Lisa Gordon Stella 2014 PA-PAC Questionnaire

Lisa Gordon Stella

PA-PAC Questionnaire for Durham Public School

Board of Education 2014

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1. Why do you want to serve on the Durham Public School Board of Education? What is the role of a board member? My first reason for wanting to serve on the Durham Board of Education is

that I believe very strongly that every child in our community should have access to an excellent education; and second, I want to help shape the policies that further this goal by being a member of the Board that selects our next Superintendent, perhaps the most important hiring decision facing our school community today.

Board members’ roles are outlined in the District Policies, Series 1000.

Among their responsibilities, board members are charged with electing a superintendent and school personnel, evaluating the superintendent, supporting employment of those best qualified to serve the schools, and exercising leadership and direction in reaching the highest educational goals. Importantly, board members must also consider and act on the budget, and be able to devote sufficient time to the requirements for school board service.

My leadership experience as the President and Vice-‐President of non-‐profits

and school boards has prepared me for the role and responsibilities required for serving on the Durham School Board. I have experience hiring and evaluating school leadership and putting the needs of students first. In addition, I’ve run a business, served as General Counsel to a corporation. At Maureen Joy Charter School and the non-‐profit board on which I serve, I am charged with evaluating and approving the budget. When I vote to approve a DPS budget, you can be confident that it's because I’ve pored over it line by line and that I am fulfilling my fiduciary duty of ensuring that taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly.

If elected I plan to make service to the board a full time endeavor. Given

the many challenges and changes facing our schools district, coupled with the search for a Superintendent, I believe it is critical for board members to be prepared and able to devote significant time to school board service.

2. The board will be involved in the hiring of a new superintendent. What should the search process look like? What qualities should the successful candidate possess? We have the opportunity to transform Durham Public Schools with the

selection of the new superintendent. Durham’s public schools are facing numerous challenges as a result of changing demographics and new state laws. With the selection of a strong, bright superintendent willing to take bold steps, Durham public schools has the potential to become an education leader in North Carolina. This is how I envision the selection process:

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1. Conduct a National or Regional Search to have the most qualified pool of

applicants.

2. Hold Community Input Forums around Durham so that the community can voice its vision and needs. The locations and format of such meetings should be designed to get the maximum true feedback from all members of the community.

3. Reach Out to Education and Community Leaders for their input and

guidance. Our new superintendent should have the following characteristics and values: 1. Strong, intelligent, entrepreneurial leader willing to make difficult

decisions targeted at improving and reviving education in Durham.

2. Understands the Durham community, its challenges, and its history and believes in true community engagement.

3. Committed to creating a unified school system where traditional public

schools and charters work collaboratively to improve public education for all students in Durham.

4. Committed to identifying and implementing solutions to address schools

that are not meeting student needs, including partnering with successful charters.

5. Committed to creating a child-‐ and school-‐centered school system rather

than a focus on Central Office. Must recognize that great teachers and principals are the heart of a strong education system and the school system must focus on supporting them and valuing their expertise and understanding of how best to educate our students.

6. Committed to creating a culture that values service to parents and students

as well as from our Central Office/administration to our schools.

7. Committed to creating a strong leadership team and regular 360-‐degree reviews of administrative staff and leadership team. Will not allow promoting and shifting individuals who do not perform, and instead, utilizes procedures to increase performance or separates poorly performing staff.

8. Committed to fiscal responsibility and transparency. Will openly share information with the school board and any budget advisory committee.

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9. Committed to creating and fostering a culture throughout DPS that values honest feedback, thoughtful yet timely decision-‐making, best practices and creativity in approaching challenges. Mistakes and undesired outcomes must be openly recognized, critically examined, understood and addressed.

10. Committed to regular evaluation of all existing programing to best identify

what works and what does not. Will not allow new programming to be added before eliminating those programs that are not serving their purpose.

3. How should teachers and administrators be evaluated? Are the current state

standards effective? The current state standards are not an effective tool for evaluating teachers

and administrators. We need to have meaningful evaluations designed to help our teachers and administrators grow and succeed. The goal of evaluating teachers and administrators should be to support their professional growth.

