EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Executive Director - Scott Pearson
Scott Pearson joined PCSB as executive director in January 2012. He previously served in the Obama Administration’s Department of Education as Deputy in the Office of Innovation and Improvement, where his portfolio included school choice, charter schools, education innovation and education for military families. Before that, he was active in civic affairs in San Francisco, co-founding and serving as the board chair for Leadership Public Schools, a charter management organization serving low-income communities with college-preparatory high schools. He has had a long career in business with America Online and Bain and Company, and served as a trade negotiator during the Clinton Administration. Mr. Pearson holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Deputy Director - Naomi Rubin DeVeaux
Naomi Rubin DeVeaux leads the School Performance Department, which is made of up of four teams –School Quality and Accountability; Charter Agreement; Equity and Fidelity; and Data – that are responsible for the development and implementation of qualitative and quantitative tools to evaluate DC’s public charter schools. Before joining the PCSB in January 2012, she was Deputy Director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS), where she led the effort to develop and publish the first school quality dashboards that compare public and public charter school performance across the city, and co-authored ‘Choice Without Options,’ a 2011 study of DC school reform. She has presented to national audiences on Common Core State Standards and charter school design and development. She has extensive experience working in urban education as both a teacher and literacy coach in California, in the Long Beach Unified School District, and in DC at SEED Public Charter School. Ms. DeVeaux earned her bachelor’s degree from Reed College, a Master in Curriculum and Instruction from California State University, Long Beach, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany.
Nicole L. Streeter joined PCSB in October 2012 as its first General Counsel. She provides legal and policy knowledge, expertise and judgment to all phases of PCSB's operations, including but not limited to charter agreements, renewals and revocations, annual reporting, grants, contracts and ethics. Previously, she served as the Deputy General Counsel for DC Public Schools, where she provided legal advice and counsel on education matters and drafted legislation and rulemaking. Before that, she worked on several pieces of education legislation with then-Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, including the Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007, which marked the historic DC public education shift to mayoral control, and the Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Amendment Act of 2008. She also served as Legislative Counsel to then-Ward 7 Councilmember Gray, and as Director of Legal Services for Covenant House Washington, the city's largest privately-funded agency serving runaway and homeless youth. She began her legal career as a litigator in the U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program, the largest and most prestigious federal entry-level attorney hiring program of its kind. She is admitted to the Supreme Court of the State of California and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Ms. Streeter holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from the University of California at Berkeley.
Assistant - Isoken Igodan
Isoken Igodan is the assistant to the executive director. She keeps minutes for all of the monthly board meetings and is also a member of PCSB's Finance and Operations department. Previously, she worked in the hospitality industry as an executive assistant to the general manager of Marriott Hotels in DC. She also completed a hospitality internship in Turkey in 2010. Ms. Igodan holds an Associate degree in Political Science from Los Angeles Pierce College and a bachelor’s degree from Howard University.
COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
Director of Communications – Theola Labbé-DeBose
Theola Labbé-DeBose leads the Communications department, which is responsible for PCSB’s external communications, government relations and philanthropic relations strategy. Her team also handles parent, school and community outreach and special events such as the annual DC Public Charter School Recruitment Expo. Before joining PCSB in May 2012, she spent more than a decade as a reporter at The Washington Post, where she was an award-winning international correspondent and wrote extensively about education reform and charter schools. She has also covered issues of crime, child welfare, social services and juvenile justice, and reported from Haiti – where her parents were born – and from Iraq. Her work in the Middle East garnered her recognition as the Emerging Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists. Ms. Labbé-DeBose earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Princeton University and a Master of Journalism degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Audrey Williams manages PCSB’s government relations strategy, interacting with the Office of the Mayor, DC Council, U.S. Congress and other entities. She serves as PCSB's spokesperson to the media, pitching stories to reporters and writing PCSB press releases. Previously, she was a public affairs officer with the former DC Board of Education, DC Public Schools and worked in telecommunications marketing at Verizon. She was a 1998 Congressional Fellow with the Brookings Institution, working as a legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) and helping to rewrite legislation and negotiate on the member’s behalf as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Ms. Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from New York University and a Master of Science in Marketing from the University of Maryland, University College.
FINANCE AND OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT
Chief Financial Officer – Jeremy Williams
Jeremy Williams leads PCSB’s Finance and Operations Department, which is responsible for PCSB procedures related to accounting, contracts and procurement, human resources and office maintenance. As PCSB’s Chief Financial Officer, he is responsible for monitoring the financial activities of all public charter schools, which includes their financial reporting, contracts and procurement, enrollment and the DC Teacher Retirement plan. He has developed financial evaluation tools specific to public charter schools and presented his work to national audiences. Mr. Williams earned a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Florida A&M University, a Masters in Business Administration from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and an Executive Certificate in Financial Planning from Georgetown University.
