Message from the Executive Director

Douglas P. Thaman, Ed.D.

Executive Director

June 14, 2011

Greetings,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Douglas Thaman. I am extremely pleased and excited to be serving as the new Executive Director of your State Association. Having been involved in charter school education for the past eleven years, with most of those years spent as a charter school leader in St. Louis, it is an honor to have an opportunity to work with each of you focusing on charter public school education in Missouri.

In my recent role I served as the Director of Professional Services for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). Through this role I had the opportunity to work with many charter stakeholders throughout the country, learn a great deal regarding ‘best practices’, and exploring the many ways in which charter school education can serve as a means of providing high quality opportunities to children. I look forward to sharing these experiences and working together ensuring that Missouri’s children (‘our children’) reap the benefits of these opportunities.

As your State Association, we believe quality charter public schools are a key ingredient in re-shaping Missouri’s public education system. Our strategic vision is to serve as the touchstone for quality charter public schools through service, support and advocacy. As the Associations’ Executive Director you have my commitment that we will always provide you with service, support, and advocacy of the highest quality. We want to work together to ensure Missouri’s charter public schools are autonomous, accountable, innovative and responsive institutions of high quality education, serving the individual needs of the State’s diverse student population.

It’s no secret that in the State of Missouri there are critics eager to take aim at charter public schools, negate the positive contributions each of your schools makes daily, and capitalize on the negative to denounce charter education as a viable option for Missouri’s children. There will always be critics but I believe this is ‘ok’ as it pushes each of us to always keep our eye on the importance of quality and do our very best for the benefit of children. For this reason it is critical we work together. There will always be differences of opinion serving to deepen our thinking but it is only as a united charter public school community we will ever realize our mission of being a key ingredient in providing high quality education to Missouri’s children.

Through the coming weeks I will spend a great deal of time listening and learning. I’m anxious to know as much as possible about each of your schools, the many successes you’ve had, and the challenges you face. Time will be spent evaluating the ways in which we have supported our members in the past, the benefits we have brought through membership, and ways in which we can support each of you and your school communities through high quality assistance. There is much to be learned and even more to be done! I look forward to opportunities to meet and learn from you.

With Great Respect,

Douglas Thaman, Ed.D.
314-261-3657