Five African Americans Among New Leadership Appointments In Seattle Public Schools

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D. recently announced additional leadership appointments for the 2010-2011 which includes five African Americans. Michael Tollley was appointed earlier this summer to assume one of five executive director of schools positions within the district. The executive directors of schools will oversee a regional cluster of prekindergarten-grade 12 schools, providing support, supervision and evaluation of principals. The leadership structure is designed to play a key role in administering the new student assignment plan and its elementary-middle school feeder pattern, and in strengthening the administration of programs and services across grade levels. Faye Chess-Prentice, J.D. recently received an executive level appointment as the interim executive director of Human Resources, holding the role formerly filled by Dr. Brent Jones, who is now working for the Kent School District. In this role, Ms. Chess-Prentice oversees all human resources functions including employment, benefits and human resource information systems. Ms. Chess-Prentice has been employed by Seattle Public Schools since 2001, and for the past six years held the role of deputy general counsel, specializing in legal matters related to employment and labor. Before joining Seattle Public Schools, she served as deputy general counsel at Seattle Housing Authority. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Purdue University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Anitra Pinchback-Jones has been appointed principal at Bagley Elementary. Ms. Pinchback-Jones served five years as an assistant principal at West Seattle High School. In 2008, Ms. Pinchback-Jones was recognized as the Distinguished Assistant Principal of the Year by the Washington Association of Secondary School Principals. Prior to her assistant principal role, Ms. Pinchback-Jones spent five years as a third/fourth grade classroom teacher at African American Academy and one year as a grade one/two teacher at Madrona Elementary School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Washington and a Master of Education from City University. In addition, she is a member of Governor Gregoire’s task force on Early Learning and Seattle Public Schools’ Special Education Transition Review Team. Ms. Pinchback-Jones is also a member of the Superintendent’s Institute for Leadership Development (SILD), an 18-month program focused on building the skills of principals and central office managers related to system leadership. She replaces current Bagley principal Kimberly Kinzer, who is returning to teaching at Denny International Middle School. Keisha Scarlett has been appointed principal at South Shore PreK-8. Ms. Scarlett has been an assistant principal and mathematics instructional leader at McClure Middle School for the past two years. Prior to her appointment to McClure, Ms. Scarlett was a principal intern at Concord Elementary and a principal intern and registrar at Denny Middle School. She also spent five years as a mathematics, science and technology teacher at Asa Mercer Middle School, and was a mentor teacher for novice secondary mathematics and science teachers across the Seattle School District. Her professional preparation includes a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, a Master of Teaching in elementary education from Heritage University in Toppenish, Wash., and educational administration credentials from the University of Washington. Ms. Scarlett is also a member of the Superintendent’s Institute for Leadership Development (SILD). She replaces Sherrie Encarnacion, who will serve as assistant principal at Asa Mercer Middle School. In addition, Cordell Carter II, J.D. has been appointed to the position of director of School Support Services, overseeing student transportation, child nutrition services, athletics, traffic education, customer service center and district archives/student records. During the past two years, Mr. Carter has worked at Seattle Public Schools as leader of the Business Systems Department and special assistant to the chief financial and operations officer. Prior to joining Seattle Public Schools, Mr. Carter worked as a visiting attorney in the legal and executive strategy department of Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) Bankengruppe in Frankfurt, Germany. Mr. Carter holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Washington, a Master of Science in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame Law School.