FREIRE SCHOOLS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Coordinator
Since college, Alison has been committed to being a light to the youth in urban areas. She was a kindergarten teacher in Philadelphia for four years before transitioning to the administrative side of education. At Freire, she helps with all things human resources related. She enjoys getting to be a part of the full employee life cycle and assisting teachers and staff as needed so that they are better able to be present with their students.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Head of School, Freire Charter Middle School
Angela brings over seven years of collective writing experience from the nonprofit, education, and edtech spheres. She creates compelling content to engage readers and drive actionable results. Angela works with students and staff to tell the Freire story in a variety of mediums while supporting grant and marketing initiatives across the Freire Schools network. She became passionate about education while working for six years as a Language Arts teacher in a Montessori middle school setting. Angela believes any problem can be solved with the right word, except for the problem of writing a bio for yourself, which is very awkward.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the TECH Freire Charter School Board of Directors
A charter school student himself growing up, Ben was drawn to Freire Schools' finance team as a way to invest in today's youth the way others once invested in him. Ben manages accounts payable, accounts receivable, and personal reimbursements. He oversees procurement and assists in preparation of monthly financial packages. Ben also ensures compliance with each school's 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair of the TECH Freire Charter School Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Head of School, Freire Charter High School
Job Titles:
- Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Freire Wilmington
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the TECH Freire Charter School Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- President of the Freire Schools Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Learning Manager
- Teaching and Learning Manager
As Teaching and Learning Manager at Freire Schools, Emily supports ongoing professional learning for teachers and curriculum implementation, grounded in the belief that all people-students and teachers-deserve opportunities to grow, create, and learn in new ways. Emily has been a member of the Freire community since 2014, when she started as an 8th grade social studies teacher at Freire Middle School. Since then, Emily has worked as an instructional coach and founding member of the school's Instructional Leadership Team, and the director of instructional coaching. Prior to joining Freire Schools, Emily completed the Boston Teacher Residency program and taught middle school social studies and science in the Boston Public Schools. As a Philadelphia native, Emily is committed to ensuring that our schools are agents of justice and empowerment for all children in our city.
As accounting coordinator, Fahad provides invaluable support to the network office by managing bookkeeping tasks and addressing various emerging needs. Prior to his role at Freire Schools, Fahad gained extensive experience in the field, having previously worked on the Learning and Development HR team at PNC. Throughout his college experience, he also held diverse roles in the education field.
Fahad's connection to Freire Schools holds deep significance, as he was a member of the inaugural 5th-grade class when the middle school first opened its doors. His educational journey continued at Freire until he graduated from high school. The transformative impact of Freire's culture, diverse experiences, and nurturing environment played a pivotal role in shaping Fahad into the person he is today - an opportunity he believes he couldn't have found elsewhere.
Motivated by his own experiences, Fahad is now dedicated to contributing to Freire's mission, which empowers each student to build their future.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Talent Recruitment Manager
Gloria's passion for education began in 2012 as a middle and high school English teacher in Philadelphia. In 2016, she began managing and recruiting teams of teachers throughout Delaware and Pennsylvania to serve students with mental and behavioral health needs. At Freire Schools, she works to recruit, hire, and retain passionate and diverse educators who believe all students can succeed and be college ready. She carries out recruitment initiatives, supports teachers through the certification process, and leads implementation of applicant systems. Gloria believes that strong educators who are committed to our Black and Brown students are the foundation to student achievement.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Hallee, an intern specializing in Macro Policy at Freire Schools, holds a bachelor's degree in social work and is actively pursuing her master's at UPenn in the same field. Her current role centers on our NonViolence Policy and our Commitment to Peace, where she actively engages in fostering student-led initiatives aimed at reinforcing our policies across all campuses. Hallee is driven by the belief that her efforts at Freire will actively advance our commitment to amplifying student voice.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Hallee finds joy in quality time spent with family and friends, indulging in her passion for painting, and embarking on exciting travel adventures.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of the Board of Directors
- Vice President of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Career Exploration Manager
As Career Exploration Manager, Joe plays a vital role in supporting the Freire Schools network by overseeing various career-related initiatives, such as career weeks, fairs, and job shadowing experiences. These activities are essential for ensuring our compliance with Pennsylvania and Delaware's career standards.
