Speakers

Anne Marie Blank was born into a military family that was originally from Louisiana. She has lived in the state for the past 25 years and has called Baton Rouge home for the past 15 years. Having attended multiple Department of Defense Dependents schools located on military bases in Germany, and public schools in Virginia, Kansas, and Louisiana, she is a proud product of public schooling and believes in the power of quality public education. Today, she has four children in the East Baton Rouge School System. As a Progressive Social Network (PSN) board member and education committee member, she has advocated for the improvement of our school system for over six years. In the past, she has worked with PSN’s school board monitors and was responsible for organizing bi-monthly reviews of the school board agendas, as well as coordinated responses to target issues. She has also provided support with the compilation of a comprehensive bi-partisan voter guide and assisted with organizing various events and projects with the organization.

Angelle Bradford works with the Louisiana chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Neva Butkus, born and raised in a working-class community outside of Chicago,  has witnessed firsthand the impacts on a community when policymakers prioritize the wealthy and corporations in state and local tax policy. As a State Policy Analyst at ITEP since 2021, Neva now supports researchers and advocates in their fight for equitable and adequate state tax systems through policy analysis, research and collaboration. Prior to ITEP, Neva was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Louisiana Budget Project where her research and advocacy included issues of corporate tax policy, working family tax credits, unemployment insurance, and K-12 finance policy. Neva holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration from Louisiana State University. She resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Belinda Creel Davis (Ph.D. Florida State University, 2001) is an associate professor in the Political Science Department at Louisiana State University. She studies American Politics in the United States. Her research areas include public policy, the social safety net, and representation.  Her most recent projects explore the relationship between immigration attitudes and the support for the social safety net and how education policy information influences support for public schools.  Her research has appeared in the American Journal of  Political Science, Journal of Politics, and Social Science Quarterly.  She frequently evaluates programs for state governments.  Currently, she serves as the undergraduate advisor for the Political Science Department. 

Belinda was a founding member of One Community One School that was created to keep the Baton Rouge school district intact in the face of St. George. She has run for school board and state representative. She currently serves as a member of the State Board of Education (BESE) as an appointee of Governor Edwards. She has three children in EBR public schools.

Representatives of the East Baton Rouge Parish Schools team:
Christina Lockett Anderson - Equity and Diversity
Janet Harris - Exceptional Student Services

Cesar Rico - English Language Learners

Kimberly Boudreaux - Charter/Alternative Programs

Elizabeth Thomas - Magnet

Amanda Fandal - Focus Choice

Brandy Williams - Gifted/Talented

Susan East Nelson is the executive director of the Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families. The organization gives the children of Louisiana voice for a better life. That's what the Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families (the Partnership) is all about.  We are a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to influencing public policy, educating parents and all the citizens of our state and making sure that the services provided are the best for our children.

Amanda Fandal is the Director of Focus Choice Schools (FCS) for EBR Schools. Ms. Fandal provides leadership to the faculty and staff at the Focus Choice Schools, plans and coordinates publicity and recruiting activities, and serves as a liaison between the FCS programs, partnering entities, and Central Office administration. 

Ted Firnberg is the President of DSS Distributing and Co-Owner of School Aids, a retail school supply company.  He is a Baton Rouge native who attended East Baton Rouge Parish public schools, and University High School.  He earned his undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University and his master’s degree from Embry-Riddle University.  

Upon graduating from LSU, Ted received a commission as a United States Air Force officer through the LSU Air Force ROTC program. He went on to serve in the Air Force for 23 years and retired from active duty in 2008.  After returning home, he sought opportunities to serve the Baton Rouge community.  He first volunteered as a Reading Friend at Magnolia Woods Elementary. He later became a founding board member of the Foundation for East Baton Rouge School System.  Ted currently serves on the board of the Volunteers of America, South Central Louisiana and is a member of the Tax Oversight Committee for the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.

Brei Gage, a native of Port Allen, earned her bachelor’s of science from Southeastern Louisiana University in family studies and human development in 2018. It was during undergrad that Brei developed her calling for using education as a tool to support students and families holistically — which is to say, not only helping her students succeed academically, but also supporting her students and their parents to excel relationally and socio-emotionally. After graduating, Brei became a resident of the Relay Graduate School of Education, where she was a teacher-in-residence in elementary education. In 2020, she obtained her master’s in teaching and special education. These credentials equip her to play a key role in BRYC’s instructional coaching efforts. Brei is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in curriculum and instruction.
 

Brei joined the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition  (BRYC) team in June 2020. As an underclassman learning manager, she supported a cohort of Freshmen Fellows and their parents and mentors with the goal of starting high school strong. Since fall 2021, Brei has been driving BRYC’s instructional coaching initiatives, helping her fellow program managers become more effective educators. In July 2022, Brei transitioned to associate director of underclassmen learning. In this role, she leads the underclassmen program managers, designs socio-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, and plays a crucial role in BRYC’s parent/guardian communications.

