About Boston Public Schools

The Boston Public Schools serves more than 56,000 pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students in 135 schools, and in 2006 won the Broad Prize for Urban Education as the top city school district in the country. BPS is committed to transforming the lives of children through exemplary teaching in a world-class system of innovative, welcoming schools, where we partner with families and the community to develop in every student the knowledge, skill, and confidence to excel in college, career, and life.

About Unlocking Potential

Unlocking Potential is a nonprofit school turnaround organization which rapidly transforms chronically underperforming urban public schools into extraordinary, high-performing, sustainable schools. Our turnaround schools ensure that students acquire the knowledge, skills, and strength of character necessary to succeed on the path to college and to achieve their full potential.

Pending state approval and a 30B procurement process, Unlocking Potential will manage and operate its first turnaround school, UP Academy Charter School of Boston, beginning in fall 2011.

Senior staff from Teach Plus and the Boston Public Schools are serving as key advisors on the T3 Initiative.

Shonda Huery

Born in Houston, Texas, Ms. Huery graduated from Howard University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She served as a school administrator and eighth grade English teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools, after working on Capitol Hill for two members of Congress. She received a master’s degree in Education Administration from Trinity College in the District of Columbia, followed by a master’s degree in Education Policy and Planning from Harvard University.

In 2004, Ms. Huery moved to Memphis, Tennessee to serve as the intern to Superintendent Carol Johnson. During her first 8 months in Memphis Ms. Huery took on a number of special projects for the Superintendent and her key executive leaders. After the completion of her internship, Ms. Huery took on the responsibility of School Improvement Coordinator. In this position, she worked closely with the Superintendent and the Deputy Superintendent of Memphis City Schools to align district-wide efforts and initiatives that impact school improvement.

In 2005, Ms Huery was asked by Superintendent Carol Johnson to oversee a $4 million dollar construction project of a high-tech elementary school in Memphis. She decided to remain in Memphis and serve as the Principal of the newly constructed, Dr. William Herbert Brewster Elementary School. In 2009, Ms. Huery left Memphis City Schools to serve as the Assistant Chief Academic Officer for Boston Public Schools. She has been charged by Superintendent Carol Johnson to improve the quality of professional development for the district’s 5000 teachers and 250 school administrators.

Ms. Huery earned her doctorate from Harvard University in May of 2010, with her research focusing on understanding the behaviors of exemplary middle school teachers who serve in high-poverty middle schools.

Bill Horwath

Bill Horwath currently works for the Houston Independent School District. Previously, he was Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources for Boston Public Schools. In that role, he led a team of 30 HR professionals and oversaw a budget of $2.4 million in working to build the best human capital for the district. As the head of Human Resources, he sat on the Superintendent’s Executive Leadership Team and was engaged in re-aligning system-wide resources to meet the Superintendent’s priorities and performance targets. He also served as Director of Staffing in the district, where he oversaw all aspects of hiring and staffing for school-based and central office hiring, addressing issues including salary, licensure, and budgeting. Previously, Mr. Horwath worked as a senior consultant for Deloitte Consulting, where he oversaw a combined budget of $2 million and managed projects for clients such as school districts in Alabama and Tennessee. Mr. Horwath has also worked as a teacher in Ecuador and with college-bound high school students in Washington, D.C. He has an MBA and an MPP from the University of Chicago, and a BA in Public Policy from Duke University.

Lesley Ryan Miller

Lesley Ryan Miller is the Director of Teacher Development and Advancement for Boston Public Schools (BPS). She served as an elementary school teacher in BPS for 10 years before joining the BPS New Teacher Development Program where she mentored first year teachers. Mrs. Miller also worked at the Boston Plan for Excellence as the After School Program Coordinator. In this role she served as an intermediary for the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools around after-school programming. She also provided professional development for after-school program staff. Lesley is a co-founder and co-chair of the Lee Academy (K-5) Pilot School in BPS. Her work there focused on diminishing the achievement gap by enrolling children at the age of 3, as well as providing high quality literacy instruction along with a strong social-emotional component.

Lesley attained a B.S. in Elementary Education from Boston University and graduated with a M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Human Development and Psychology.