Teachers should be regularly observed by an individual with a teaching

background. The evaluator should meet with the teacher and provide feedback from the observation. In addition, evaluators should provide teachers with feedback on lesson plans, and help develop tailored professional development for the teacher. Teacher evaluations should also include input from parents, students, other teachers, administrators, and staff. The evaluation’s purpose is to provide the teacher with clear information and direction for growth. At Maureen Joy Charter School where I serve as Vice-‐President of the Board, we have created teacher-‐leader positions called Academic Deans. Leaders in this position teach a class, and then spend the rest of their day observing with other teachers in the building, reading and giving feedback on lesson plans, developing internal benchmarks, and developing tailored professional development. Because of this new role, all teachers are now observed weekly and get actionable feedback that promotes their development.

Teachers should also be required to complete professional development

activities each year that center on their discipline so that they are not using dated teaching techniques or out of date information. Teachers should be directed towards professional development that meets their specific needs and growth objectives. Teachers should submit a plan as to how they will apply in the classroom what they have learned from their professional development. This too should be part of the teacher’s evaluation.

Administrators should primarily be evaluated on how effectively they

support faculty and are able to maintain a positive learning environment for students and a supportive environment for teachers. As part of their

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responsibilities, administrators should stay up with best practices in other schools, especially in schools that have proven records of student achievement. As the head of the Personnel Committee at Maureen Joy, I have been part of the team that evaluates the Principal. In addition to using the State evaluation, we supplement those tools with a staff survey as well as feedback from our board. When we conduct our evaluation, our goal is to provide meaningful feedback and set goals for improvement.

4. How should students be assessed? What role should standardized tests

play in evaluating students?

As a parent I watch my children learn and grow but want to be sure they are on the right track to succeed and be prepared academically. Students need to be assessed to ensure that they are learning and are on the path to becoming critical thinkers. Many students struggle to read for a variety of reasons and we must be able to catch learning problems early so that a child does not fall significantly behind or suffer emotionally from their learning struggles. Other students become bored in classrooms that are not engaging or challenging enough to help them grow academically. At the same time, standardized testing is often ineffectual and counterproductive, creating anxiety for parents and students while not actually measuring what’s important. Standardized tests do play a role in identifying some measurements of academic ability such as basic levels of reading comprehension and knowledge of core mathematical and science concepts.

At the same time, the limitations of standardized testing must be

considered. A classroom or school that is hyper-‐focused on the results of these tests can be ineffectual and counterproductive and can create anxiety for parents and students, yet still fail to measure critical student strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, these tests can negatively impact the pedagogy in the classroom, promoting memorization and rote learning over creativity and critical thinking.

For these reasons, it is important that we reduce our dependence on

standardized tests for students and instead cede more evaluative authority to teachers. There are many ways to evaluate students-‐-‐written exams, oral presentations, project design and completion, service learning in the community, etc. If we are to move to a model that puts assessments in the hands of our teaching professionals, we must make certain that teachers are equipped with the most current evaluative tools and methods. Each school should also employ a strong testing specialist, someone who is on top of best practices in student testing. A student assessment model that relies more on teachers and less on standardized exams could go a long way to understanding our students

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and helping them achieve, but at its core, our teachers will need more support and expertise on effective student assessment.

We also need to be sure that changes to testing do not result in more

students moving from grade to grade without real learning. As the Program Director for Truancy Court, I regularly see students in middle and high school that are academically performing well below grade school level and do not have the skills needed to be successful in a career, technical college or university. Many of our children get passed from grade to grade without being able to read or understand basic concepts in math and science and without the necessary interventions in place to help them academically. It is important that in our efforts to reduce the reliance on standardized testing and testing generally that we are ever more mindful of the need to help and support our struggling students.

5. In spite of the introduction of magnet schools, it appears that Durham Public Schools have become increasingly segregated by socioeconomic status and race. What are your thoughts on this situation?