Kirk Green is a vice-president on the executive board of the East Baton Rouge Parish Federation of Teachers. He is also a teacher at Westdale Middle School in EBR Schools.

Maria Harmon is from Lake Charles, LA. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Step Up Louisiana, a grassroots membership-based organization that advocates for economic and education justice across the state of Louisiana. Maria has been organizing since the age of 16 with the Junior Daughters of the Knights of Peter Claver. She has a Master's Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Southern University A&M College of Baton Rouge, LA. During her time at Southern, Maria built a network of over 2,000 students to become civically engaged while working with the Louisiana Democratic Party. She helped start Democracy Prep Public School of Baton Rouge by enrolling 192 students for their first school year in 2015-2016. She has also worked for the Micah Project, a federation of the PICO National Network/Faith In Action, in 2016 as a community organizer working in education and civic engagement.  

Julie Hoffman is a proud product of Baton Rouge public schools (Westdale Elementary '76 and Baton Rouge High '82!), as are her children (Baton Rouge Magnet High School). She strongly believes that good, inclusive public education should be available to all, with no one left behind. 

Khalid Hudson is the Lead Organizer for Together Baton Rouge (TBR), an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF).  Khalid started organizing with the IAF in Jackson, MS.  In 2016, he was recruited to join the organizing team with Working Together Jackson, primarily organizing around workforce development and education.  In 2019, he relocated to Baton Rouge as the senior organizer and, in 2020, became the Lead Organizer for TBR.  Before organizing Khalid worked for Wilson County schools (NC) and Dekalb Count schools (GA) as support staff, working with children with IEPs.  He is originally from Chicago, IL, and is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in African-American World Studies.

Kaitlyn Joshua is a Baton Rouge native. She organizes with the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice where she spends the bulk of her time doing civic engagement within communities of color, organizing faith leaders, and working to stop the perpetual cycle of gun violence from a holistic approach alongside partners Faith in Action. Within her bucket of work, Kaitlyn is very active in the educational advocacy space where she regularly attends school board meetings and uses her platform to engage the community around topics such as stopping the charter movement, redistricting, and policies within the public school system. In her spare time, Kaitlyn also does environmental justice work with an organization called Earthworks and spends her weekends pulling her husband and 4 year old daughter, Lauryn, to all things advocacy!

Colleen Kissel is a parent to two children who attend EBR public schools. She is the project manager of BRVotes.org, a nonpartisan voter guide for the city, and has attended several school board meetings. She can be found knitting almost anywhere.

Gaylynne Mack is the executive director of the Big Buddy Mentoring Baton Rouge. 

Jan Moller is director of the Louisiana Budget Project, which monitors and reports on state government spending and how it affects Louisiana’s low- to moderate-income families. He is an award-winning journalist formerly with the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s state capital bureau, where he covered the state budget, health-care policy, higher education and races for Louisiana governor and U.S. Senate seats.

Before moving to Louisiana in 2003, he covered local and national politics at the Las Vegas Review-Journal and worked as a reporter and editor in Washington, D.C., primarily with the syndicated columnist Jack Anderson. As an investigative reporter, Moller’s work led to reforms in Louisiana’s nursing home regulation and uncovered ethics violations by city officials in Nevada. Born in Sweden, Moller was raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and is a graduate of The American University in Washington, D.C.

Tania Nyman, a native of Louisiana, first became involved in community advocacy in 2012 when she joined with other parents to oppose the creation of a breakaway school district in East Baton Rouge Parish. Since then, she has worked with a variety of advocacy organizations and has gained a greater understanding of issues affecting the broader community. 

​Prior to becoming involved in volunteer advocacy, Tania was an instructor in the Department of English at Louisiana State University. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. While a graduate student, she was a member of DC WritersCorps, an AmeriCorps organization that sponsored writing workshops in “traditionally underserved communities” in the Washington DC area. While a WritersCorps member, Tania taught writing workshops in centers serving individuals who were homeless as well as DC public schools. For her elementary and secondary education, she attended New Orleans public schools. She earned her high school diploma from Benjamin Franklin High School and a BA in English Literature from the University of New Orleans.

 She and her husband have two sons, both of whom attend East Baton Rouge Parish public schools. You can keep up with Tania's research on her Website.

Cesar Rico, born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, came to America at 5 years old. He was then an English learner raised in uptown New Orleans.  After graduating from Brother Martin High School, Cesar attended and graduated from Louisiana State University.  He has dedicated 10 years to EBR School where he has served as Assistant Principal and Principal. His love for children, ability to organize, support, and manage people have all served the school community well.  He brings a unique perspective to the district level that supports leaders, teachers, and families in our efforts toward continuous improvement.

