Charter School Superstars

This week, Ryan sits down with entrepreneur and charter school graduate Tony Morales. Tony is a managing director at N2Growth, a prestigious multinational executive search firm. Our guest is also actively involved with a number of education-focused nonprofit organizations. Ryan talks to Tony about his charter school experience and how it helped bring him to where he is in life today. Tony also provides insight on what schools should be doing to prepare students for the tech-focused careers of the 21st century. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan talks to Reverend Dr. Jacquie Hood Martin. Dr. Martin is a minister, education advocate, author, and a co-organizer of the "Is School Choice the Black Choice" nationwide town hall events. Ryan talks to our guest about her education advocacy, her town halls, and the ways that school choice and charter education have served to empower the Black community as a whole (and not just students). Find out more about her work by visiting www.jacquiehood.com. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with Mark Medema, the Managing Director of the Charter School Facility Center for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Ryan talks to Mark about strategies for charter schools to overcome the "facilities gap" that makes it more difficult for charters to procure suitable facilities relative to their traditional public school counterparts. Mark also discusses some welcome policy developments throughout the country that have helped address this gap. Mark will be presenting a session about facilities at the National Charter Schools Conference in Las Vegas from June 30th to July 3rd. Find out more and sign up by visiting ncsc.publiccharters.org.Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with Lyman Millard, the founding partner of Bloomwell Group. With over twenty years of experience in the field of charter education, Lyman strives to help high performing charter schools and non-profit organizations find solutions to any strategic challenges. Lyman talks to Ryan about strategies to help charter schools boost their enrollment and also talks about his work with the National Charter School Conference (June 30-July 3 in Las Vegas, visit ncsc.publiccharters.org). https://www.bloomwellgroup.com/Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)Producer: Ross Ulysse

This week, Ryan sits down with Heather McManus, the Chief Learning Officer for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy. Heather talks to Ryan about how Camino Nuevo strives to have positive impact in its community by implementing a learning culture based on college prep, social justice, and ethnic studies. Heather also provides her thoughts on the professionalization of teaching and what the education system can do to develop effective teachers. Find out more about Camino Nuevo Charter Academy by visiting www.caminonuevo.org.Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)Producer: Ross Ulysse

This week, Ryan sits down with Sarah Boulos Fye of Somerset Academy, Inc.. In addition to being Ryan's podcasting co-host on "Big Ideas in Education" on Academica Media, Dr. Fye is also the Director of Strategic Planning and Academic Achievement for the Somerset Academy Charter School Network. Sarah talks to Ryan about her research in the area of teacher retention. Specifically, Sarah and Ryan discuss the role that mentorship and peer relationships play in keeping teachers in the profession. Great insight this week from a fantastic administrator and scholar!Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with Kelly Pierce. Kelly is a former student athlete, academic advisor, and charter school teacher. Today, she is the CEO of Pierce Plan, a company that offers a Software as a Service platform that helps high schools track student academic progress toward NCAA initial eligibility requirements. Kelly talks to Ryan about her platform and the challenges that charter high schools face in making sure that their student athletes comply with NCAA admission eligibility regulations. She offers some great advice for school leaders in this area.Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Alliance, to discuss the latest annual FLDOE charter school performance report. In the report, the Department reviewed over 4.2 million student state test scores and other performance data and concluded that the state’s public charter schools outperformed Florida’s traditional public schools in 82% of the grade level performance comparison metrics examined, and 92% of the learning gain metrics examined. Ryan talks to Lynn about her impressions of the report, how public charter schools have improved since the passage of Florida's first public charter school law, and what the report's findings mean for public education as a whole. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan talks to recording artist and charter school student Mercedes Ferreira-Dias. Mercedes is a star student at the Mater Academy Lakes charter school in Miami Lakes, Florida, but she became something of a TV star recently when she made it through the blind auditions on season 15 of NBC's "The Voice" and sang for Blake Shelton's team on the program. We talk to Mercedes about her experience on the show and how her charter school experience helped foster her success. She also talks to us about her future college plans, which involve a dual-degree admission to Harvard and the Berklee College of Music. Download CSS this week and find out more about this incredible student and artist. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan chats with acclaimed children's book author Timmy Bauer. In addition to being the creative mind behind the "Billy the Dragon" adventure story, Timmy is also a performer and the host of the Books for Kids Podcast. Timmy travels the country visiting schools (including many charter schools) to encourage students to unlock their creative potential. Timmy talks to Ryan about his work, what schools can do to better prepare students to become writers and illustrators, and the biggest misconceptions that people have about writing for children. Find out more about Timmy's work by visiting www.billythedragon.com.Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with noted security expert William Tagle of Tagle and Associates to talk about how to keep our charter schools safe. Mr. Tagle was an officer with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools police for 25 years and today provides security consulting services for public and private schools. In the year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, school safety has been a topic at the top of every educator's mind, and charter schools face unique challenges in making sure that their students can learn in a secure environment. We talk to Mr. Tagle about those challenges, and he gives us actionable strategies for schools to have effective safety practices. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with education reformer Curtis Valentine. Curtis is the Deputy Director, Reinventing America’s Schools at the Progressive Policy Institute and is also an at-large board member for the Prince George’s County Public School District. Last month, Curtis was a panelist at the "Is School Choice the Black Choice" Atlanta town hall hosted by Roland Martin and sponsored by The 74. On this episode, Curtis recaps the panel and provides insightful perspective on the historical roots and modern outlook of school choice and charter education in the Black community. Curtis also talks about his work as his school board member and provides actionable strategies to find common ground with other education policymakers and enact effective education policy. You can watch the "Is School Choice the Black Choice" panel by clicking here: https://www.the74million.org/article/watch-live-is-school-choice-the-black-choice-atlanta-town-hall/Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with NAPCS Senior Director of Government Relations Ron Rice, Jr.. Ron talks about his work at the National Alliance and what it means to advocate for pro-charter policy at the federal level with a Congress that seems more polarized than ever. Ron and Ryan also discuss how charter education policy affected the 2018 mid-term elections and how it is poised to influence the 2020 presidential race. Ron also discusses his annual School Leaders of Color event and his admirable work to amplify the minority voice in charter education. Find out more about Ron's work by visiting www.publiccharters.org. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with principal Wendy Shirey of Pinecrest Academy Horizon charter school in Henderson, Nevada. Back in December, Principal Shirey won the prestigious Milken Educator Award, an honor frequently referred to as the "Oscars of Teaching." Ryan talks to Wendy about what the award means to her, how she uses data and stakeholder engagement to effect school turnarounds, her strategies for effective grant writing, and how her background in special education influences her leadership philosophy. You can find out more about our guest's school by visiting www.pinecresthorizon.org and find out more about her award by visiting www.milkeneducatorawards.org.Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)

This week, Ryan sits down with charter school teacher Ralph Krauss (Pinecrest Academy of Nevada) and charter school support administrator Michael Smythers. This year, Ralph and Michael built a competitive e-sports league featuring charter schools from Florida and Nevada. Students are competing as teams and representing their schools in the league featuring the "Rocket League" video game, and the program has garnered incredible interest from the competing schools. Ralph and Michael talk about why e-sports programs are good investments for schools and why they are valuable for students. Our guests also talk about their league, what the future holds for their program, and how other schools can create e-sports programs at their campuses. Host: Ryan Kairalla (@ryankair)