing my family and thinking about legacy and impact … that’s what I’m really excited about.”

—Joseph Bednar