Dominus High School, a start-up entrepreneurial academy in Wilkins with ties to the Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship, has made some crucial strides toward a fall 2025 opening.
For one, it has its founding principal: M. Louis Robinson III, a self-described “social edupreneur” with about 20 years of experience in education, including as a middle school co-principal for Middletown Public Schools in Connecticut.
“I have served in virtually every capacity that one can in the field of education, except for superintendent, although I am licensed as a superintendent,” he said.
Robinson most recently worked as the director of Black male engagement at the Center for Black Educator Development, a Philadelphia-based organization focused on increasing the number of Black teachers.
“When I heard about Dominus High School and it being an entrepreneurial theme … that immediately resonated with me,” he said.
Students at Dominus will choose between six paths: retail, culinary, law and education, arts and media, technology, and health care. Like its K-8 sister school in Penn Hills, promotional materials for Dominus tout a flexible, hands-on education with career readiness at the forefront.
Robinson agreed to take the job in mid-September for $107,000 a year and expects his appointment to be confirmed Oct. 21 by the Dominus board of directors. The high school’s website already lists him as principal.
Dominus also has hired directors of curriculum and instruction, admissions and enrollment, operations, and human resources. It is or soon will be recruiting a dean of students, director of school climate and culture, vice principal, administrative assistant, teachers and other staff.
Though the curriculum is still in the works, Robinson said he has a clear vision of the environment he wants to foster in his first solo principal gig.
“Not only will our students be intellectually sound, they will also have a strong and high sense of emotional intelligence. They will be empathetic. They will be respectful. They will be kind. They will be compassionate and passionate,” he said. “Because we have the benefit of starting from scratch, we also have the benefit of being able to instill these core values from the onset.”
But first, charter school officials need to transform an office building off Rodi Road in Wilkins into a high school — an endeavor that got township approval in June and some financial help in September.
PHCSE, in conjunction with its and Dominus’ parent nonprofit, the Advancing Youth Initiative, earned $200,000 last month by being named a Yass Prize semifinalist for excellence in supporting student needs.
Charter school officials still are deciding exactly how to split the money between the schools, according to Wayne Jones, founder of Dominus and CEO of PHCSE.
For Dominus, funding will support the planning phases of remodeling the office building.
The start-up and first year of operation is expected to cost $15 million.
Dominus is enrolling students in ninth and 10th grades for the 2025-26 school year until Dec. 9. The school hopes to enroll 250 students the first year and an additional 125 students in ninth grade the following two years.
PHCSE’s share will help to replace aging 3D printers, laser engravers and other equipment used by students for their businesses with newer, higher-end models.
“We know some of that equipment is at the end of its useful life,” Jones said. “We bought these things nearly eight years ago.”
