| Andrea is a passionate leader who has dedicated her career to education reform. Her teaching experience led to greater understanding of the dire need for schools to establish a high academic demand and intentional social and emotional development. After completing Teach For America, she taught and served as a leadership team member at a charter school in Houston. When she returned home to New York, she continued to support students by overseeing Special Education programming, Assistant Principal and Principal positions. She has chosen to work in contexts where the need is high and significant changes are needed to increase student achievement. Andrea was a Ryan Fellow with the Accelerate Institute, an organization which prepares principals to be transformational leaders for students and the communities in which they reside. During her field study, she served as the Director of Reading at a turnaround, charter, middle school in Brooklyn, NY. She revamped the literacy program, oversaw the implementation of common core aligned curriculum, coached teachers to hone their craft, and drove literacy initiatives that increased student achievement. Most recently she served as Principal of a charter elementary school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. In two years she was able to increase student performance data by 26% in Math and 19% in ELA. She has also served as an adjunct professor for Relay Graduate School of Education. She is currently the Executive Director of the Southampton Youth Association: an organization that was instrumental in her own childhood and is dear to her heart. SYA has been developing athletic abilities, healthy habits, wellness and leadership of youth from Pre-K to high school and college for 51 years. She is honored to assume this role and to honor her father’s legacy by building on the strong foundation and continuing to serve the community. In her first 2 years she has revamped internal systems, established new partnerships, implemented new programming, and established a scholarship fund. Regardless of her role, Andrea is dedicated to supporting others in reaching their highest and healthiest potential. She believes that all people are entitled to the opportunity to feel energized and LOVE learning and that this can be a catalyst for change in our communities. Andrea is also a proud 2016 Council of Urban Professionals Fellow, a leadership program for professionals of color committed to civic engagement. Andrea grew up on the eastern end of Long Island. She received her Bachelors degree from Binghamton University and a dual Masters of Science, in General and Special Education, from Bank Street College of Education. She is obsessed with hot yoga, SoulCycle, neo soul music, stir fry vegetables, heated debates and beaches. Andrea shares best practices for administrators, educators, and parents for a successful online learning experience. |