The segregation of Durham schools by race and/or socioeconomic status is troubling and hurts students of all backgrounds. While school policy and strategic planning can play a role in de-‐segregating our schools, there are many other factors that impact segregation that are beyond the control of our school board such as housing patterns. Nevertheless, Board members should be conscious of this evolution and whenever possible explore and adopt policies that further desegregation.

Not only should we take steps to change laws, regulations, and funding to

promote de-‐segregation, we must also counteract the negative effects of segregation. Segregation is not merely physical separateness. Segregation cuts students off from parts of society they must learn to navigate in order to attend college, obtain meaningful employment, and be engaged citizens. Therefore, we must deliberately connect students to the society beyond segregated schools and communities. Children in high-‐poverty segregated schools need opportunities middle-‐class children take for granted. It is vital that our school culture is caring while maintaining high expectations, with access to healthy food, music lessons, art programs, safe recreational space, and travel opportunities.

We should consider adopting policies that connect less integrated schools

with those that are more diverse. Above all, school board members must institute policies that focus on ensuring that every child regardless of race or socioeconomic status has available to them an excellent public education that includes an understanding of the opportunities that exist in our diverse world.

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6. Does DPS need to make changes to its school suspension policy? If so,

what changes would you work for as a Board Member?

I strongly believe that DPS desperately needs to change its policies and practices in addressing school discipline and suspension. In December, I served as a facilitator at the series of community conversations on the discipline and suspension issue DPS held, which gave me the opportunity to listen directly to parents and concerned citizens. I also attended a showing of the School to Prison Pipeline, a documentary on North Carolina Schools, which highlighted the criminalizing of student behavior and the devastating impacts it has on our students and community. Many of our students and families feel alienated from our education system. And, all too often typical student behavior is criminalized causing students to be pushed out of our education system and into the criminal justice system. This has to stop. It is hurting our students and our community.

As the Director of the Truancy Court Program, I have seen how many of our

youth are facing serious personal and family challenges daily, including homelessness, domestic violence, gang violence, neglect, disabilities, mental health issues and hunger. When these students come to school, often they are not ready to learn and are more likely to act out and be suspended or become court involved. I have set forth my specific proposals on this how we must rethink student discipline on my website, which includes the following:

1. Promote strong support services. This begins with excellent leadership and a clear understanding of the problems and a clear strategy for addressing the issues. Only by engaging directly with community and family members will we find out the true needs of the students.

2. Emphasize and fund restorative Justice programs. Programs like Truancy Court, Peer Mediation, and Peaceful Schools can reduce and prevent suspensions. These programs only work if they are properly staffed, funded, executed and evaluated.

3. Create district wide policies that mandate no arrests or out of school

suspension for minor offenses.

4. Find additional resources or divert existing resources to school-‐based mental health services. This is critical to the success of many of our most at-‐risk students.

5. Staff our schools with a dedicated qualified social worker. This is

particularly important in elementary school where students need more support with family issues in order to be successful in school.

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6. Support our teachers by having effective evidence-‐based programs in

place for students engaged in disruptive behavior. While the student may leave the class, we need to keep the child in the school.

7. Re-‐examine Lakeview to see if it is serving its purpose. Provide these

students with true wrap-‐around services while still educating them. Don’t let it continue as little more than a holding cell for many students.

8. Mandate proper training for SRO officers on how to treat children.

Children are not just smaller adults, they are organically different.

9. Ensure that the SRO officers and principals communicate. Students should not be arrested for something at school without principal involvement.

10. Cultivate creativity in finding ways to hold students accountable for

their mistakes while not suspending them from school. 7. What is your opinion about the Charter School movement?

I currently serve as the Vice-‐President of Maureen Joy Charter School

located in East Durham and in my eight years of board service, I have learned a tremendous amount about education. As a board member, I have been integrally involved in the selection and review of the school’s leadership, its mission and overseeing its finances. I have used my position to hire and support strong school leadership singularly focused on the needs of its students and dedicated to the belief that every child can succeed. As the head of the school’s Personnel Committee, I am charged with ensuring the Principal receives meaningful, comprehensive annual reviews which includes input from all those who work at the school. I also address all human resource matters. I review and advise on organizational, policy, and instructional changes. Importantly, I regularly review and approve the budget to ensure funds are spent appropriately.

