TitleMeeting AgendaMeeting TranscriptMeeting MinutesMeeting VideoMeeting Noteshf:tax:school_year
Thursday, December 13us06web.zoom.us/j/88476856341?pwd=dfZHW3b0f56Vabb7LRqxQjfbNRaxYw.1
Thursday, November 14us06web.zoom.us/j/88476856341?pwd=dfZHW3b0f56Vabb7LRqxQjfbNRaxYw.12024
Tuesday, October 15, 2024us06web.zoom.us/j/88476856341?pwd=dfZHW3b0f56Vabb7LRqxQjfbNRaxYw.12024
Thursday, September 12, 2024us06web.zoom.us/j/88476856341?pwd=dfZHW3b0f56Vabb7LRqxQjfbNRaxYw.12024
Thursday, July 11, 2024us06web.zoom.us/j/88476856341?pwd=dfZHW3b0f56Vabb7LRqxQjfbNRaxYw.12024
Thursday, June 13, 2024us06web.zoom.us/s/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz092024
Thursday, May 9, 2024us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz092024
Thursday, April 11, 2024us06web.zoom.us/s/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz092024
Thursday, March 14, 2024us06web.zoom.us/s/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz092024
Thursday, February 8, 20242024
Thursday, January 11, 20242024
Tuesday, December 19, 20232023
Thursday, November 9, 2023us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz092023
Thursday, October 12, 2023

In-Person

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Thursday, September 14, 2023

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

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Thursday, July 20, 2023
Thursday, June 8, 2023

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

2023
Thursday, May 11, 2023

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

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Thursday, April 13, 2023

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

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Thursday, March 9, 2023 (8:45 am on campus)2023
Thursday, February 9, 20232023
Thursday, January 12, 2023

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

2023
Thursday, December 8, 2022

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

2022
Thursday, November 10, 2022

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

2022
Thursday, October 13, 2022

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

2022
Thursday, September 8, 2022

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85463207387?pwd=Um5FcXhlSDJwYk5lNjEyZHhnQ0Exdz09

2022

Board members are ambassadors for Sela PCS. As such, they promote the mission, enrollment, recruitment and engage in general public relations for the school. They are the governing body of the school, and as such are responsible for policies, head of school hiring and evaluation, and ensuring fiduciary responsibility.

Ryan Tauriainen, Board Chair

Dr. Ryan Tauriainen is the executive director of Teach For America, D.C. and Virginia. He has spent over 15 years serving in public education including working as a teacher, principal, and district leader within D.C. charter schools. He was the 2016 Washington Post Principal of the Year and served as a White House Fellow in the U.S. Department of Education. Ryan is an alumnus of Teach For America and received his BA from Middlebury College, MEd from Chaminade University, and EdD from the University of Pennsylvania.
 

Alen Amini

Alen Amini is currently a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and works primarily within the firm’s government and public sector practice. He was previously a high school teacher and vice principal in Southeast Arkansas and taught math at Atara Girls School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Alen is honored to join Sela’s board in support of its important work. 

Rose Benson

Rose Benson is an early childhood educator and advocate for education reform. Rose began her career as a financial services professional for a private wealth management firm but found her passion for education through volunteer work with the Bright Beginnings and the Junior League of Washington. Rose received her Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland College Park and is also a graduate of the DC Teaching Fellows program which enabled her to begin her second career in the classroom. Rose has taught PreK for five years at two DC Charter Schools and her classrooms have consistently been rated at the highest levels of instructional quality by OSSE. Rose lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Justin, her son Jacob, and their pup Justice Brennan. 

Bryce Jacobs

Bryce Jacobs is an educational reformer and educator with a particular interest in family engagement and college access/equity. She is currently a Partner at VPP+Raise DC where she works on collective impact, career and college readiness, early childhood education and supporting Boys and Young Men of Color. Before joining VPP+ Raise DC, Bryce was Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer at BUILD, a national organization that used entrepreneurship to ensure students from under-resourced communities are college and career ready. Before BUILD, Dr. Jacobs was Director of National Programs at College Summit, an organization with a mission to help more low-income students get to and through college, and previously was a program specialist at the National Parent Teacher Association. She is a founding board chair and current board member of Sela Public Charter School, a diverse by design Hebrew language immersion school in Washington DC. Dr. Jacobs has a B.A. in International Development from Clark University, an M.A. from George Washington University in Education, and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in Education Policy and Leadership. 

Ezra Karger

Ezra Karger is an economist in the microeconomics research group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His research measures the effects of public libraries and public high schools on children using variation in the set of communities that had access to these institutions. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, where his work was funded by the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. His oldest child is an incoming PK3 student at Sela PCS.

