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Panelists for February 19, 2002 Satellite Town Meeting

Guest panelists are:

William Knoester
Dr. Knoester is the principal of the Excel Charter Academy affiliated with the National Heritage Academies in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Excel is a K-8 charter school that has been hailed as a tremendous success story and as a "shining star" in the choice movement. With over thirty years of experience in public schools, Dr. Knoester has the perspective to identify lessons the charter movement can offer the traditional school district.

Spence Korté
Dr. Korté is the superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is committed to strengthening educational excellence by putting power and choice into the hands of teachers and parents. Through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), parents have a broad range of educational options for their children. In response to increased competition, Milwaukee public schools have become more independent, more innovative, and more attuned to their communities.

Jeanne Allen
Ms. Allen is one of the nation's most influential education experts who supports school reform and the choice movement. As president of the Center for Education Reform (CER), an organization she founded in 1993, lawmakers and national leaders consult Allen regularly in efforts to improve America's schools. Allen also serves as an advisor to several national and community-based organizations.

Ellen Pulupa
Ms. Pulupa is actively involved on the Parent Advisory Committee for the Math, Science and Computer Science Magnet at Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) in Silver Spring, Maryland. While teaching Spanish at a local private school, she has had children successively enrolled at MBHS magnet for the past nine years. The magnet school has distinguished itself as one of the leading mathematics and science programs in the region.

Bettye Saxon
Dr. Saxon is an Education Advocate for SBC Pacific Bell in Sacramento, California. SBC Pacific Bell is one of over 40 community and business partners which contributed to the development and on-going success of New Technology High School, an interdistrict magnet school located in Napa, California. Since its inception 1996, the business community has worked with the Napa Valley school district to design a public-private partnership that would ensure graduates were prepared to enter the workforce, go directly to college, or work in career-ladder positions while attending college. Through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New Technology High model will be packaged and replicated in ten California communities over the next five years.