Sarah Miller is a lifelong New Haven resident with over 20 years of non-profit and community leadership experience. She is an elected member of the New Haven Board of Alders representing Ward 14. As Alder, Sarah has championed investment in public education, immigrant support services, and neighborhood infrastructure. She also serves as Executive Director of CitySeed, New Haven’s food justice organization, where she is developing Greater New Haven’s first Multi-Use Food Facility in a former factory. Sarah previously served as Director of Strategy at Clifford Beers Community Care Center, where she expanded access to integrated mental health and family support services throughout New Haven and Hamden schools, and won a United States Department of Education Full-Service Community Schools Grant. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut. She lives in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood with her husband and two children.
Jack Powers
Jack Powers is the Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Beacon Center of Tennessee and Beacon Impact. A former teacher and accomplished public servant, Jack has over a decade of experience in policy, advocacy, and legislative affairs. In his role at Beacon, Jack is the chief liaison to members of the governor’s administration and General Assembly and spearheads action on all legislation in which Beacon is involved. He leads research and advocacy work to shape and advance Beacon’s annual policy initiatives.
A native Tennessean, Jack grew up in Memphis and was a member of the 2013 cohort of the Mississippi Teacher Corps, where he taught high school English in the small Delta town of Clarksdale. Jack joined the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) in 2019, where he spent five sessions as a Legislative Liaison for Governor Bill Lee’s Office. In 2023, Jack worked as the Southeast Regional Advocacy Director for ExcelinEd, where he spearheaded passage of Georgia’s first Science of Reading-based early literacy law. Most recently, he served as the Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislative Affairs at TDOE, where he was part of an amazing team effort to pass the Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship Act, the state’s first universal school choice program.
Jack holds a bachelor’s degree from Millsaps College, a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Mississippi, and a master’s in Education Policy from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. He lives in Nashville with his wife Pam and enjoys fly fishing and restoring vintage stereo gear in his spare time.
Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). He is the founding director of HGSE's Education Redesign Lab (EdRedesign) and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As Governor Patrick's top education adviser, Reville established a new Executive Office of Education and had oversight of higher education, K-12, and early education in the nation's leading student achievement state. He served in the Governor's Cabinet and played a leading education reform role on matters ranging from the Achievement Gap Act of 2010 and Common Core State Standards to the Commonwealth's highly successful Race to the Top proposal. Prior to joining the Patrick Administration, Reville chaired the Massachusetts State Board of Education, founded the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, co-founded the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE), chaired the Massachusetts Reform Review Commission and the Massachusetts Commission on Time and Learning, and served as executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform. A member of the HGSE faculty since 1997, Reville has served as director of the Education Policy and Management Program. He is a board member and adviser to a host of organizations, including BellXcel, Purpose Built Communities, Bellwether, City Year Boston, Boston After School and Beyond, and Harvard Medical School's MEDscience. He is the educator commentator on Boston Public Radio, GBH. He edited the book “A Decade of Urban School Reform Persistence and Progress in the Boston Public Schools” and recently co-authored two books, one with Elaine Weiss, entitled “Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty” and the other written with Lynne Sacks, entitled, “Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity”. He holds a B.A. from Colorado College, an M.A. from Stanford University and five honorary doctorate degrees.
Paul Reville
Leslie Blatteau
Leslie Blatteau has been working in New Haven Public Schools for over 20 years and has been a high school Social Studies teacher and 933 member since 2007. In addition to teaching, she serves as senior class advisor and SPMT chair at Metropolitan. She is an activist and organizer on issues related to our classrooms and our city. She has marched with labor unions and community groups in the name of economic, social, and racial justice. And she uses her voice to fight privatization, budget cuts, and layoffs in our schools, promote high quality alternatives to high stakes testing, and advocate for equitable policies that benefit all of our school communities. Leslie lives in the Hill neighborhood with her family and her daughter is a first grader in NHPS. She believes in the future of New Haven and she is ready to join with her fellow teachers and fight for what is right.
Dr. Madeline Negrón’s leadership spans every level of public education. She began her career as a bilingual teacher in Windham Public Schools before moving into administration. In New Haven, she previously served as a teacher and principal at Hill Regional Career Magnet High School, later rising to Director of Early Childhood and Director of Instruction. Most recently, she served as a senior executive for Hartford Public Schools, holding roles as Chief of Academics and Acting Deputy Superintendent of Academics and School Leadership.
Beyond K–12 administration, Dr. Negrón has contributed to higher education as a faculty adjunct in the Educational Leadership Department at Southern Connecticut State University. A first-generation college graduate, she holds a B.S. from Central Connecticut State University, as well as an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Connecticut.
A prominent voice in Latino education policy, Dr. Negrón is a co-founder and Past-President of the Connecticut Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (CALAS). Her leadership has earned state and national-level acclaim, including the 2025 Maria C. Sánchez Education Award, the 2023 ALAS Assistant Superintendent of the Year Award, and recognition in EdWeek’s 2022 "Leaders to Learn From."
