Tom Nida Steps Down as Chair of the D.C. Public Charter School Board; Brian Jones Becomes Chair

 
For Immediate Release: February 23, 2010
Contact: Audrey Williams 202-328-2748
[email protected]
 
 
Washington, D.C. — It was Tom Nida’s final board meeting of the D.C. Public Charter School Board last night, February 22.  After six years as chair, fellow board members praised Nida for leading the Board through the charter movement’s biggest growth period.  “He was an unstoppable force for the good of the charter movement,” said Board Member Will Marshall.  Nida’s term on the Board expires this month.

Nida passed the Board leadership baton to Brian W. Jones who was elected chair.  Jones has been vice chair for the past year and was appointed to the Board in September 2007 by Mayor Adrian Fenty.  John “Skip” McKoy was elected vice chair.

Jones brings a wealth of education experience to the Board having served for four years as the U.S. Department of Education’s General Counsel.  In his capacity as General Counsel, Jones was the fourth-ranking officer of the Department and served as a legal and policy adviser to Secretary Rod Paige. He also served as executive vice president and general counsel at the College Loan Corporation.  He is currently senior counsel to the Washington, D.C. law firm of Dow Lohnes PLLC. 

"As chair I will continue to focus the Board's efforts on improving school quality across the board by holding school leaders accountable for high achievement,” Jones said. “We have more and better information available to us with the advent of our new Performance Management Framework. We will use every tool available to us to ensure that the charter sector continues to provide a premium educational option for District families.”

Jones believes one of the major challenges the Board faces today is how to better integrate the work of charters into the larger public school reform efforts in the District.  "The Board needs to be a more vocal advocate for the extraordinary work our schools do and to more forcefully articulate how charter schools contribute and add value to the extraordinary public education reform efforts underway in the city," he said.
 

The D.C. Public Charter School Board currently oversees 57 public charter schools on 99 campuses, serving nearly 28,000 students living in every ward of the city.  Public charter schools now serve 38% of all public school students in Washington, D.C.