New Directors

Dawn Collins, MPA, is from Baton Rouge, LA, and founded PAA-Baton Rouge. She is a current public school parent and a political consultant and community advocate with a diverse background in public service. Dawn was drawn to President Obama's message that community empowerment is a true vehicle of change. She gives data-driven strategic consultation to political campaigns, as well as handles government affairs and training programs for non profit organizations through her consulting business,  Cogent Concepts and Project Management, LLC. 

Nathan Harris is from Indianapolis,IN and works with PAA-Indiana. He is a former public school parent and current public school grandparent. Nate is the owner of Wise Energy LLC. Most recently, Nate was a Project Director for Upward Bound at Indiana University. Nate is pursuing a PhD in Higher Education Student Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. He also holds a Master of Business Administration. Nate's recent community involvement includes the Marion County Commission on Youth, the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, Tutor Mentor Summit, Indianapolis, 100 Black Men Team Mentoring, Norm Brown Scholar Mentoring, Hoosiers for Public Education, and New Mission Missionary Baptist Church,   

Steven Norton is from Ann Arbor, MI and is a co-founder and executive director of PAA affiliate Michigan Parents for Schools, a non-profit public interest advocacy group working for excellent community-governed public education in Michigan. Steve did his undergraduate work at Yale University and moved to Michigan to pursue graduate study in political science at the University of Michigan. He also does communications consulting and web development for small business and nonprofits. Steve is a current public school parent.  

Maria de Lourdes Pérez-Ramírez is from Orlando FL and founded PAA affiliate HispanEduca. Lourdes is a former public school parent and a Bilingual Communications, Education and Translation professional with 28 years experience at the Public Relations agency, nonprofit and corporate arenas. She is a seasoned PR, journalist, and media relations professional, with translation, project management and public speaking experience. She taught at the University of Puerto Rico's Eastern campus Education and Communications departments; she is also a published business journalist (English and Spanish) with expertise in education, pharma, manufacturing, and food beats. Lourdes holds a BA in Education and an MA in Communications and Journalism, and is working towards a graduate degree in Nonprofit Management. Currently she is the founder and president of HispanEduca, an education nonprofit organization whose mission is to make education policy and reform accessible to Hispanic parents, school counselors and teachers, to help them become education policy influencers and shapers.

Returning Directors

Pamela Grundy is from Charlotte, NC. She is a founding member of PAA and co-founder of PAA affiliate MecklenburgACTS. Pamela first started working on educational advocacy about a decade ago, when a court order forced Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to end its busing for desegregation plan, and district schools rapidly resegregated.

Her first focus was on creating equitable opportunities for students at high-poverty schools. She pursued this effort through MecklenburgACTS.org, and by enrolling her kindergarten-age son in the local high-poverty neighborhood elementary school, Shamrock Gardens. She now spend a lot of her time fighting high-stakes testing. In her spare time, Pamela works as a historian. She's currently working on a new edition of a college textbook on the history of American sports. You can read some of her reflections on education on her Seen from the ˜Rock" blog.

Dora Taylor is from Seattle, WA and founded PAA-Seattle. Dora is a founding member of PAA and the first President of the organization. Ms. Taylor is currently on the League of Women Voters Education Committee and a featured writer of The Progressive Magazine's new education section Public School $hakedown. Besides being editor of the blog Seattle Education, Dora is an Architect and offers Architecture 101 classes to students in grades 3 through high school. Her daughter is a recent graduate of the Seattle Public Schools.

Julie Woestehoff is from Chicago, IL, co-founded PAA, and is the executive director of PAA affiliate Parents United for Responsible Education. Julie has been with PURE since 1990 and has been its executive director since 1995. She is the parent of two Chicago Public School graduates, a veteran elected local school council member, and writer of the blog, PURE Thoughts. In 2003, along with the rest of the PURE staff, she won the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World Award, which recognized powerful grass-roots leadership. In 2004, she was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Chicago by the Chicago Sun-Times, and was the only non-educator in their Top Ten Powerful Women in Education.