Through my board service at Maureen Joy as well as my work with Durham

Public Schools as the Truancy Court Program Director, I have come to believe that continuing to engage in an ideological discussion regarding the propriety of charter schools in North Carolina will not improve student education in Durham. Charter schools are now firmly rooted in the fabric of North Carolina’s education system. Our focus must shift to charter growth and collaboration. I voiced my views on charter growth in opinions published in the News & Observer on September 17, 2013 and the Herald Sun on January 12, 2014. I

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believe we need excellent schools that serve all of our children’s needs and that the ideological discourse is a distraction our students can ill afford. Instead, we need to focus on improving the education of all our students regardless of where they attend school.

To begin, we must be better informed about the charter schools in Durham.

An honest conversation requires we have accurate information about Durham’s charters:

• Durham charters primarily serve economically disadvantaged minority

students. • Durham currently has 10 charters and by Fall 2014 there will likely be a

total of 12-‐13 charters. • According to the Durham Public School budget, during the 2012-‐2013

school year, Durham’s charters serve about ten-‐percent of Durham’s student population and receive four-‐percent of Durham Public School’s budget.

• Charters do not receive funding for facilities or for transportation. • Most Durham charters provide free and reduced meals and the majority

provides students with free bus transportation.

As one of the first charter schools in Durham, Maureen Joy, opened its doors in 1997 and it has become invaluable to our community. It strives to serve as a model of how urban public schools can provide a comprehensive educational program that put students on a path to college. The school serves students that all too often are marginalized in the public education system. Maureen Joy’s population is nearly all minority, with 85% of students receiving free or reduced meals. Over one third of Maureen Joy’s students receive special education services such as ESL and EC. Like traditional public schools, Maureen Joy provides bus transportation and free/reduced breakfast and lunch. But most importantly, Maureen Joy students achieve academically, consistently outperforming their peers across the state and in Durham. Maureen Joy has been classified as “high-‐growth” for four years in a row and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction selected Maureen Joy as one of only six charter schools in the state that showed the ability to close the achievement gap for students of minorities and low-‐income backgrounds. Importantly, Maureen Joy has outperformed every school in Durham that has 65% or more students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch.

Maureen Joy achieves these results without a private endowment or extra

funding. Instead, as a charter school, Maureen Joy receives less funds from DPS than traditional public schools. What Maureen Joy is doing should serve to inspire Durham’s public schools. It shows that it is possible to close the achievement gap using already existing funding. What’s more is that Maureen Joy is doing exactly what charters were intended to do—be innovators of

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education that result in improving student education. While replication might not be practicable, I believe that Durham Public Schools should look at schools like Maureen Joy and learn from them. See what they are doing and how that might be incorporated into DPS schools. We must not ignore what’s working in education because of ideological differences; instead, we must put our children first.

The idea of charters and traditional school districts collaborating is gaining

traction. As part of my board service at Maureen Joy, I have spent the past year working on charter school collaboration. This was intended to be the start of discussions that would work towards DPS and the Durham charters entering into a compact. School districts around the country are exploring district-‐charter collaboration and some districts, like Denver Public Schools, have entered into a District-‐Charter Compact. Since Denver, a district with a student population 78% economically disadvantaged and 79% minority, entered into a district-‐compact, it has resulted in consistent student improvement year over year. Further, charters serve primarily economically disadvantaged minority students and are consistently outperforming traditional public school in individual student growth. What’s more is that Denver is actually reversing “white flight” and bringing students and families back to the public school system. At the heart of the Denver system is a commitment to three equities: equity of opportunity, equity of responsibility and equity of accountability. While a formal compact between DPS and Durham charter schools may be some time off, there are ways that DPS and the charters can and should collaborate to create a unified inclusive education system. We must make this a priority and put an end to the ideological bickering. Working collaboratively rather than competitively we will better serve our students and our community.