Financial Analyst – Lin Johnson III
Lin Johnson III provides support to the PCSB’s CFO on the financial monitoring of all public charter schools, including financial reporting, procurement and contracts, and enrollment. Also, he assists PCSB’s procedures related to budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, and fiscal planning. Previously, he served as a public finance associate at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services where he focused on school districts with the Midwestern region. Mr. Johnson earned her bachelor’s degree from Reed College, a Master in Business Administration from MIT Sloan School of Management, a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Operations Coordinator – Richard Fowler
Richard Fowler coordinates special projects and liaisons with DC government agencies on citywide projects involving public charter schools. Previously, he worked in the admissions office of Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Fowler holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from George Washington University and a graduate certificate in Project Management from Georgetown University.
Operations Assistant - Charlene Haigler-Mickles
Charlene Haigler-Mickles assists with meeting planning and provides other administrative support to PCSB staff members. Before that she worked as an office manager in Washington DC for a child welfare nonprofit organization. Mrs. Haigler-Mickles holds an Associate of Science in Business Management from Averett University.
Receptionist - Janell Davis
jdavis@dcpcsb.org
Janell Davis is the face and voice of PCSB for office visitors and on incoming calls from members of the public. She manages projects related to office operations and provides administrative support to PCSB staff members.
HUMAN CAPITAL AND STRATEGIC INITIATIVES DEPARTMENT
Director, Human Capital and Strategic Initiatives – Clara Hess, Ph.D.
Dr. Clara Hess leads all of PCSB’s human resources and other strategic initiatives. She also works with the Deputy Mayor for Education to support public charter schools on issues such as facilities. She worked in a previous role at the PCSB developing the revised version of the Performance Management Framework (PMF), the PCSB’s tool for assessing and monitoring charter school performance. She has researched teacher and staff retention, technology in the classroom, adult learning, job performance and trust in leadership, and has presented her findings to national audiences. Previously, she worked at the Raleigh, NC-based Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. She began her career in education as a Teach For America high school teacher in Eastern North Carolina and sits on the DC alumni board for Education Pioneers. Dr. Hess holds a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies and Psychology from the University of Georgia and earned her Master and Doctoral degrees in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from North Carolina State University.
Human Capital Associate – Patricia Cisneros
Patricia Cisneros manages projects for the Operations Team and the Human Resources departments and assists with the oversight of the October enrollment submissions from public charter schools. Ms. Cisneros also manages Human Resources projects that support the day-to-day operations of PCSB.
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE DEPARTMENT
School Quality and Accountability Team
Manager, School Quality and Accountability – Rashida Tyler
Rashida Tyler leads the School Quality and Accountability Team, which is responsible for public charter school accountability plans, the Performance Management Framework (PMF) for standard, early childhood and adult education public charter schools and qualitative assessments of academic performance. Her team also ensures public charter school adherence to federal and state academic requirements. Before joining the PCSB in June 2012, she was a teacher and later an assistant principal and principal in Harlem, NY and Washington, DC for 10 years. She was also a founding Co-Principal of the middle school campus of Maya Angelou Public Charter School and has worked as an IT analyst. Ms. Tyler holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Masters in Teaching from Pace University and Educational Administration and Supervision from Trinity University.
Specialist, School Quality and Accountability – Erin Kupferberg
Erin Kupferberg manages projects related to school accountability and early childhood education including the Early Childhood Performance Management Framework and Early Childhood Accountability Plans. Previously, she worked as a charter school authorizer for Duval County Public Schools in Florida. She has also worked as an administrator for educational programs at Jacksonville University and maintains her secondary science professional teaching certificate. Ms. Kupferberg holds a Bachelor of Science in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience from University of California, San Diego, and Masters of Arts in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University.
Specialist, School Quality and Accountability – Emma Nolan McGann
Emma Nolan McGann supports the School Quality and Accountability team by providing qualitative assessments of school performance of public charter schools. She is also responsible for supporting public charter schools in the District of Columbia’s ESEA Waiver implementation process, which began in Fall 2012. Prior to joining PCSB, Ms. McGann held various roles in DC Public Schools in the Office of School Innovation and the Office of School Turnaround, including Manager of the Partnership Schools Program and School Improvement Grant Manager. Ms. McGann also has a range of teaching experience, including two years teaching English abroad, and teaching English as a Second Language in the DC public charter school system. Ms. McGann holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Italian from the University of Notre Dame. She also earned a Master of Education in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Data Analyst – Ashok Oli
Ashok Oli manages the data and research related to PCSB’s school performance accountability system, the Performance Management Framework (PMF). He has analyzed large and small datasets and previously worked as a consultant on a fraud mining project and supervised and unsupervised statistical modeling. Mr. Oli holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Pokhara University in Nepal, a Master’s Degree in Economics Research from the University of North Texas and is a certified Advanced SAS Programmer.
Charter Agreement Team
Senior Manager, Charter Agreement - Monique Miller
Monique Miller leads the charter agreement team, which focuses on all aspects of the public charter school life-cycle: applications, approvals/denials, opening, amendments, renewals, replication and closure. She serves as the point of contact on topics such as English Language Learners, Common Core State Standards and the PARCC Assessment. Previously, she directed a multi-city public information campaign to inform parents of their rights to exercise public school choice. She was a Teach for America teacher in DC Public Schools. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and Social Policy with a concentration in Organizational Studies from Northwestern University.
