Dear FHI 360 PSO Principals and CFN Colleagues:

I’m pleased to report that Michael Selkis will assume the role of director of the FHI 360 school support network this week. In this position, his primary responsibility will be to support you and your schools in your efforts to improve teaching, learning and students’ healthy development. As senior director of FHI 360’s school development and support team, he’ll also have the opportunity to apply the learning of other FHI 360 programs to the PSO.

Michael brings strong experience to our network. He worked in urban schools in the San Francisco and Albany areas, where he was a middle school teacher, founded an alternative middle-high school for disengaged students, and was an elementary and middle school principal. Most recently he has been lead talent coach with the NYC DOE, overseeing a team of coaches and leading the implementation of the Department’s pilot teacher evaluation and teacher development program in 75 schools. He’s also taught in Mexico and served in the Peace Corps in Poland. He has a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is completing a doctorate in urban education at Teachers College, where the focus of his study is implementation of Common Core standards.

I want to thank all of you for assisting us in this transition—for recommending candidates and participating in review and interviewing. Special thanks to Robert Mercedes, Dolores Peterson, Linda Rosenbury, Brian Kaplan, the FHI 360 Middle Start team, and to others who offered help.

Kudos and thanks to Judi Aronson who assumed the role of interim network leader for these past two months, and who ensured that support for your schools would remain constant. We’re also grateful to Gail Gaines, Risa Sackman, Sara Panag, Oni Hutchinson, Viviene Verstandig, Christine Newkirk, Aurelia Enache, Maud Abeel, and the CFN team, who helped us all stay on course.

In the next two weeks, Michael will be reaching out to all of you and will be visiting with you soon. Please welcome him to your schools, our network and the CFN.

Best wishes to your and your colleagues and students for a peaceful holiday and a cheerful start to the new year.

Patrick

Patrick Montesano
Vice President and Director, Center for School and Community Services
FHI 360 | 71 Fifth Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003
Main: 212.243.1110 | Direct: 212.367.4573 | F: 212.627.0407 | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Please note the new address of our New York office, effective December 10. We’re in the same neighborhood near Union Square, on the corner opposite our previous location. Our phone and fax numbers remain the same.