8. What is your opinion about school vouchers?

I believe that vouchers have no place on our public education system. Based

on my reading of the law and review of legal analysis of the voucher system created by our legislators in North Carolina, I believe that vouchers are unconstitutional. Beyond that, vouchers are a terrible policy choice that will lead to a less robust education system. It will encourage the creation of private schools that have virtually no oversight and whose motivations may be less about educating student and more about profits. Lawmakers frustrated with aspects of our public education system should work with the system finding ways to improve it rather than abandoned the system through vouchers. Far from creating accountability and improving the education of our students, vouchers will shift monies away from our existing education system further exacerbating budget challenges.

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9. As a board member how would you lead the decisions addressing the needs of the students who are at risk for low achievement and dropping out? As a board member, I would act to adopt policies that promote a strategic,

thoughtful and deliberate approach to address the needs of our students at risk of low achievement and dropping out of school. As the Director of the Truancy Court program, my work is dedicated to reaching precisely those students. I have hands-‐on experience working with at risk students and their families in dozens of schools across our district, as well as with administration and Central Office personnel. This broad perspective will inform my work on the board and will prepare me to take a leadership role with respect to decisions addressing at risk students.

Based on my experience, to truly meet the needs of our at risk students, the

Board needs to ensure that Student Support Services has strong leadership with a clear strategic vision. The Board should expect the leadership to review every program DPS currently has available for these students. While DPS has a slew of interventions, including SAP and CFST, these programs are currently not being evaluated in any meaningful way. Without effective program evaluation, it is impossible to know what is and is not working well for our students and why. We need to create a strategic and comprehensive approach to understand exactly why certain programs are successful so that we might continue to fund these efforts and emulate their methods and best practices where possible. For any program that is not working, we need to understand the problems and decide whether the program should be discontinued or modified. After program evaluations have been completed, we must determine what gaps exist and identify evidence-‐based programs that can best meet the needs of our students. We must recognize that what works in one school, may not work in another and what works for one student may not work for another. There is no one size fits all approach.

We also need to be sure that interventions take place swiftly and that

students not continue to languish in the face of information that the child is at risk of not learning or that the child is at risk of dropping out altogether. An integral part of the Truancy Court program is to identify and connect students and families to services both in school and out of school. In many instances our at risk students need interventions and referrals to outside services such as mental health, behavior management or assistance for the student’s family. These considerations squarely fall within the responsibility of Student Support Services and Board members must be committed to bolstering this critical piece of the DPS system.

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10. Why do you think that parents choose to take their children out of the public

schools in Durham or don’t choose them at all? How would you address this issue? As someone who falls in this category (my husband and I chose to remove

our daughter from Githens Middle School after her sixth grade year) and who has many friends and neighbors that have made the same difficult decision to leave Durham Public Schools or are reluctant to send their children to Durham Public School, I have unique insight on this issue.

I received and have always been deeply committed to public school

education. In fact, I believe a successful public school system is critical to the economic success of this region and to the country at large. That is why I work every day to help Durham Public School students succeed as Director of the Truancy Court Program and that is why I am running for School Board. That is also why my decision to pull my daughter out of DPS was not made lightly. In fact, no parent I have spoken with who has left DPS was happy to do so. Each one did so with a heavy heart and is substantially sacrificing by not sending their children to a Durham Public School.

While I cannot speak for everyone, here is my experience and what I have

learned. Both of my daughters began their education at a Jewish day school because I wanted them to understand and be able to connect to their heritage. My younger daughter is in second grade and is still in that educational setting. My older daughter went on to attend Creekside Elementary School, where I was class parent and provided support to the school whenever possible, and then spent her first year of middle school at Githens Middle School.

My daughter’s sixth grade year proved to be an incredibly trying year for

her and for us. My husband and I watched as our daughter went from a happy child who loved school and enjoyed learning, to one who was sad, frustrated and not challenged academically. While we made every effort to engage with the school, administration and faculty, and make the situation workable, in the end, we determined that our daughter’s educational needs could not be met at Githens. I detailed our family’s experience in an eight-‐page letter to the school board and the superintendent. My husband and I struggled with what to do after sixth grade. We are both products of a public school education and always envisioned that was how our children would be educated. When our daughter did not get into a magnet school, we faced a difficult but inescapable decision and enrolled her in private school for the remainder of middle school.

