Board of Directors:

Sarah Kirby Tepera, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Teach For America

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Sarah began her career as a bilingual 5th grade teacher in Houston, TX, as part of Teach For America. Sarah went on to earn her Master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School at the University of Texas and in 2004 became a program officer for the Texas High School Project (THSP), a $261 million partnership of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Texas Education Agency, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Communities Foundation of Texas. During her tenure at THSP, she designed and managed programs for a $13.6 million grant for education leadership initiatives and teacher recruitment, development, and retention. She also worked with senior leadership in three large Texas districts to develop a comprehensive leadership development program focused on governance and district-level policies. In 2007, Sarah joined Teach For America’s staff as managing director of the charter Phoenix institute, where she leveraged internal and external partnerships to launch Teach For America’s training model in a new city. The institute served over 3,300 students and 650 corps members in its first year.  Sarah was subsequently promoted to Vice-President of Institutes, where she oversaw the successful expansion of TFA’s institute program to include the Delta and Chicago institutes and overall progress in the quality of the institute program for students, staff, and corps members. Sarah is currently serving as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Teach For America.

Kelvey Oeser, Vice President of Design at Teach For America

Kelvey is currently serving as the Vice President of Design at Teach for America on the Teacher Preparation, Support, and Development Team. In this position, she leads a team of 10 designers who design staff development opportunities to ensure that all Teach For America program staff are outstanding instructional leaders, people leaders, and movement-builders. A graduate of Emory University, Kelvey Oeser joined Teach For America as a 2001 Los Angeles corps member. She taught 6th and 7th grade English Language Arts and Social Studies for three years at Hollenbeck Middle School. During this time, she acted as a grade level chair, new teacher support co-chair, and choreographer for the drama club, and she received a master’s degree in secondary education from Loyola Marymount University. She left teaching to pursue a master’s degree in public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. After completing her MPAff degree, Kelvey worked at the Texas Education Agency managing the $30 million Texas STEM Initiative, in which she supported the creation of 35 new STEM-themed academies across the state of Texas serving low-income students. Kelvey joined the full-time Teach For America staff in 2007 as part of the charter Phoenix institute management team, and then she joined the TPSD design team as a managing director and successfully managed several critical design initiatives improving the quality of training for both corps members and staff members at institute. Kelvey works from home in Austin, TX, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Aaron, and two year-old son, Eli.

Sara Cotner, Director of Operations and Compliance at Austin Achieve & Founder of Montessori For All

Sara Cotner has cultivated broad and deep insight into educational reform as a Teach For America national staff member, the founder of an independent consulting firm, an adjunct professor, and a teacher in various environments, including charter, traditional districts, and public Montessori. She began her career in education as an AmeriCorps volunteer who recruited and trained reading tutors for the public school system. After witnessing the achievement gap firsthand, she decided to join Teach For America to help work toward a solution. In her three years in rural Louisiana, she ensured that 100% of students advanced at least two years in reading, founded the Community Action and Responsibility Education Team, and received a state teacher of the year award. She moved to Houston to work at the original KIPP school to help economically-disadvantaged children get to college. She ensured that 99% of her students passed the state assessment and increased Commended scores from 18 to 57 percent. Looking for a truly transformational approach to education that would not only help children get to college but would help them get through college and succeed in the ever-changing global economy—in addition to becoming agents of change in their families and communities—Sara found her way to Montessori. She is an AMS-certified Montessori educator who helped 100% of her students pass the TAKS test in a public Montessori program in Houston. She started Montessori For All in 2011 to help children in diverse communities gain access to a high-performing, authentic Montessori school.

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Opportunity to Join Our Board:

We are seeking dedicated Austin community members from diverse backgrounds and perspectives for our founding board who are:

• Mission-aligned and have a passion for creating a high-performing, authentic Montessori school for a diverse community of children in East Austin
• Committed to following-through on action items reliably and effectively
• Open to offering and receiving constructive feedback, while simultaneously promoting a spirit of teamwork, unity, and cohesiveness
• Willing to make decisions in the best interest of all children, rather than representing a specific constituency
• Eager to volunteer for committee work related to finance, law, real estate, fundraising, community partnerships, or curriculum
• Comfortable acting as an ambassador for Magnolia Montessori For All to help increase awareness of and investment in the school and to support fundraising efforts

Board Responsibilities:

Serving as a board member for a charter school organization is different from serving as a board member for a traditional non-profit organization. Charter school board members are “trustees of the state” and, as such, are obligated to provide “Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty, and Duty of Obedience.” When charter schools struggle, it is often traceable back to a board that has failed to provide proper governance. The primary responsibilities of a charter board include, but are not limited to:

1. Overseeing student achievement, as well as fiscal and operational health
2. Carrying out non-delegable duties, such as hiring and firing the Executive Director, hearing grievances, etc.
3. Acting as an ambassador for Magnolia Montessori For All to the larger community
4. Supporting fundraising efforts, including making a personal donation

Time Commitment:

• Feb. 2012 – Feb. 2013 = ~5 hours per month of work, primarily in committees; board meetings will be every other month
• July 2013 – July 2014 = ~5 hours per month of work; board meetings will be every month; all new board members will need to attend 12 hours of Texas Education Agency-certified training, spread out over the year
• Aug. 2014 – Beyond = ~4 hours per month of work; board meetings will be every month; board members will need to attend 6 hours of training, spread out over the year