Chalkboard adds education policy specialist
Contact:
Chalkboard Project
(503) 542-4325
info@chalkboardproject.org
Other staffers join Chalkboard team in January, February
PORTLAND – February 2, 2007 – A veteran teacher and administrator has joined the Chalkboard Project team as its education policy specialist. Dr. Kate Dickson assumed her new position February 1.
Dickson served as deputy superintendent of public instruction for the Oregon Department of Education from 1999 to 2003. Her lengthy education background includes service as an assistant superintendent in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, and as a teacher and principal in the Salem-Keizer School District.
At Chalkboard, Dickson will serve as a liaison with the education community, and oversee two of the independent, non-profit organization’s most ambitious projects to support educators:
- Creation of a new Oregon Collaborative for Educational Excellence to enhance teacher and administrator quality through ongoing professional development, mentoring and evaluation support, and
- Development of a statewide career enhancement pilot program to explore new career ladders and differentiated pay structures for educators.
Dickson joins two other new Chalkboard staff members. On January 22, Kristin Bryant began work as Chalkboard’s project director. Kristin comes to Chalkboard from the Oregon Business Council, and also is an attorney and former eighth-grade teacher. Among other responsibilities, Kristin will oversee Chalkboard’s parent outreach efforts to encourage more family involvement in schools, through partnerships with many Oregon school districts, and further development of the Open Book$ Web site www.openbooksproject.org.
In January, Chalkboard also welcomed Aimee Craig as its new information and technology coordinator. Aimee will provide important behind-the-scenes support for the group’s outreach activities, including designing and distributing Chalkboard’s online newsletter and maintaining the organization’s Web site.
About Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard Project exists to inspire Oregonians to do what it takes to make the state’s K-12 public schools among the nation’s best, while strengthening our school system’s financial accountability to taxpayers. Chalkboard aims to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools, and to enable statewide programs that can be applied at the local level to improve school quality, accountability, and funding. To date, Chalkboard has connected with about 100,000 Oregonians, asking for their best ideas to strengthen the state’s K-12 public schools. It also has partnered with other education organizations to create the Open Book$ Web site www.openbooksproject.org to track school district spending.
Chalkboard – an initiative of Foundations For A Better Oregon – is sponsored by a growing list of independent foundations. The founding five foundations are: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Jeld-Wen Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information about Chalkboard and to learn how to get involved, call (877) YOUR-K12 or visit www.chalkboardproject.org.
