My story starts a little over a century ago in the late 1800s when both of my parents’ families came to America searching for the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and their families. In their minds, a key to that pursuit was education.

I was born in Orlando, Florida and attended Orange County Public Schools for all grades K-12. Like many people, I had educators, such as Ms. Jan Leisher, who had an outsized impact on my life through education. After high school, I enrolled at the University of Florida where I earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in finance and the other in history.

After graduation, I moved to Rosedale, Mississippi in the heart of the Mississippi Delta to teach high school math. It was here that my life-long passion for and commitment to education was cemented. I saw first-hand how the zip code that you happen to be born into can be the biggest determinant to your opportunities. I witnessed how much further we as a country have to go to make the American Dream a possibility for all Americans. The community that I was welcomed into and the students and families that I had the honor to work alongside with cemented my passion to pursue education as a lifetime career.

During my time at West Bolivar High School, I was able to found the first successful AP Calculus program in district history and was named Teacher of the Year by both the county Chamber of Commerce and West Bolivar High School in the 2011-12 school year.

As a teacher in Mississippi, I saw first-hand the impact that a principal has on a school and moved to Cambridge, MA to pursue my Master’s Degree in School Leadership from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. The next year, I was given the opportunity to move to Dallas and take over as principal of the School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG Magnet) in 2013.

Over my six years as principal, TAG was named the #1 high school in the nation four times by U.S. News and World Report. We revamped the application process with a focus on equity and access, resulting in TAG becoming federally recognized as a Title 1 school for the first time. During this same time frame, academic achievement at TAG soared with the school reaching record highs in scholarship offers and SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement (AP) achievement, proving what is possible for students regardless of the background that they come from.

I currently work as the Chief of Research, Evaluation, and Design in DeSoto ISD, where I help lead a district to contend with many of the same issues and challenges that Dallas ISD faces in our ever-changing educational world. Education is my craft and my life’s work, and I am thankful for the opportunity to work in this field every day. Ensuring that every student in our country has access to an excellent education is my passion and my mission.

I live in Oak Cliff with my amazing wife Claudia, and I am proud to serve my community here in District 7, as well as our students, families, and schools across Dallas ISD as your elected school board trustee.