Kimberly Ringgold-Boudreaux has been passionately educating the children of south Louisiana since 1998. She has developed a reputation in her community as a powerful agent of change for her ability to turn around even the lowest performing schools. Kimberly always puts children first and builds programs around what is best for students. She started her career as a high school English teacher and later served as both an assistant principal and principal. In her current role as an executive director with the EBRPS System, Kimberly works with Type 1 charter schools. In her free time, she enjoys watching her son play basketball and preparing her daughter to follow in her educational footsteps.

Elizabeth Thomas worked with Magnet programs for 8 years. First as an educator, then as a Site Coordinator, and currently as the district's Recruiter for Magnet Programs. As the mother of an EBR Schools student, Elizabeth is both personally and professionally invested in the health of our public school system. She is excited to continue bringing innovative and specialized programs to EBR Schools.

Brandy Williams is a native of Baton Rouge with over 18 years of education experience in elementary, middle, and high schools in Louisiana and Georgia. She has served the district in many roles including teacher, gifted site coordinator, assistant principal, principal, and curriculum coordinator. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and enjoys volunteering at her children's sports activities and local church. She is a recent graduate of Baton Rouge Area Chamber 2021 Leadership Class. 

Hannah Amoroso is a graduate of McKinley Middle, Baton Rouge High School, and the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Master's degree in physical therapy in 2001 and is a Board Certified Geriatric Clinical Specialist. She is the mother of a 7th grader and 9th grader who both attend EBR Public Schools. She began her public school advocacy when her oldest child started pre-K in 2012. She volunteered with Beyond Bricks, participates in the PTOs at her children’s schools, and is involved with several local public education advocacy groups. She supports democratically controlled public schools and would love to see the promise of public education available to every student in Baton Rouge. 

In her spare time, she trains with the Varsity Sports running group and combines travel to interesting places with marathons and other races.  

Kristina "Kricket" Dezendorf is a graduate of Tara High School. A social worker, she will graduate from Louisiana State University with her Master's degree in December of 2022.  She is married and a mom to 2 boys, ages 16 and 8. Kristina has worked as a journalist at several local newspapers, a curriculum developer for counterterrorism classes at LSU's National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, an instructional designer for Louisiana's Economic Development FastStart Program, and most recently, an intern at Together Baton Rouge as a community organizer and social worker. She created the Moms of Baton Rouge Facebook group, the largest group of its kind in the area, and the Baton Rouge Mom Network, a nonprofit organization that connects families with resources and each other. In her free time, she enjoys dancing with her parade dance krewe, the Flamingeauxs, where she also serves as the group's Vice President. 

Anna Fogle first became engaged in public education advocacy when her oldest child was at Bernard Terrace Elementary in the early 2000s. She served on their PTO. She then worked with other parents to revive the PTO at Glasgow Middle and worked on its first very successful annual campaign to support the school with an AmeriCorps member as well as after-school care. She and her co-president then went on to volunteer to run the Baton Rouge Association for Gifted and Talented Students. This led to advocacy at the state level to defeat efforts to create each school being their own island to control contracting, etc. Principals were very much against this and the effort was defeated. The proponents asked, “Well then, what do you want?” and Beyond Bricks EBR was born in 2015 to capture the community’s vision for their public schools. Beyond Grades is the delayed follow-up to this effort. The vision is to create informed and engaged public school advocates who understand the many nuances of public education.

Anna worked in the non-profit sector for 25 years and has been a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual since 2010.  Anna has a Master's degree in Public Administration and Bachelor of Science in Psychology, both from LSU.  She holds multiple designations from the American College of Financial Services.  She has two children who attended EBR public schools, as well as her husband, James who is a realtor and musician in Baton Rouge.  Anna is from Houma, LA, and graduated from Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (a public boarding high school in Natchitoches, LA).

Margaret Fogle serves as tech support for this project. She is a 2017 graduate of McKinley High School. She has watched her mother’s advocacy efforts for decades and gets pulled in when help is needed. She has a strong sense of community justice and has focused on many advocacy efforts throughout the years. She studied Graphic Design and Film. Her work can be viewed here. Margaret is currently caring for a child with special needs and is looking forward to finishing school.

Nathalie Roy serves as the webmaster and curator of resources for the course. A National Board certified teacher, Nathalie currently teaches Roman Technology, Myth Makers, and Latin at Glasgow Middle School, a public school in the East Baton Rouge Parish School District. As a graduate of the rural Avoyelles Parish School System, Nathalie has always valued public school education, and both her children attend EBR public schools. In 2021, the Louisiana Department of Education named her its State Teacher of the Year.