Brian Bennett Education Warrior Award
Democrats for Education Reform Announces 2011 Brian Bennett Education Warrior Awards
• Yolie Flores currently serves as the CEO of Communities for Teaching Excellence. As a board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Yolie Flores authored the controversial Public Choice Resolution, which created an annual process to identify and address the lowest performing schools in LAUSD, as well as the Teacher Effectiveness resolution to ensure that all students have access to an excellent teacher. These bold policy initiatives drew significant heat from opponents, but Flores never wavered. Ms. Flores also served as the CEO of the Los Angeles County Children's Planning Council, where she led an ambitious change agenda to strengthen families and improve outcomes for children through large-scale systems reform, community engagement, data-driven planning, and policy development.
Who is Brian Bennett?
Brian Bennett was a community activist and a champion of education reform for over four decades. After teaching at Catholic schools throughout Southern California he became the principal of Blessed Sacrament School in San Diego. With Bennett at the helm from 1979 to 1997, Blessed Sacrament School grew and academic achievement flourished.
A leading charter school advocate, Bennett was involved in launching some of the earliest charter schools in California after the Legislature authorized them in 1992. During his tenure as the Director of the Office of School Choice at the San Diego Unified School District, the number of charter schools in the district increased from 15 to 34.
Following his career at the School District, Bennett provided assistance in charter school leadership and policy development in over ten states, including the District of Columbia. He devoted his life's work to leading San Diego and the nation in providing parents with meaningful, equitable, and affordable choices in education for their children.
Brian Bennett was a trailblazer in the struggle for quality education for all children. When Bennett passed away in January 2009, after a courageous battle with ALS, we lost a true warrior in the fight for quality public education. We decided to name our Education Warrior Award the "Brian Bennett Education Warrior Award" to honor his life and legacy.
Previous Education Warrior Award Recipients
Alan Bersin - Appointed in 1998 as Superintendent of Public Education of the San Diego Unified School District, Bersin led the eighth largest urban school district in the country. In 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed him as California's Education Secretary. Bersin led the way as one of the nation's first 'non-traditional' big city school leaders, promoting ambitious reform to raise the quality of education and bolster student achievement. Bersin currently serves as the Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection. Bersin was a founding board member of DFER.
Peter Groff - During his years in the Colorado State Senate (2003-2009), and as Senate President ('07-'09), Groff helped pass landmark legislation to create visionary education reform measures, prohibit racial profiling and require booster seats for young children. Under the Obama administration, Groff led the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U. S. Department of Education, an effort to empower faith-based and community groups by enlisting them in support of the department's mission to ensure educational excellence for all Americans. Groff, currently head of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, was a founding member of DFER-Colorado.
Dianne Piche - As Executive Director of the Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, which monitors the civil rights policies and practices of the federal government, Piche was a tireless advocate for school choice, education equality, and policy that raises the bar for academic achievement. Under the Obama administration, Piche held a post in the U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights and she currently heads the education policy team of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Piche was a founding board member of DFER.
Caprice Young - Between 1999 and 2003, Young served as President of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, where she built on the longtime work of her predecessors in the charter school movement in order to create a state association whose mission is based on positively impacting the broader public school system for all kids. Young went on to preside over the the California Charter Schools Association for five years, during which she shepherded the creation of more than 300 charter schools in California. Young is now Vice President of Business Development and Alliances with Knowledge Universe, a leading education company serving a wide range of students nationally and around the world. Young was a founding board member of DFER.
