FCI – Policy Fellow

When did you become interested in Charter Schools?
I started my career as an ESOL teacher both abroad and in the Boston area. When I decided to reenter education after serving for five years in the Navy, I used my GI Bill to complete a graduate degree in education policy and leadership. During that time I got an internship working under Chris Ruszkowski, who had been the Secretary of Education in New Mexico and is a longtime promoter of school choice. I became interested in charter schools because I wanted to learn from more independent and innovative education models that were better serving the needs of kids. The experience led me to my first school leadership position as an Assistant Principal of Operations at a charter school in Nashville, TN.

How would you best describe your current role at FCI?
I’ve taken on a brand new role as FCI’s Policy Fellow. My goal is to research and write about the success of charter schools in the state and issues facing charter schools. I am also able to learn from and work alongside my colleagues in other areas of our organization, like school authorization and training.

What motivates you most in your work with charter schools, and what keeps you passionate about this field?
Working with FCI has been a tremendous experience so far, and I’ve learned a lot from the incredibly knowledgeable people on our team. They are education veterans each with unique skill sets. Staying close to schools and students is also important. Recently I got a chance to visit South Florida Autism Charter School as part of our ESE Conference, and it was a joy to see the services and the high quality of instruction students have access to, in addition to the staff’s dedication to their students.

What is the most critical challenge facing charter schools today, and how can leaders effectively address it?
In my experience, one of the biggest obstacles for an independent charter school is acquiring or expanding its facilities. Charter schools have to make sacrifices around services that require space like ESE, ELL, intervention, tutoring, PE, extracurricular activities, and parent conferences, and that is not fair to students. I would like to see school districts and charter schools find more ways to share existing space or make space available to charter school students.

Can you share an experience or initiative from your career that you are particularly proud of, and what impact did it have on students or schools?
I led operations for a small charter middle school in Nashville, TN when the students returned to in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year. After the pandemic, it was a hugely challenging time for students and school staff alike, and for many schools, ours included, it felt like we were relearning how to run a school. But despite the challenges we had a very successful school year and paved the way for our students’ success after the disruption of the pandemic.