Advisory Committee
The Urban School Boards Initiative has been
guided by members of a project Advisory
Committee, who have contributed their time,
knowledge, expertise, and resources to this
project. Members of the Advisory Committee
include:
James B. Crow, Executive Director, Texas
Association of School Boards
Jeff Horton, School Board Member, Los Angeles
Unified School District
John Johnson II, Deputy Superintendent, Miami-
Dade County Public Schools
Floretta Dukes McKenzie, Chairwoman and CEO,
The McKenzie Group, Inc.
Michael Preston, Board Member, Seattle School
District #1; Chair, Council of Urban Boards of
Education, National School Boards Association
Jean Quan, Director, Board of Education,
Oakland Unified School District; Vice Chair,
Council of Urban Boards of Education, National
School Boards Association
Maggie Schmidt, Vice President, Pittsburgh
Board of Education
Participants in the Roundtable
The following education, business, and
foundation leaders met in Washington, D.C., on
September 28 and 29, 1998, to discuss the
results from the Urban School Boards
Initiative's national poll, and to draw upon
their experiences as they helped identify
strategies for improving urban school boards'
effectiveness in helping their districts raise
student achievement.
Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent,
District of Columbia Public Schools
Anthony Alvarado, Chancellor of
Instruction, San Diego City Schools
Lynwood Battle, Manager, Diversity,
Procter & Gamble; Member, Cincinnati Board of
Education
Evelyn Berry, Executive Director, South
Carolina School Boards Association
Amanda Broun, Vice President, Public
Education Network
Anne Bryant, Executive Director,
National School Boards Association
Kelly Butler, Executive Director,
Parents for Public Schools, Inc.
Davis Campbell, Executive Director,
California School Boards Association
Terry Crane, President, Jostens
Learning Corporation; Chairman, National
School Boards Foundation
Mike Fernandez, Vice President, Public
Relations, U S WEST; Trustee, National School
Boards Foundation; Former Commissioner,
Rochester Board of Education
Harry Garewal, Board Member, Phoenix
Union High School District #210; Vice
President, National Caucus of Hispanic School
Board Members
Salin Geevarghese, Associate Director
of Grantmaking, BellSouth Foundation
Anne Hallett, Executive Director, Cross
City Campaign for Urban School Reform
LaMar Haynes, Director, Center for the
Revitalization of Urban Education, National
Education Association
Judson Hixson, Senior Program
Consultant, National Central Regional
Educational Laboratory
Sandra Jensen, Board Vice President,
School District of Omaha, Nebraska; Director,
National School Boards Association
John Johnson II, Deputy Superintendent,
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Joann Knuth, Principal, Highland Park
Senior High School, St. Paul, Minnesota
Joan Kowal, Superintendent, Palm Beach
County Schools; Trustee, National School
Boards Foundation
Floretta Dukes McKenzie, Chairwoman and
CEO, The McKenzie Group, Inc.; Trustee,
National School Boards Foundation; former
Superintendent, District of Columbia Public
Schools
Tom Mooney, President, Cincinnati
Federation of Teachers
Steve Palko, President and Vice
Chairman, Cross Timbers Oil Company; former
Board Member, Fort Worth Independent School
District
Lee Etta Powell, Professor of Education
Administration, George Washington University;
former Superintendent, Cincinnati Public
Schools
Michael Preston, Board Member, Seattle
School District #1; Chair, Council of Urban
Boards of Education, National School Boards
Association
Jean Quan, Director, Board of
Education, Oakland Unified School District;
Vice Chair, Council of Urban Boards of
Education, National School Boards Association
Howard Rawlings, Delegate, District 40,
Maryland House of Delegates
Bella Rosenberg, Assistant to the
President, American Federation of Teachers
Miguel Satut, Program Director, W. K.
Kellogg Foundation
Maggie Schmidt, Vice President,
Pittsburgh Board of Education
Elois Scott, Education Specialist,
United States Department of Education
Robert Sexton, Executive Director,
Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
Vivien Stewart, Program Chair,
Education and Healthy Development of Youth,
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Michael Usdan, President, Institute for
Educational Leadership
Barbara Wheeler, Board Member,
Community High School District 99, DuPage
County, Illinois; President, National School
Boards Association
Wayne Winborne, Director of Program and
Policy Research, The National Conference for
Community and Justice
Ron Wolk, Chairman of the Board,
Editorial Projects in Education
Kenneth Wong, Associate Professor,
Department of Education, University of Chicago
Project Staff
Ann Meier Baker, Project Director
Katrina Kelley, Associate Project
Director
Rebecca Carrigan, Project Assistant
Project Advisers
Harold P. Seamon, Deputy Executive
Director, National School Boards Association
Don E. Blom, Associate Executive
Director, National School Boards Association
John Butler, Director, Public
Relations, National School Boards Association
Kristen Kurtenbach, Vice President,
Millennium Communications Group, Inc.
Project Partners and Consultants
The National School Boards Foundation
encourages and prepares local school boards to
become catalysts for educational change and
agents for systemic reform in the public
schools so that all students will be prepared
to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Launched
in December 1995 by the National School Boards
Association, the Foundation accomplishes its
mission in three ways: by launching innovative
projects; by working in partnership with other
organizations and individuals; and by
disseminating lessons learned.
The National School Boards Association is a
not-for-profit federation of state
associations of school boards across the
country. As the nationwide advocacy
organization for public school governance, its
mission is to foster excellence and equity in
public elementary and secondary education
through local school board leadership. NSBA's
Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE)
has a membership of 90 urban school districts
whose school boards make decisions that affect
the lives of 6.5 million children across the
country.
The project roundtable facilitation, meeting
design, and documentation were provided by
William Keens and Rebecca Lewis of Wolf
Keens & Company, Falls Church, Virginia,
which specializes in consulting services that
help nonprofit organizations and public
agencies accomplish their missions and meet
the challenges of change.
Nancy Belden of Belden, Russonello &
Stewart, Washington, D.C., designed and
administered the national public opinion
research. Belden, Russonello & Stewart
provides professional polls and focus groups
to nonprofit groups, educational
organizations, political campaigns, the news
media, and others.
Adam Kernan-Schloss of A-Plus
Communications, Arlington, Virginia,
provided communications consulting services on
every aspect of the project. A-Plus has
consulted to many of the nation's leading
reform groups and some of the nation's largest
school districts.