In addition to his current responsibilities, Joe is spearheading the development of the new Freire Schools Summer "Experienceship" program, which will run annually and involve a select group of students from each of our high schools. Through these efforts, Joe is actively cultivating and managing relationships with our employer partners, which will expose our students to a wide range of opportunities throughout the city.
Before taking on this role, Joe dedicated 13 years to teaching at various charter organizations in Philadelphia. He joined Freire Schools in 2016, where he taught math and served as an instructional coach for six years at Freire Middle School. A Philadelphia native and an alumnus of St. Joseph's Prep High School in North Philadelphia, Joe understands the value of opportunities and how they can shape one's future. He is committed to ensuring that all students, regardless of their backgrounds or the schools they attend, have access to these same opportunities. His ultimate goal is to connect and introduce our students to the diverse array of careers and opportunities that Pennsylvania and Delaware have to offer.
Job Titles:
- Special Projects Coordinator
As Special Projects Coordinator, Joe facilitates the World Cafe Live music program and the choral music program, and supports various events and initiatives across the Freire Schools network, including the annual Bridge to Wisdom fundraising reception. During his career, Joe produced dozens of school talent shows and has specialized in student activities in the performing arts. He was a social studies teacher for two decades before focusing on extra-curricular programming, which also included student government, planning field trips, international travel, and other student life events such as school dances. Joe is also a vocalist and producer who has built several music studios for schools during his career.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Directors
- Secretary of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Before joining the Network Office team, Johnny worked as the Director of Admissions at Freire High School for 2.5 years. In his current role as Operations Manager, he works with leadership and staff across the network to ensure smooth day-to-day operations at each of our schools. Johnny also uses his creativity to design dynamic and engaging marketing materials that promote student voice and highlight Freire's impact.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board of Directors
- Treasurer of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Secretary of the Freire Schools Board of Directors
- CEO & Freire Schools Network Founder
Kelly co-founded Freire Charter High School in 1999 with the goal of engaging Philly kids directly in their education, nurturing leadership, citizenship, and creativity. Today, she leads Freire Schools with passion, excellence, and dedication. She provides the vision and the heart for our network, is the public face of our efforts, and coaches and supports Freire school leaders. Kelly is a mother of two who began her career in education as a Spanish teacher, seeking to make her classroom a space in which students could expect democracy, kindness, and to be valued for exactly who they were. She is guided in her work by her passionate belief in education as a basic human right, and critical to the well-being of our society.
Under Kelly's leadership, Freire Schools has grown to four schools serving 2,000 students in Philadelphia and Wilmington. Kelly's love of learning is linked to her personal interests, including her current role on the Board of the Philadelphia Financial Scholars, her past work as Eisenhower Fellow in China and with Leadership Philadelphia, and as a facilitator in the Pennsylvania Inspired Leaders program. Kelly also passionately believes in public school choice for all families, which she advocates for in her current role as Board President of the Philadelphia Charters for Excellence.
Job Titles:
- President of the Board of Directors
- President of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Freire Schools' Managing Director
As Freire Schools' Managing Director, Leigh works to ensure coordination among Freire Schools' teams in order to provide high quality service to our schools and to advance the network's mission. She is also a champion of using data to improve performance and has shepherded in a new era of data-driven decision-making at Freire Schools. Leigh first developed a passion for education as a first and second grade teacher in Washington, DC as a Teach for America corps member. She is an experienced leader in the educational non-profit sector, including work in higher education with the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of Freire Schools, Leigh is the co-President of the board of the Friends of Chester Arthur, a volunteer-led nonprofit organization that supports a neighborhood public school in Southwest Center City Philadelphia. Leigh is a recent alum of Leadership Philadelphia.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Freire Schools Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Director of Performance Management
Lilian's passion for Freire Schools' commitment to social justice led her to her role as Freire Schools' Director of Performance Management, where she is laser-focused on ensuring alignment between our mission, our efforts, and our results. Lilian leads Freire Schools' thinking around how we use data at the school and network level, and also conducts research to support innovation and continuous improvement for the network.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Head of School, Freire Charter School Wilmington
- Head of School, Freire Wilmington
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chief Advancement Officer
Melanie applies her two decades of experience working with public charter schools to her work increasing awareness and excitement about Freire Schools' mission, programming, staff, and kids. Melanie develops robust communications and public affairs strategies and leads all aspects of fund development, including annual appeals, major and planned giving, and capital efforts. Melanie has extensive experience in public charter school operations and compliance, project management, new school development, charter school renewal, grant writing, and public advocacy. Melanie believes that "school choice" is not a new concept, but a privilege historically enjoyed exclusively by those with means. She believes in and fights for charter schools because they extend that right to families from traditionally underserved communities.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Freire Schools Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Member of the TECH Freire Charter School Board of Directors
- Head of School, TECH Freire
Nathan is a certified public accountant with 15 years of experience in the finance and accounting industry, 8 of which have been in the charter space. Having grown up in a family of educators, Nathan is excited to be helping Freire students build the future as he leads the finance department for the Freire Schools network.
