July 24, 2020
Greetings Greater Madison and One City Community,
We are excited to share two significant transitions in the One City Schools Community.
First,
Mr. Vivek Ramakrishnan
, a 2012 graduate of Madison West High School, 2016 graduate of Columbia University in New York, and co-founder of One City Schools, will be leaving his position as Director of Operations and Strategy to pursue an MBA at Stanford University’s School of Business this fall. He leaves next week to spend time with his family in Seattle before beginning classes next month in California.
Vivek has been an extraordinary leader at One City. He I first met when he was a high school senior. Vivek happened to be the first of 67 people that spoke at the now legendary Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education meeting where on the evening of December 19, 2011, the Board voted 5-2 to deny the Urban League of Greater Madison’s proposal to establish Madison Preparatory Academy, a 6th – 12th grade public charter school. At the time, I was the President and CEO of the Urban League, and was pushing Madison to confront its persistent racial disparities in education, employment, business investment and community development.
Vivek kicked off the public comment period that evening with a strong and compelling statement of support for Madison Prep, while wearing his West High Hockey Jersey. Besides developing a close friendship with my sons, Jabari and Sekani, who attended West High with him, Vivek later came to work for me as a summer intern at the Urban League where he researched opportunities to expand child care options for families in South Madison. He then assisted me with writing the concept paper for establishing One City Schools, in the midst of his busy schedule as a student at Columbia.
After graduating from college and spending two years teaching high school mathematics and financial education at Freedom Prep Academy Charter Schools in Memphis, Tennessee, Vivek joined One City’s executive team in 2018 as we prepared to open our independent public charter school. Everyone who has gotten to know Vivek during his tenure with One City has seen this outstanding young leader grow in confidence and impact on our schools, children, families and his hometown.
In just two years, Vivek helped open One City Expeditionary Elementary School and strengthen operations across both of our schools. He oversaw facility operations, purchasing, compliance, human resources, food operations and school safety and security. He developed strong working relationships with our families, board members and community partners, and was deeply involved in our school finance, budgeting, capital campaign and fundraising efforts. He also led negotiations to secure the lease for the temporary space where our elementary school is located.
As Vivek leaves for Stanford, he will continue to serve as a Business Advisor to me and our new Chief Operating Officer. He will also co-chair our Board’s Facilities Committee as we work to secure a new permanent home for our growing elementary school.
INTRODUCING OUR NEW COO: DAVID STEPHAN
With Vivek transitioning to the West Coast, we are very excited to announce that we have hired
Mr. David Stephan
to serve as our Chief Operating Officer. David joined our team on June 22, 2020 and has already begun overseeing and guiding the development of our school health, food, compliance, human resources and operations planning efforts for the upcoming 2020-21 school year. He is also working closely with Vivek and our Board on our new facility project.
Prior to joining One City, David served as the Chief of Staff for
Amethod Public Schools
, a network of six public charter schools in Oakland and Richmond, California that serve 2,200 students from 4K through 12th grade. A list of Amethod’s accomplishments can be
found here
.
David was born and raised in Dane County, WI. He attended Verona Area High School and then the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he double majored in History and German and earned his bachelor of arts degree. He later earned an MA in Germanic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a JD from the University of Houston Law Center. During his studies, David was the recipient of several awards and scholarships, including the Marvin D. Nathan Fellowship with the Anti-Defamation League and an English Teaching Assistantship in Upper Austria, Austria through the Fulbright Program.
In David’s role as the Chief of Staff at Amethod Public Schools, he worked with the CEO, executive team and Board of Directors to operationalize the organization’s goals, develop growth strategies, build relationships with local school authorizers, and ensure each school site had the resources they needed to serve its young scholars. He also provided executive leadership to Amethod’s Technology, Communications, Facilities and Human Resources departments.
David knows his way around the classroom as well. He has taught all ages, in the United States and Europe, including time as a high school psychology teacher, a graduate assistant and an elementary school literacy tutor. He also worked as a Law Clerk with Givens and Johnston LLP in Houston in the area of Customs and International Trade Law.
David is very excited to return to Madison and begin the next stage of his career with One City Schools. When he is not working, David enjoys spending time with his three young sons, reading, writing and playing music. You can
click here
to review his professional resume and reach him directly at
dstephan@onecityschools.org
.
Please join us in welcoming Mr. David Stephan to our One City Team!
This an exciting and challenging time for early childhood and K12 education, but we are poised to make a very positive impact on both fields and the children we serve going forward.
Please let me know if you any questions. We continue to move Forward!
Onward.
Kaleem Caire
Founder and CEO
One City Schools