Other parents have shared similar experiences with me. Many have found

that Durham public schools are not responsive to parent concerns or student needs, that teachers are overworked, underappreciated, and therefore not able

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to provide their child with what they need. (Some of my neighbors were told by teachers at Durham Public Schools that they should put their child in a private school.) Parents are also concerned about safety, student discipline, lack of educational rigor, poor performing schools, and the large size of many schools in Durham.

Parent concerns were also the subject of a recent survey done by charter

schools in Durham. The charter schools survey asked their parents a single survey question, “Why did you choose a charter school?” The top ten answers in order were: (1) Smaller School, (2) Safer Environment, (3) Strong Teachers, (4) Innovative and Progressive Curriculum, (5) Structure and Discipline, (6) Challenging Academics, (7) Responsive to Parents/Students, (8) Less Bureaucracy, (9) Unhappy with Prior School, and (10) Better Cultural Diversity.

I strongly believe that many families that have chosen to leave DPS would

love to send their children to our public schools. We must do what it takes to restore the confidence of these families and convince the community at large that DPS schools are the best place to send their child to be educated. I believe the first step in this process is to select a dynamic superintendent along the lines I have set out above. We should also place a high priority on recruiting, hiring and retaining strong teachers—making sure we provide teachers with mentoring programs, higher salaries, meaningful evaluation and professional development. Finally, we need a Support Service that is strategic and dedicated to helping students with behavioral problems so that they can get the education they need while not disrupting other students from learning. Parents want what is best for their children and if they see a school system dedicated to providing children with a safe environment, satisfied teachers and a rich rigorous curriculum, parents will see real change and want to send their children to Durham Public Schools.

11. If you could do three things to improve Durham Public Schools, what would

they be?

1. Facilitate system-‐wide culture shift at DPS that will:

• Change what is driving the perception of our school system by truly improving our education system at every level.

• Create a child and school centered approach rather than a focus on Central Office. We must recognize that our education system’s purpose is to educate its students. Great teachers and principals are at the heart of this endeavor. The school system must focus on supporting them and valuing their expertise when decision are made about how to best educate our students.

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• Engage in clear, focused, and authentic communication with parents, students and the community.

• Create a unified school district through collaboration between our traditional public schools and charter schools.

2. Provide strong Support Services that will:

• Promote dynamic and committed leadership that understands the challenges facing our most at-‐risk students and is dedicated to serving students swiftly and with a sense of urgency. • Dedicate competent social workers in nearly every school. • Embrace restorative justice models to address behavioral issues such as peer mediation, preventative mediation, re-‐entry mediation and peaceful schools.

3. Promote fiscal responsibility, transparency and clear accountability that

includes:

• The School Board and top administrators to be committed to understanding how public education money is spent and whether money is being spent effectively and responsibly. Community budget advisory committee must have complete access to clear budget information for the entire budget. • Determine best practices and eliminate ineffective procedures. There must be regular evaluation of all existing programing to best identify what works and what does not. We should no longer add new programming without eliminating those programs that are not serving their purpose. • Establish clear standards of performance and meaningful reviews of Central Office and administrative staff. We should stop promoting and shifting individuals who do not perform, and instead, support improved performance or separate poorly performing staff.

Personal Information 12. Please describe your educational background, noting any degrees and

honors you have earned. (skip if resume included) See Resume

13. Do you have children? Where do they or did they attend school?

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Please see answer to Number 10 above. I have two daughters. One attends The Lerner Jewish Day School and the other now attends Carolina Friends School.

14. Please describe your adult employment history (skip if resume included) See Resume

Lisa Gordon Stella, CV

LISA GORDON STELLA 4325 Swarthmore Road Durham, N.C. 27707 (919) 274-‐5719

Email: [email protected] EDUCATION University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN J.D. 1998, Magna Cum Laude, Order of the Coif Note & Comment Editor Minnesota Law Review University of California at Davis, Davis, CA B.A. 1994, Political Science, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa EDUCATION AND BOARD EXPERIENCE Program Director, In School Truancy Court (2012-‐present), experience and responsibilities include:

1. Recruit and Train 25-‐35 professionals to serve as truancy court judges in Durham Public Schools, including law professors, retired law enforcement, attorneys, mediators, retired educators, and law students.

