Dr. Ellis began his service within education in 1986 teaching sixth grade in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY. He also taught sixth grade in East New York, Brooklyn.  After 10 years as a classroom teacher, he was appointed to the position of Assistant Principal of Junior High School 263 in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Subsequently, as Principal of the same school (later named PS/IS 323K), Dr. Ellis spearheaded significant gains, not only in English Language Arts and Mathematics, but also in social and emotional support services leading to positive and collaborative working relationships which resulted in increased family and community engagement. As a result of his work as a principal, Dr. Ellis was appointed to the position of Local Instructional Superintendent in 2004. 

Currently serving as the Superintendent of Schools for the East Ramapo Central School District in Spring Valley, NY, Dr. Ellis provides direct supervision for 14 schools ranging from grades K-12 that accommodate over 10,000 students. Faced with many challenges left over from the pandemic, Dr. Ellis carefully identified student needs through formative assessments and provided virtual tutoring to support approximately 2,000 of the district's most-needy K-8 students. He has implemented various support programs to bolster math instruction by providing targeted professional development to amplify the quality of staff pedagogy. Coming out of the pandemic, revealed the increased need for SEL support for both staff members and students. This led to the implementation of a mindfulness program to support the Executive Cabinet, Principals and Teachers, as social emotional learning cannot be provided to students without emotionally intelligent adults. 

Dr. Ellis has served on the Superintendent line for over 16 years. Since 2014, Dr. Ellis served as the Superintendent of Schools in District 17, which is located in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. He was responsible for the supervision and administration of 32 schools serving over 15,000 students from Pre-K through Grade 12. He considered his principals some of the best in the entire City of New York!  District 17 encompasses the diverse central Brooklyn communities of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, East Flatbush, and Lefferts Gardens. 

Prior to his arrival, District 17 was averaging close to 2700 suspensions each year. By providing professional development pertaining to the root causes of disproportionality, as well as fostering awareness of implicit bias, and articulating and demonstrating how culturally responsive pedagogy can mitigate this challenge, their suspensions decreased over 60% - to around 1000 suspensions per year. 

At the same time, District 17 experienced gains of 23% in levels 3 and 4 in English Language Arts: from 19% to 42%; and 21% in levels 3 and 4 in Mathematics: from 17% to 38%. Not only did the students that were getting suspended improve academically, the data indicated that all of the students benefited from the strategies that were employed. 

Dr. Ellis truly believes that “the rising tide lifts all boats.” When you take care of your most needy students, the entire student population flourishes. Additionally, when he arrived, District 17 was ranked 29th out of 32 community school districts, and there were 23 Focus Schools.  Fast forward to 2021, and District 17 was ranked 17th out of 32 community school districts, and all 23 Focus Schools were now in Good Standing!