After a competitive application process, 19 educators were selected to join PEF’s inaugural cohort of Policy Fellows. With the support of the Benwood Foundation, this group of teachers, coaches and counselors will spend the next 16 months exploring education and public policy. They will study the challenges that face our community and our students, meeting with elected leaders, and, ultimately, use their knowledge and experience to advocate for their students and for public education.
“We’re very excited to launch this new program, nearly two years in the making,” said Dan Challener, President of the Public Education Foundation. “The voice of actual teachers is so often missing in the crafting of public policy, especially education policy. These nineteen extraordinary teachers—from schools all across Hamilton County—are experts in their field—who better to advocate for children and public schools?”
The members of the first cohort include:
Adrianne Cowan – Ooltewah Middle
Andrew Browning-Couch – STEM School
Anthony Goad – Tyner Middle Academy [Facilitator]
Bo Chamberlain – Signal Mountain Middle-High
Brandon Hubbard-Heitz – The Howard School
Emeri Gordon – Hixson Middle School
Genise Fletcher – Brainerd High School
Greg Kubisak – STEM School Chattanooga
Jamie Petty – Normal Park Museum Magnet School
Jesse Goins – Battle Academy
Jessica Hubbuch – The Howard School
John Cunningham – Brainerd High School
Katie Hetrick – Battle Academy
Kennisha Cann – Rivermont and Harrison Elementary
Latanya Mason – Barger Academy
Leah Keith-Houle – Red Bank High School
Lisa Blakely – Big Ridge and Soddy Elementary
Pat Goldsmith – Red Bank Elementary School
Tad Russell – Soddy Daisy Middle School
During their first meeting, Policy Fellows joined the community for a talk by Amanda Ripley, journalist and author of The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got that Way, as part of the Chattanooga 2.0 series inspiring conversations and ideas about our education system. Fellows then engaged in a private conversation with Ms. Ripley, asking questions about how policies in other nations strengthen schools. Fellows came together again in May to learn about the history of change in Chattanooga and Hamilton County, from integration to Gig City, with Ken Hays, CEO of the Enterprise Center, Edna Varner, former Principal of the Howard School, and Bill Kennedy, Vice President of Leading and Learning at PEF. In the months to come, the Fellows will have opportunities to meet with community leaders, as well as elected officials from the city, county, and state.
Contact PEF's Geoff Millener at geoff@pefchattanooga.org or 423-648-4448 for more information.