Meet the Leaders of TLS:

In 1996 two girls began their freshman year at a high-performing, well-resourced school just outside of St. Louis. One was awake by 5 a.m. in preparation for her 1.5-hour bus ride from the north side of St. Louis to her mostly white school in the suburbs; the other was not yet aware of her privilege living just minutes from the coveted high school. The St. Louis desegregation program was established to increase racial integration in public schools and involved bussing black students from the city to typically higher performing, mostly white schools outside of the city. The two young girls embarking on their high school years had no idea that this would be the beginning of a lifelong friendship and the catalyst 27 years later for them to partner together to lead a top-notch public school in an area of St. Louis that currently lacks high-quality educational opportunities.

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We are those two young girls and lifelong friends. We both went on to University of Missouri, developed a passion for teaching, and went our separate ways to begin our teaching careers - one to teach in Chicago and the other to teach in Miami. We spent the next 18 years teaching and leading in schools across the country, always coming back together to reflect on our aspirations as educators.

By 2022, we had both returned to St. Louis and were now mothers searching for schools that would meet the high bar of excellence we had for the quality of our own children’s learning experiences. In this process, several stark realities set in - there are not enough seats in high-quality schools in the city of St. Louis; educators and students are not physically, emotionally, socially, or intellectually well, which the pandemic further highlighted; and the instruction being provided for students across the city is not preparing them for success in their future. We are confident that at TLS  we are creating a blueprint of a new educational model that will serve as a

proof-point for what education should look like for all students and educators in the highest need

areas of our city.

As leaders, we bring over thirty years of combined experience in teaching, curricular development, educational leadership, strategic planning, and community engagement. We are seasoned educators, district-level curriculum specialists, team leaders, and community advocates. Our collective expertise includes curriculum design and revision, pedagogical innovation, project management, clinical mental health practices, and stakeholder engagement. Our strengths in visionary leadership, effective communication, collaborative decision-making, and navigating complex educational landscapes - combined with our experience - create a strong leadership team foundation.

We’ve experienced success at the school and district level as educational leaders. At Kirkwood School District, Keisha launched and led an SEL Coach Team, resulting in district-wide improved cultural data and healthy learning environments. At IDEA Public Schools in Texas, Courtney led the redesign and launch of a mathematical instructional model that changed the instructional model across 60 plus schools to an inquiry-based student- centered model and led to tremendous district wide math growth.