MEET THE REACH TEAM

Dr. Monica George-Fields

Dr. Monica George-Fields is the President and Chief Education Officer of REACH. She is also a Senior Academic Facilitator for REACH and is available to work with potential clients. As a SAF, Monica works directly with REACH clients to provide face-to-face, electronic, and phone consultation aligned to leadership development and school improvement efforts.

Using 31 years of experience as a district-level leader, a turnaround school principal, curriculum developer, instructional lead, and family and community engagement advocate, Monica has successfully consulted and advised districts and schools for the past 13 years.

Monica has worked directly with two New York State Education Department Commissioners, Dr. MaryEllen Elia (current NYSED Commissioner) and Dr. John B. King, Jr. (past NYSED Commissioner and former United States Secretary of Education- Obama Administration). Commissioner Elia appointed Monica as education monitor to the troubled East Ramapo School District. In this work, Monica supported and advised the East Ramapo School Board policy and decision-making processes for hiring a new superintendent, reorganizing the district's school configuration, curriculum and instructional approaches, and community engagement.

Another prominent position held by Monica was her role as the Senior Fellow of School Innovation for the New York State Education Department Regents Research Foundation working directly with NYSED Commissioner King. In that role, Monica was the architect of State’s Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness, a school and district review tool used to evaluate the practices of all federally identified schools and districts. She also led the charge to convert the New York State’s required annual School Comprehensive Education Plans to 3-year strategic plans, which resulted in the adoption and implementation of the Strategic Plan for School Excellence for all 700 Focus and Priority Schools. Monica co-created the State’s Review Certification, Reward School, and Professional Learning Community programs. She wrote policies for the New York State’s Expanded Learning Time and authored sections of the State’s 2012 approved Elementary and Secondary Education Act waiver and co-authored Request for Proposals, Request for Qualifications, Memorandums of Understanding, policy memorandums and Board of Regents agenda items and presentations. Prior to becoming a senior fellow, she held a variety of positions at the New York City Department of Education, including Deputy Senior Supervising Superintendent, Deputy Chief Education Officer for Cluster Three, Senior Director of Policy and Strategic Planning for the Division of School Support, and Director of Curriculum for Empowerment Schools. In these roles, she supported schools and was the Department’s point person for Principal Performance Review evaluations, providing professional development workshops to over 900 principals, superintendents, and network team members.

Earlier, Monica served for six years as principal of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elementary School (Public School 153 in Harlem), with an enrollment of over 1,800 students, 90% of whom were eligible for free and reduced lunch and 45% of whom were English language learners. Joining the failing school, which had the lowest student achievement in District 6, Monica was the fifth principal in five consecutive years. She successfully worked with the faculty and private corporate partners to dramatically increase student English language arts and mathematic scores to remove the school from the State’s failure list. The school had over 15 successful corporate partnerships with the most famous being the renowned Jetblue Airways relationship developed between Dave Barger, CEO and President of Jetblue Airways and Monica, which Forbes Magazine and Fox 5 news documented. During Monica’s final year in Public School 153, the school was one of 14 in New York City to receive a Quality Review designation of Outstanding. Prior to successfully turning around Public School 153, Monica served as an assistant principal, staff developer, and teacher. She currently teaches Introduction to Supervision, Critical Issues, School Finance, and Supervision for the Center for Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) at The College of St. Rose. She also taught Qualitative and Quantitative Theory and Curriculum Development for several years as an adjunct professor for Fordham University Graduate School of Education.

Monica serves as an advisory board member for Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning (PENCIL), an organization that creates and fosters public school and private industry partnerships. She has also participated as a Cahn Ally in the Cahn Fellows Program at Teachers College. She created and was the executive producer for the popular Inside PS 153, a weekly cable show that featured events, students, staff members and initiatives in her school. Monica has presented for national and local conferences, such as the Association for School and Curriculum Development and the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus.

Monica holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida A&M University in Political Science, a Master of Science in Education in Educational Leadership from Bank Street College of Education, a Master of Education in Organization & Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University and a Doctorate of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University concentrating in Urban Education and Leadership.

Dr. Karren Dunkley is a certified coach who specializes in intercultural competency, teacher-effectiveness, and leadership coaching. Dr. Dunkley has enjoyed a life of service in education as an urban district leader, principal, teacher, and coach. Her vision is to ensure equity, access, and excellence for all scholars and their families. Dr. Dunkley currently serves as the principal of Parkway Center City High School in The School District of Philadelphia. As principal, she has expanded Advanced Placement course offerings, developed an early college high school program with Arcadia University, and increased community partnerships. Dr. Dunkley was recently honored with a Lindback Award for Distinguished Principal Leadership from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation.