Dr. Negrón and her husband are the proud parents of a daughter soon to graduate from Southern Connecticut State University. Dr. Negrón serves as a daily inspiration and a reminder of the promise of public education—the power to ensure every child has the future they deserve
Dr. Madeline Negrón
Tonya S. McIntyre
Tonya S. McIntyre is the Executive Director of Student Academic Success for Amherst Regional Public Schools and a veteran education leader with over 30 years of experience leading equity-focused instruction, systems improvement, and educator development. A native of Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, she previously held several leadership roles in the Charleston County School District, including Interim Director of Community Outreach, District Instructional Specialist, and Teacher Recruitment and Retention Coordinator for the Acceleration Schools, where she worked to ensure the district’s most vulnerable schools were staffed with high-quality, effective, and diverse educators. Earlier in her career, Tonya spent more than two decades as a high school mathematics teacher, designing learning environments that supported students’ academic, social, and cultural needs.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Savannah State University and a Master of Management Studies from The Broad Center at Yale School of Management. Tonya is currently a doctoral student in Strategic Leadership in Education at Belmont University, where her research examines leadership identity and meaning-making in the superintendency through the lived experiences of African American female superintendents in U.S. public K–12 school districts.
Sarah Hughes is a consultant to public school systems and non-profit organizations. She advises on strategic planning, board management, community engagement and talent planning. Sarah is former Chief of Staff at KIPP LA Schools and former interim Chief People Officer at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools. Ensuring that high quality public educational opportunities are accessible to all families in all neighborhoods is Sarah’s passion. Sarah earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Wesleyan University, a Master’s in Business Administration from Yale School of Management and a M. Ed in Education Leadership from The Broad Center where she is a guest lecturer.
Sarah Hughes
Amanda Morin
Amanda Morin is a neurodivergent neurodiversity activist, an award-winning author, early childhood specialist, certified teacher, and nationally known speaker, deeply committed to fostering accessible and inclusive environments for neurodivergent individuals. She's an impact-driven, mission-oriented expert within the fields of education and neurodiversity who provides unique expertise, and innovative perspectives to mission-driven education and family-facing organizations and coalitions. She played an integral role in launching Understood.org in 2014.
She works with print and digital media, educational professionals and parents, empowering them to affirm the pivotal roles they play in building knowledge about mental health, neurodiversity, and disability. Her bylines appear in Education Week, The Learning Professional, ASCD’s Educational Leadership, Edutopia, NAESP, Parenting Special Needs Magazine, DotDash (formerly known as About.com), Popsugar Moms, and more. Amanda has also worked with many organizations and companies, including Nickelodeon, New York City Charter School Center for The Collaborative for Inclusive Education, Hill Learning Center, Bright & Quirky, Matan, and Hidden Sparks Without Walls.
Amanda proudly serves as a subject matter expert for the DUCC (Developing & Using Critical Comprehension) project for the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University, sits on the advisory board of Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project, the professional advisory board of Matan, and the Technical Expert Panel of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center of Excellence on Social Media & Youth Mental Health. She received special education advocacy training from the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates and holds a certificate in Universal Design for Learning from the UDL Implementation and Research Network.
Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Education Collaboratory at Yale University.
An award-winning scholar and internationally regarded expert in the science of learning, development, and open science practices, Chris is the PI and Director of numerous major federal and foundation grants supporting the centering of student intersectional identities in research and practice, the development and validation of novel school-based assessments and methodologies, and foundational evidence syntheses. Dr. Cipriano is the Director of the Education Collaboratory at Yale, a translational science lab whose mission is to advance the science of learning and social and emotional development, so all students are seen, served, and safe to learn in school.
Dr. Cipriano received her Ph.D. from Boston College Lynch School of Education, her Certificate in Human Rights and International Justice from Boston College Law School, her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and undergraduate degree from Hofstra University. Honors College. Chris is a Yale Public Voices Fellow, Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, and serves on numerous national advisory boards, workgroups, and committees, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Understood, Special Olympics and the Frameworks Institute, among others. Dr. Cipriano has published over 120 papers, commentaries, and reports, spanning top tier journals such as Child Development and the Review of Educational Research, and media outlets including The Washington Post, NPR, The New York Times, PBS, and Education Week.
Dr. Cipriano’s rigorous and practical cross-sector communication of science is evidenced by her work being cited in multiple bipartisan pieces of legislation supporting investments in US students and educators, countless interviews, podcasts, talks, articles, and mentions in educational media over the past decade, and the honors including the Joseph A. Zins Award for Career Contributions to Action Research (2022), National Voice of Chang in Public Education Award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2023), Research-to-Policy Collaboration Scholar Award from the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (2024), the Distinguished Contributions to Human Development Research from the American Educational Research Association (2025), and the Outstanding Achievement Award in Educational Measurement from the National Council on Measurement in Education (2025).
Dr. Cipriano embodies how to live your love forward and advance equity by bringing her positionality as a first-generation high school graduate and mother of four children to her science and work. Chris speaks candidly about her experiences navigating systems of discrimination and oppression in education, healthcare, and industry, and privileges her positionality as a catalyst to inspire change. Her book, Be Unapologetically Impatient: The Mindset Required to Change the Way We Do Things (2025) was an instant #1 New Release in Applied Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Parenting Books for Children with Disability.
Christina Cipriano
Christopher Bugaj
Christopher R. Bugaj, MA CCC‐SLP is a founding member of the Assistive Technology Team for Loudoun County Public Schools. Chris co-hosts the Talking With Tech podcast featuring interviews and conversations about augmentative and alternative communication and has hosted The A.T.TIPSCAST; a multi‐award winning podcast featuring strategies to design educational experiences. Chris is the author of The New Assistive Tech: Make Learning Awesome For All, published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Chris is the co-author of Inclusive Learning 365: EdTech Strategies for Every Day of the Year and The Practical (and Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools both of which are also published by ISTE. Chris co-authored two chapters for a book published by Brookes Publishing titled Technology Tools for Students with Autism. Chris co‐produces and co‐authors the popular Night Light Stories podcast which features original stories for children of all ages. Chris has presented over 650 live or digital sessions at local, regional, state, national and international events, including TEDx.