Planning for Growth: New Petitions, Material Revisions, and Mergers
Even the most successful charter schools must carefully navigate challenges and evaluate opportunities for growth. You and your authorizer(s) must consider new petitions versus "material" revisions, serving "the interests of the entire community," competing charter and district-run programs, declining enrollment and "saturation,” merger options, conditions of approval and commitments to authorizers, available space in which to operate, and so on.
This lively and interactive session will explore a host of challenges, and the presenters will provide expert observations and suggest strategies for success. We will also welcome and discuss issues and concerns raised by participants.
Presented by
Deidre Walsh
Director, Office of Charter Schools
San Diego Unified School District
Deidre Walsh has worked twenty three years in public K-12 education. She began her career at a County Office of Education in Northern California before joining San Diego Unified School District in 2004. Ms. Walsh currently serves as the Director in the Office of Charter Schools for the District, and is responsible for oversight of the District’s 41 charter schools which serve almost 19,000 students.
Jason Rudolph
Chief Operations Officer
Equitas Academy Charter Schools
Jason is the Chief Operations Officer at Equitas Academy, a network of six Los Angeles public charter schools. Jason was a business litigation attorney before leading several charter school governing boards, managing business and legal affairs for a network of K-12 schools, advocating for policy change with a statewide advocacy organization, and, most recently, worked as an education attorney representing public charter schools across a wide variety of practice areas. Jason also teaches graduate-level education law and policy courses and was recently selected into the 2023 Fox Fellowship Program.
John Lemmo
Partner/Attorney
Young, Minney & Corr LLP
John Lemmo has advised and represented charter leaders and schools, government agencies, and nonprofits on operations, facilities, finance, governance, innovation and other legal issues for decades. John is skilled in local advocacy, and has litigated many seminal charter school lawsuits. He regularly handles charter petitions/renewals, material revisions, mergers, authorizer relations, lease/purchase deals, complex regulatory matters, and strategic planning. John is a frequent presenter to CSDC and numerous other professional and academic organizations, covering charter school law and policy, education, and public agency law. He is a partner with Young, Minney & Corr LLP.
Tiffany Wilson
Chief Operating Officer
Alliance College Ready Public Schools
Tiffany D. Wilson is the Chief Operating Officer overseeing data, information technology, business operations, facilities, school operations, compliance & enrollment. Tiffany was a 2002 Teach For America alumna in DC who, after teaching for three years, spent several years practicing law in the nation’s capital. Tiffany is a first-generation college graduate who came back to education as an Assistant Principal of Operations for a public charter school in Southeast D.C. By the beginning of her final year, the school earned, for the first time, the top Tier 1 rating on the D.C. School Quality Report. Prior to her current role, Tiffany served at Alliance as the Vice President of School Operations overseeing operations, enrollment, compliance, governance, and advocacy. Tiffany holds a bachelor’s from Howard University and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School. She is currently licensed to practice law in two states.