Before taking the helm of Parkway Center City, Dr. Dunkley served as deputy chief academic officer and deputy chief of the Office of Parent, Family, Community Engagement, and Faith-Based Partnerships. She spearheaded Parent Family Resource Centers and Parent University, which offers classes in parenting skills, family literacy, financial literacy, and other topics. Dunkley, a native of Jamaica, holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. John’s University, an advanced master’s degree, and a doctorate in education from Columbia University, Teachers College. She is also the Tuskegee University Education Advocacy Award and the Omega Psi Phi Educational Achievement Award.

Bernard Gassaway is a student and a teacher. As a student, he strives to discover how to become the ultimate learner. As a teacher, he strives to enable and empower his students to discover their life’s passions through inquiry and deliberation.

Bernard has authored four books: Reflections of an Urban High School Principal, Education Denied: Children Challenges and Choices, Helping Principals Build Partnerships, and Gassaway’s Principles for Principals: Caring and Effective Leadership.

Bernard has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, superintendent and community stakeholder in New York City. In each capacity, he has relied on his childhood experiences to serve as an anchor for his guiding principles and theory of action.

Bernard earned his B.A. in English from Le Moyne College, Syracuse, N.Y., M.P.A. from SUNY at Albany, Albany, N.Y., Master’s of Education and Supervision from Baruch College, N.Y., N.Y., Master’s of Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, N.Y. and Doctor of Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Of all of Bernard’s accomplishments, he is most proud of his role as father to Atiya Lilly-Gassaway. She continues to help shape him as a leading national educational leader and teacher.

Bernard was born in Macon, Georgia but raised in Brooklyn, New York along with his six siblings. He currently resides in Baldwin, New York.

Ms. Veronica Goka was born, raised and educated in Ghana, West Africa. She brings over four decades of experience as an educator. A graduate of Wesley College and University of Cape Coast in Ghana, she later pursued advanced degrees at the City University of New York and Mercy College.

Veronica taught Ghana, Liberia and a private school in Manhattan before joining the New York City Department of Education. The Superintendent of District Six nominated Veronica as the Distinguished African American educator. As a Professional Development Specialist, she pioneered the implementation of the best practices in literacy instruction in a very traditional school to move student achievement. During her tenure as an Assistant Principal in District 11, literacy scores improved tremendously.

During her first three years as the principal at The Helen Keller School-P.S. 153, in the Bronx, Veronica led her team to remove the school from Year 3 in Need of Improvement to Good Standing. Within 5 years, the New York State Education Department identified Helen Keller School as a Reward School. She worked tirelessly to create systems and structures to improve student achievement and to engage teachers in meaningful professional development. Student performance and progress improved significantly in ELA and Math, which earned the school A on the Progress Report for three consecutive years. By the end of her tenure, the Helen Keller had become the most sought after elementary school in District 11.

Michael Selkis is a lifelong educator and is a staunch advocate for all children. He has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, a principal, and a Network Leader/Superintendent.

Michael is a recognized school programming expert. He was recently the NY State Director for the National Center on Time and Learning, focusing on supporting NYSED and the Governor’s office in implementing the Expanded Learning Time Initiative in NYC, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yonkers. Before that, Michael worked as a Network Leader for NYCDOE public schools, overseeing and managing the instructional and overall operations of a network of 25 schools ranging from Pre K-12th grade in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.

Michael also served as Senior Director of School Development, Support, and National School Reform, where he was responsible for integrating the work and development of his new data system called Datavention that tracked both academic student progress and social/emotional data and utilized a system of symbiotic components to ensure that students are connected to appropriate instructional methods and interventions. His work also includes working for the NCDOE, assisting in implementing the Teacher Effectiveness Pilot. Before working at the NYCDOE and FHI360, Michael was a principal in New York and was the founding principal for a new alternative Ed school for at-risk youth in SF.

Michael has consulted for Classroom INC, helping them develop blended learning models to integrate technology in the classroom better. He was a mentor/coach and facilitator for 5 NYCDOE school administrators for The School Leaders Network.

Michael received his B.A. in political science at St. Michael's College. Additionally, he has earned a master’s degree from Quinnipiac University, Harvard University, and Columbia University. He is currently finishing his doctorate in Urban Education School Reform and Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University.