Specialist, Charter Agreement - Sarah Medway
smedway@dcpcsb.org
Sarah Medway, a member of the Charter Agreement Team, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004 with a B.A. in Government, and received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2008. During law school, Sarah participated in the Georgetown Street Law Clinic, where she taught an introductory legal course at Dunbar Senior High School. After graduation, Sarah practiced at the law firm Seyfarth Shaw in New York, where she specialized in employment litigation. Following this, she worked in Kenya with Flying Kites, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the standards of care for orphaned and vulnerable children, and then returned to Georgetown to complete a clinical teaching fellowship with the Street Law Clinic, through which she earned a LL.M. in Advocacy in 2012.
Associate Specialist, Charter Agreement - Mustafa Nusraty
Mustafa Nusraty works as an Associate Specialist on the Charter Agreement team where he is responsible for working with charter schools on all aspects of the charter lifecycle. This includes the charter application process, five and ten year reviews, charter renewals, and school closures among other assignments. Prior to joining the PCSB he worked for four years as anaide in the U.S. House of Representative and U.S. Senate, handling administrative affairs, constituent relations, and legislation related to education, banking, the federal budget and international trade. Mr. Nusraty holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland.
Equity and Fidelity Assurance Team
Manager, Equity and Fidelity Assurance
- Rashida Kennedy
Rashida Kennedy leads the Equity and Fidelity Team, which focuses on all non-academic public charter school indicators of school quality such as attendance, discipline and issues of public safety. She manages projects relating to charter school compliance, accreditation, and truancy. She also works with projects related to early childhood education, including the Early Childhood Performance Management Framework and Early Childhood Accountability Plans. She was a teacher for ten years in Virginia and Washington DC, in both traditional public and charter schools. As a teacher, she developed high school curriculum, served as a social studies department chairperson and a coach. Ms. Kennedy studied at Hampton University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Masters in Teaching.
Specialist, Equity and Fidelity Assurance - Charlotte Cureton
Charlotte Cureton manages projects on public charter schools records reviews, stakeholder complaints, discipline policies and compliance reviews. She is also the point of contact on public safety issues and the liaison to the Metropolitan Police Department. She has taught in the U.S. Virgin Islands and worked in the DC Public Schools as a teacher and administrator. She has also worked as a public charter school administrator. Ms. Cureton holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a Master of Education in Educational Technology from Howard University.
Specialist, Equity and Fidelity Assurance - Amanda Stefanski
astefanski@dcpcsb.org
Amanda Stefanski assists on projects related to equity and fidelity, with a focus on special education related issues. Her work will also include the development of an equity report for PCSB. Prior to joining PCSB, Amanda worked at the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, advising on special education projects. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Teacher Education and Professional Development at the University of Maryland. Before that, Amanda taught secondary special education in both Miami, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina. During her time in Charlotte, she participated in the Yale National Initiative, achieved National Board Certification, and was nominated as the Exceptional Children’s Teacher of the Year.
Data Analyst – Tim Harwood
Tim Harwood analyzes non-academic public charter school performance data such as suspensions, withdrawals and attendance, in order to analyze a public charter school's approach to providing a fair and equitable education to all students. He helps develop the PCSB’s school equity reports and qualitative metrics to be used on comprehensive public charter school site visits. Before joining the PCSB in June 2012, he was a Research Associate at Bethesda-based Editorial Projects in Education, where he collected, scrubbed and synthesized data from state education agencies and worked on Education Week’s Quality Counts and Diplomas Count reports. He was also an intern at Education Sector, an independent education policy think tank, where he helped develop an alternative high school accountability system to standardized tests. He began his education career as a first- and second-grade science teacher. Mr. Harwood earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Kenyon College and a Masters in Public Policy from the College of William and Mary.
Specialist, Special Education - Avni Patel
apatel@dcpcsb.org
Avni Patel leads PCSB’s special education service delivery and compliance initiatives with public charter schools. Her work includes developing performance management methods to assess and monitor PCSB’s efforts to provide a high-quality academic program for public charter students with special needs, and assistance with the implementation of applicable laws. Previously, she worked in the special education division of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) as a placement coordinator, collaborating with public charter schools to ensure students with disabilities were being supported within the most appropriate educational setting. She became interested in education early in her career through managing the recruitment and training of student volunteers for the national nonprofit Peace First. She later went on to serve as a middle school special education and general education history teacher with the Teach For America program in Los Angeles, California. Ms. Patel earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a Business Minor from the University of Southern California and a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Data Team
Manager of Strategy and Analysis - Mikayla Lytton
mlytton@dcpcsb.org
Mikayla Lytton joined PCSB as an Education Pioneers Analyst Fellow to help PCSB redesign its data collection and distribution processes to improve efficiency and accuracy. Before joining PCSB in August of 2012, Mikayla worked as a data analyst and project manager for Morningstar, a leading provider of independent investment research. There, she coordinated initiatives to help individual investors understand fund managers’ complex strategies in fixed-income and derivatives investments. Mikayla earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with a minor in history from Oberlin College.