2. Coordinate and assign judges to serve every Durham public school. 3. Supervised 25-‐35 judges to ensure truancy court operating effectively. 4. Evaluate and provide feedback to every social worker (20-‐25) assigned to a

Durham public school. 5. Develop and draft a truancy court manual and forms to standardize truancy

court operations throughout Durham public schools in collaboration with DPS administration.

6. Create a data collection tool to track truancy court efficacy in collaboration with administrators and staff at DPS.

7. Provide in person truancy court training to all social workers serving DPS. 8. Travel to, and observe, truancy courts throughout Durham public schools. 9. Engage regularly with DPS central office and administrative staff to improve

truancy court. 10. Met and communicated with former superintendent Dr. Becoats to improve

truancy court, discuss challenges at DPS, and assist with community engagement.

11. Present truancy court outcomes and experiences to the Durham Public School Board at their Support Services work session.

12. Serve as a truancy court judge at the following schools: • Elementary Schools: Creekside, Parkwood, Oak Grove, Spring Valley,

Merrick Moore, Bethesda , Burton, RN Harris, Hillandale, Forest View,


Southwest, Holt, Hope Valley, Lakewood, Little River. • Middle Schools: Githens, Lowes Grove, Brodgen , W.G. Pearson. • High Schools: City of Medicine Academy, Durham School of the Arts,

Jordan. • Other Schools: Lakeview Alternative School.

President, Elna B. Spaulding Conflict Resolution Center, Durham (2010-‐present), experience and responsibilities include:

1. Examine, evaluate and approve budgets. 2. Address budget challenges including funding cuts. 3. Creatively problem-‐solve budget cutbacks, and aggressively identify and seek

additional areas of revenue. 4. Lead productive, focused board meetings. 5. Recruit board members. 6. Lead Board retreats for successful strategic planning. 7. Organize and coordinate yearly fundraisers that have consistently increased

organizational visibility and donation base year over year. 8. Engage with local non-‐profits to undergo Board review and evaluation to

improve board performance, outreach and communication. 9. Co-‐trainer of community mediators. 10. Train Peer Mediators at Githens Middle School. 11. Meet with DPS Executive Team members to discuss implementation of

additional restorative justice programs in Durham Public Schools to reduce suspensions and behavioral problems.

Vice President and Board Member, Maureen Joy Charter School, Durham, NC (2004-‐present), experience and responsibilities include:

1. Served as Vice President since 2012. 2. Conduct board meetings to ensure all agenda items addressed and meetings

stay focused and on time. 3. Review, understand, and approve budgets. 4. Actively participate in the interview and selection process of school

leadership including the current principal to ensure strong dedicated individuals lead the school.

5. Chair of Personnel Committee charged with addressing all personnel matters.

6. Conduct meaningful and comprehensive annual reviews of the Principal that include staff and teacher evaluations.

7. Evaluate and provide direction on school policies and procedures. 8. Engage in strategic and long term school planning. 9. Negotiate the sale/lease of the Maureen Joy Cornwallis building 10. Review and approve the purchase of the Maureen Joy S. Driver Street

campus.


11. Represent the Board in meetings with Durham Public Schools to discuss potential collaborations, including meetings with DPS Board Members Heidi Carter and Minnie Forte Brown.

12. Receive Board training from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. 13. Designated as Board representative to work with other Durham charters

schools to improve education and collaborate with Durham Public Schools. 14. Initiated the Durham Charter Collaborative, where representatives from each

charter school in Durham meet monthly to discuss collaboration among the charters as well as with Durham Public Schools.

15. Organize the first Durham charter school fair at Northgate Mall to increase Latino and low-‐income student access to charter schools in Durham.

16. Communicate with County Manager’s office regarding charters and education in Durham, including budget, student performance and finances.