Olivia supports Freire Schools leadership with scheduling and special projects. She coordinates Board schedules for all Freire entities and manages Board member certifications. Olivia is also the main point of contact for scheduling with Kelly. She is happy to have opportunities within her role at Freire Schools to work with Freire students.
Job Titles:
- Chief Leadership Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
At Freire Schools, Paul works at the intersection of leadership, strategy, operations, technology. Advancing the leadership of the network, Paul supervises several heads of school. Further, as a designer and lead facilitator of the Freire School Leader Fellowship, Paul is developing the pipeline of new leaders across the network. Paul also oversees the people operations team as well as the technology team. Previously, Paul was the founding Head of School for Freire Charter School Wilmington for five years. During that time, Paul was awarded the Delaware Charter School Network's 2020 Impact Award for charter school principals, and in 2017 was awarded Teach for America Delaware's Excellence in School Leadership Award. Paul is a fellow with the Pahara Institute and was a fellow with Lead for Delaware.
Randall supports the Human Resources Manager with payroll, onboarding, and maintaining personnel files, and supports the Senior Accountant with maintaining vendor relationships. He also coordinates purchasing for all the Freire Schools campuses. Randall believes that his work contributes to the Freire Schools' overall mission of preparing students for the future and is excited to support teachers and staff by ensuring our students have the educational resources and experiences they deserve and that are too frequently lacking in urban schools.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Freire Foundation Board of Directors
Shinelle's resilience and passion for education have paved her pathway from her native island of Trinidad and Tobago to her role as Senior Accountant at Freire Schools. Shinelle comes to Freire with more than 14 years of experience in accounting and finance, and is always eager to learn more. She enjoys spending time with loved ones, cooking, baking, arts & crafts, and all things DIY as much as she does learning.
Job Titles:
- Director of Data Analytics
Tammy leads Freire Schools' data warehousing, management, analysis, and reporting, as well as facilitating meetings around performance analysis and accountability at TECH Freire and Freire Wilmington. Tammy has been a valuable member of the Freire Schools community for 12 years and is inspired daily by our students' amazing achievements - especially when they are able to return to Freire Schools as educators. Tammy understands that a good school creates a lifelong connection to its graduates, and she has chaired the boards of various University of Pennsylvania alumni groups.
Tanza brings a diverse grant management background to her position as Freire Schools' Compliance Manager. Always one to dot her i's and cross her t's, Tanza ensures that Freire follows the guidelines and regulations of our federal, state, and local grants. Tanza is proud to work for an organization that helps students find joy in learning, and recognizes that all students have potential when given the resources to succeed.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of the Freire Schools Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Marketing & Recruitment Manager
In his role as Marketing and Recruitment Manager, Tyrone works closely with leadership and staff at each Freire Schools campus to ensure that we are getting the message out to the community about the benefits of a Freire education. Tyrone, being a Freire alum himself (Freire High School Class of 2014), believes strongly in the Freire mission and knows firsthand how Freire Schools truly gives students the power to build their future. Tyrone is eager to share this with prospective students and families.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the TECH Freire Charter School Board of Directors