Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools welcomes its first cohort of talented educators for New Leaders for New Schools. They are:

• Kristine Barberio
• Paul Barnhardt
• Calandra Davis
• Angela Grant
• Sonja Hale
• Alison Harris
• Arlene Harris
• Tiffany Ray
• Rashada Simmons-Tedder

New Leaders for New Schools is a nationally recognized non-profit organization that helps prepare passionate and effective educators to become successful principals in high-need schools within CMS.

“New Leaders for New Schools represents an exciting opportunity for CMS to partner with a reform-minded organization committed to narrowing the student achievement gap in urban public schools, said Chief Academic Officer Ann Clark. “A partnership with New Leaders creates the opportunity for CMS to raise the bar on the recruitment, training and retention of principals for our most challenged schools and for our overall leadership pipeline to be strengthened in the decade to come.”

CMS received more than 180 applications for the first group. The nine-member cohort was selected through an intensive, evidence-based admissions process. Five cohort members come from outside the district and four are high performers from within CMS. The Charlotte New Leaders have experience in companies, non-profit organizations, school districts, alternative and charter schools and universities.

More than 50 talented new principals will be trained and supported throughout the next six years. The new principals will replace those who retire or leave CMS. Each principal is expected to make a long-term commitment to serve CMS and commit to achieving ambitious goals for students.

“We believe that Charlotte can and will be the first national example for not only narrowing, but eliminating the achievement gap that exists between low income students and their wealthier peers,” said Eric Guckian, executive director for the Charlotte New Leaders for New Schools. “New Leaders for New Schools is tremendously excited about our inaugural group being a part of this collective effort to ensure that all students achieve academic excellence.”

Here’s some background information on the Charlotte cohort:

Kristine Barberio:

Hometown: Houston

Alma Mater: Boston University and California State University, Dominguez Hills

Anticipated grade level: Elementary

Professional history and accomplishments:

• High performing fifth grade teacher in Monroe, Wingate and Charlotte for the last six years
• Spent first 12 years of her career as a nonprofit leader, where she last served as the associate executive director of Camp Fire USA in Long Beach, Calif.
• Also served as the program director for the YMCA in California

Paul B. Barnhardt:

Hometown: Stanfield, N.C.

Alma Mater: UNC Chapel Hill and Delta State University

Anticipated grade level:  K-8

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Selected as Teach for America teacher in 2001 to serve in the rural Mississippi Delta, one of the highest need areas of the United States and has spent the last eight years serving in a variety of management and leadership capacities to narrow the achievement gap
• Served as principal of Bankston Elementary and assistant principal of Greenwood High and was recognized this year as Greenwood County’s Administrator of the Year
• Managed a seventy-five member faculty and staff towards reaching high levels of academic achievement for all students

Calandra Davis:

Hometown: Charlotte

Alma Mater:  Clemson University and Appalachian State University

Anticipated grade level: Middle school

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Assistant principal in Iredell-Statesville Schools
• English teacher in grades 8-12 in Union County Schools, Gaston County Schools and CMS
• Served as smaller learning communities coordinator in Gaston County, where she oversaw a budget of $300,000
• Certified superintendent in the state of North Carolina, has nearly completed her doctorate in educational administration and supervision and certified principal to serve as K-12 principal

Angela Grant:

Hometown: Camden, New Jersey

Alma Mater: Rutgers University-Camden Campus

Anticipated grade level: Middle school

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Served as the director of education and public programming at African American Museum in Philadelphia
• Angela later became the lead educator for school programs at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte
• She entered the ranks of teaching as a lateral entry social studies teacher at Marie G. Davis Middle and has established herself as one of the leading social studies educators in CMS

Sonja R. Hale:

Hometown: Portsmouth, Virginia

Alma Mater: Old Dominion University

Anticipated grade level:  Middle school

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Served in the United States Army for nine years and worked in banking as a loan officer before entering the public education space
• Increased her students’ academic achievement as a middle school history teacher in the highest need public schools of Norfolk, Va.
• Rose to dean of students where she managed school-wide discipline and seventh-grade teachers to increase academic achievement

Alison L. Harris:

Hometown: Kernersville, North Carolina

Alma Mater: Spelman College and Harvard Graduate School of Education

Anticipated grade level: Middle school

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Conducted research on alternative early college high school reform models at Harvard
• Spent a year at Stanford University concentrating on Urban Educational Research.
• Served as a 2007 Teach For America Charlotte corps member where she has led dramatic gains in her students’ academic achievement at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology High.

Arlene A. Harris:

Hometown: Charlotte

Alma Mater: University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Anticipated grade level: Elementary

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Became director of training and development at Reliance Insurance Company in Philadelphia
• She was the youngest officer of the company, and was responsible for a total budget of more than $2,000,000
• Supervised the training of 1,000 people and a staff of 25 professionals
• Became a National Board Certified Teacher and has been a CMS Teacher of the Year

Tiffany Ray:

Hometown: Riverside, Calif.

Alma Mater: Louisiana State University and Nova Southeastern University

Anticipated grade level: Elementary

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Began her career at AmeriCorps, the national domestic-service corps
• Worked in the public and private sector, charter schools and language academies in Mexico
• Most recently served as fourth grade level chair at elementary school in Fulton County outside of Atlanta

Rashada Simmons-Tedder:

Hometown: Miami

Alma Mater: Florida A&M University and Nova Southeastern University

Anticipated grade level: High school

Professional history and accomplishments:

• Most recently served as a math instructor at West Charlotte High where she worked closely with Principal John Modest to help lead a change process throughout the school
• As an accelerated math/algebra I, II and geometry instructor at Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, more than 80 percent of her students received passing scores on End-of-Course and End-of-Grade exams
• Served as a charter school director of Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Academy in Miami