LEGAL AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE Mediator and Investigator, Triangle Mediation Services, LLC, Durham NC (2009-‐present), experience and responsibilities include:

1. Certified by the Dispute Resolution Commission to conduct mediation in Superior Court matters.

2. Mediate litigation pending in Superior Court. 3. Mediated disputes pending in Criminal District Court in Durham. 4. Employ strong listening skills, and the ability to navigate differing

personalities and communication styles to help individuals resolve their disputes peacefully.

5. Train employees from a variety of government entities and non-‐profits throughout the area on mediation and communication skills, with a focus on employee/supervisor relations and relations with clients from low-‐income backgrounds.

6. Facilitate DPS’ Community Conversations at Hillandale Staff Development Center, Southern High School and White Rock Baptist Church in December 2013.

7. Served as Co-‐Editor of “The Peacemaker,” the newsletter of the Dispute Resolution Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.

8. Investigate workplace discrimination claims for a variety of employers, including schools.

Creator and Owner, Kismet Crackers LLC, (2011-‐2012)

1. Founded artisan cracker company specializing in healthy, delicious crackers. 2. Marketed and sold product to specialty food retailers and Whole Foods

Stores throughout the Triangle. 3. Created website and company logo. 4. Created recipes. 5. Performed all financial and legal duties.


6. Company achieved profitability in less than one year. 7. Sold Company to successful food entrepreneur in the Triangle

U.S. Counsel/Corporate Secretary, Memscap, Inc., RTP, NC, (2006-‐2009)

1. Advise company on all legal matters in the United States market. 2. Contract negotiation and drafting, including supply agreements, intellectual

property agreements, and non-‐disclosure agreements. 3. Oversee compliance with state and federal laws. 4. Provide employee training on employments laws and trade secret protection. 5. Provide litigation consulting, support and oversight. 6. Draft all employee relation documents, including employee handbook,

severance agreements, non-‐compete and intellectual property agreements.

Associate/Of Counsel, Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, LLP, Raleigh, NC (2003-‐2006)

1. Represent parties in litigation in health care, employment, and general business matters.

2. Represent parents living in Mexico, Central American and South American in Federal and State courts throughout North Carolina on International Child Abduction Matters on a Pro Bono Basis.

3. Liaison with Legal Aid Advocates for Children. 4. Draft Guardian Ad Litem Appeals

Associate, Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP, Raleigh, NC (2001-‐2003)

1. Represent parties in litigation matters in health care, employment, and general business litigation.

2. Represent parents living in Mexico, Central American and South American in Federal and State courts throughout North Carolina on International Child Abduction Matters on a Pro Bono Basis.

Associate, Caldwell, Leslie & Proctor, PLLC, Los Angeles, CA (1999-‐2001)

1. Represent parties in litigation matters and international arbitration. 2. Provide pro bono services on a variety of legal matters.

Law Clerk, The Honorable Michael Daly Hawkins, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Phoenix, AZ (1998-‐1999)


MEDIATION CERTIFICATIONS/AFFILIATIONS DRC Certified Superior Court Mediator Community Mediator, Conflict Resolution Center, Durham MEMBERSHIPS/COMMITTEES Member, Dispute Resolution Section, NC Bar Association (2009-‐present) Member California Bar Association (1999 to present) Member North Carolina Bar Association (2002 to present) Member, 14th Judicial District Bar (2006 to present) PUBLICATIONS/AWARDS/BOARDS Author:

In-‐School Truancy Court: Using Mediation to Address Truancy in Durham, The Peacemaker, February 2013. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. Federal Election Commission.: A Court Divided-‐-‐One Opinion Properly Subjects Campaign Finance Jurisprudence to a Reality Check, 81 MINN. L. REV. 1565 (1997).

Editor Peacemaker Dispute Resolution Journal, 2009-‐2012 Prognosis Health Law Journal, 2002 – 2004

Recipient,

Award of Merit, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (2004, 2005, 2006)

Pro Bono Award N.C. Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division (2006)

Scarborough Award for Outstanding Work for the Poor Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough (2006)

News & Politics

Lisa Gordon Stella 2014 PA-PAC Questionnaire