Steve Messner, Board Treasurer

Steve Messner has over 30 years of experience in finance, general management, operations, and strategy. He works with the top management of small and medium-sized companies to help them define their goals, develop and implement plans to achieve them, and improve profitability and cash flow, typically as a part-time CFO. His extensive non-profit board experience includes serving from 2009-2013 as a trustee and treasurer of the Septima Clark Public Charter School, Washington’s first public school for boys. In 2013, he oversaw its closure via merger with a high-performing charter school, the first such transaction in the city, and managed its finances during the process. Steve received a BA and an MS in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, an MS in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Reut Rozenberg

Reut Rozenberg is an accomplished educator. With extensive experience in Waldorf education, she successfully led Urim Waldorf School in Israel, managing 480 students while fostering an inclusive community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reut is committed to holistic education and was instrumental in founding the school’s high school program. Her background in engineering includes roles at Broadcom and Intel, where she honed her analytical and problem-solving skills. Reut holds an MBA from the University of Tel Aviv, an MSc from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, a teaching diploma in Mathematics from the University of Tel Aviv, and a Waldorf Education Diploma.

Justin Rubin

Justin Rubin is a special counsel at Kasowitz Benson Torres, where he supports companies in working with the US Government. Justin received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.  Prior to working at Kasowitz, Justin served in multiple roles in the Department of the Army.  Justin and his wife Jessica, a DC pediatric dentist, are proud and committed Sela parents and have three children who have attended Sela PCS, the oldest of whom graduated from 5th Grade in 2023.  In addition to his personal connections to Sela and love of its education for his family, Justin grew up in an Israel focused youth movement, studied at Hebrew University as an undergraduate, and primarily supports companies with an Israeli nexus doing business in the US.

Michael A. Walker

Michael Walker is currently serving as the Program Director for the TRIO Student Support Services program at Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) in Largo, Maryland.  In this role, he provides leadership and management of program services, oversees the implementation of a federal grant from the U. S. Department of Education and represents the program within and outside of the PGCC community.  He also previously served as the Director of Education and Career Programming with the Maya Angelou Schools and See Forever Foundation.  In this role, his primary areas of responsibility were supporting the organization’s college, career and workforce readiness programs and establishing and maintaining the organizational partnerships that provide resources and opportunities for students and alumni.  His previous positions include Technology Director and Dean of Students during his first stint with the Maya Angelou & See Forever, Behavior Coach with the District of Columbia Public Schools and Academic Coordinator with federally funded TRIO Upward Bound programs at both the University of Maryland College Park and Prince George’s Community College.  Michael received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland with a double major in Criminal Justice and African-American Studies in 1997 and his Master’s in Educational Administration from Trinity University in Washington, DC in 2006.  He also earned a Post Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Executive Management from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University in 2019.

Anika Wilkins

Anika Wilkins is an accomplished executive with expertise in digital innovation and critical infrastructure management e.g. energy and IT cloud programs. She has led diverse teams and managed multimillion-dollar programs. She is Founder of Sable Volt Solutions, a state and local-focused consultancy which provides organizations with powerful, data-driven insights to improve their strategic decision-making regarding their energy resilience, sustainability, and risk mitigation goals. Her extensive technical expertise combined with her ability to build strong partnerships has delivered powerful results throughout her career. Prior to Sable Volt Solutions, Anika spent over 15 years in the defense and private sectors in various operational and corporate leadership roles. At Amazon Web Services (AWS), Anika enhanced data center/critical infrastructure health and safety program strategies and implemented digital transformation solutions using low-no code platforms and AI/ML. As a civil servant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Wilkins’ team received the 2018 Homeland Security Sustainable Practices Award for the Resilience model executed in response to the hurricane trifecta of Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Wilkins holds a dual MBA from Cornell University and Queens University, a bachelor’s degree in system engineering and applied nuclear science and technology from the U.S. Naval Academy and Thomas Edison State University. She is currently pursuing executive-level education at George Washington University in AI/ML and developing proof-of-concept smart home, tech-enabled solutions for aging in place. Anika’s 7-year old is a student at Sela PCS. Anika lives with her seven-year-old daughter and 14 year old maltese-chihuahua in Washington, DC. She enjoys leading the Sela PCS daisy and brownie girl scout troop, experiencing diverse cultures through food and travel, boating, and Caribbean festivals.

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson is a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss.  His practice specializes in antitrust law, including advising corporate officers and directors on governance issues.  He is a graduate of NYU and received his law degree from Columbia Law School.  In his free time, Chris enjoys spending time with family and reading.  Originally from New Jersey, Chris currently lives with his family in Arlington, Virginia.