THE STAFF:

CHARLES JACKSON – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SCHOOL FOUNDER
cjackson@abcpcs.org 

Charles Jackson coordinated the school design and the drafting of the charter application. Upon receipt of the charter, Mr. Jackson became the executive director. In 2003, Mr. Jackson was selected by NCLR and Building Excellent Schools (in Boston, MA) as one of the first national Fellow. He spent the next year being trained and organizing ABC. He also spent twelve weeks in a residency at Bell Multicultural High School working with Maria Tukeva and Gene Pinkard with the goals of learning about school administration. Immediately prior to becoming a Charter School Fellow, Mr. Jackson was a civil rights attorney at the law firm of Relman & Associates. At Relman & Associates, his practice focused on representing persons who had been discriminated against in employment, housing, public accommodations and educational opportunities. Prior to joining Relman & Associates, Mr. Jackson founded and ran a consulting business, which designed and conducted diversity trainings nationwide and consulted with several non-profit organizations on issues related to corporate governance, employee policies and organizational development. Before opening his consulting business, Mr. Jackson practiced law in Boston. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mr. Jackson founded the Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington, a civil rights organization that researched employment discrimination. In this role, he also developed a job skill programs for the DC Public Schools. Mr. Jackson received his BA from University of Chicago and his JD from Northeastern University School of Law. His wife, Lori, two beautiful children, Xavier and Talia and he are DC residents.

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ROBERTO PORRATA-DORIA – FOUNDING PRINCIPAL
rpdoria@abcpcs.org

Roberto Porrata-Doria is joining the Academia Bilingüe de la Comunidad Public Charter School as its first principal. Mr. Porrata-Doria is a former teacher and school administrator in several urban public school districts in Massachusetts and New York. He began his career as teacher and school administrator at the Rafael Hernandez Two-Way Bilingual School in Boston, Massachusetts. He later worked as the first school principal of the Paideia School 15 and Director of ESL and Bilingual Education in Yonkers, New York. In addition, Mr. Porrata-Doria was an assistant to the superintendent for funded programs in Roosevelt, New York. He relocated to Puerto Rico where he worked with Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound. Most recently, Mr. Porrata-Doria worked as professor/instructor at the Inter American University’s teacher preparation program for the last two years. He holds a masters degree in education from Wheelock College and a juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He has a strong background in Exceptional Student Population and English as a Second Language theory and practices. Mr. Porrata-Doria received a principal’s recognition award in 2000 for improving student achievement.

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PETER MARTIN – DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT
pmartin@abcpcs.org 

While working full-time at ABC, Mr. Martin is currently in the dissertation phase of an Ed. D. program in Bilingual Special Education at George Washington University. He obtained an M.S. Ed. degree in language and education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. Over the last few years, he has designed courses for the Office of Bilingual Education of DC Public Schools (a Spanish humanities sequence of courses for English-Spanish biliterate students in grades seven through nine; a native Spanish literacy course for high school and middle school Latino ELL students with limited prior schooling). Mr. Martin helped design assessment and instruction for Spanish Literacy and ESL teachers at Bell Multicultural High School. Furthermore, he taught for three years at Oyster Bilingual Elementary School (1997-2000), as a third grade English teacher for two years and as an ESL and special education support teacher for one year. While at Oyster, Mr. Martin was Chair of the Teaching Assistance Team and was among a core group of staff in charge of programmatic issues regarding language acquisition and student exceptionalities. He co-authored the Oyster School’s design for a new non-categorical early childhood bilingual special education program. Previously, he taught ESL and English as foreign language in Philadelphia, the Czech Republic, Korea, and China. Mr. Martin grew up multilingual in Germany, Switzerland and France with English, German and French, and has a working knowledge of Spanish, Italian, Czech, and Swahili.

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MARTA DEL PILAR LYNCH, SPECIAL EDUCATION COORDINATOR & ARTS CURRICULUM DIRECTOR
plynch@abcpcs.org

My objective as an educator is to utilize the skills and talents that I have acquired over the course of time within the field of education on a national and international platform. I am a graduate of New York University with a double major in Film & African Studies. I have taught nationally and internationally for the past 12 years. I was a Dr. Martin Luther King scholar at NYU and had the privilege to travel to Argentina, France, Greece, and Senegal as an ambassador for social change. I was the founder and Artistic Director or a multi media theater company in New York who premiered choreography with such prestigious persons as Max Roach, Ossie Davis, and Casandra Wilson from Japan to Off Broadway. I have completed my course work for my MA at George Washington University in Special Education.

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LINDSAY MCBRIDE – SCIENCE AND INTENSIVE LANGUAGE TEACHER
lmcbride@abcpcs.org

How many people can honestly say they adore middle school kids? From science fairs to soccer tournaments, field trips to hands-on labs, middle school is where she’s meant to be. Ms. Lindsay teaches 6th grade Earth/Space Science and 7th grade Life Science, Spanish 1, and Physical Education. She also coaches the boys and girls soccer teams. After working as a counselor and trainer for organizations such as the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, the National MultiCultural Institute, and the Anti-Defamation League, she began coaching soccer and substitute teaching, and knew she was hooked. Now a third-year teacher, she holds a M.Ed. in Secondary Education from George Washington University, with certification in English as a Second Language. She is currently obtaining her certification in General Science. Before ABC, Ms. Lindsay coached soccer and taught ESL Life, Physical Science and Earth/Space Sciences at MacFarland Middle School. “One of my favorite aspects of working at ABC has been observing students rise to and exceed high expectations – literally leaping forward in their Spanish and English literacy skills. I also love that I can demand the leadership and teamwork that students show on the soccer field when they are in my classroom, and see the results when students choose to work together and help each other. After seeing how several other schools operate, it is amazing to be able to create a school that values different cultural backgrounds and taps into students’ genuine excitement and interest in learning. I adore my students, and can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

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CARLOS FERNANDO RIGUEROS – SOCIAL STUDIES AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TEACHER
frigueros@abcpcs.org

Greetings! I am the 6th and 7th grade Social Studies Teacher. I also teach Intensive Spanish and English. I have two Bachelor's degrees from the University of California at San Diego in Political Science and Urban Planning. I am currently engaged in Master's studies at the School of Education and Human Development at the George Washington University.

I have graduate degrees in International Cooperation and Projects Fundraising from the Externado University of Colombia (joint academic program with the School of International Affairs at Columbia University). I graduated summa cum laude from Cairo American High School in Cairo, Egypt. I have lived and studied abroad extensively.

I am truly committed to helping our ABC young learners in becoming community leaders, high academic achievers and responsible members of their communities. When not teaching at ABC, I enjoy swimming, attending ballet concerts, art galleries and appreciating Washington, DC’s many historical and cultural attractions.

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THE BOARD:

Alex Diaz-Asper

Alex Diaz-Asper is a partner at Alfred Street Partners, a Washington DC based private equity firm. Prior to ASP, he was a Director at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London, England, where he was responsible for a venture capital portfolio in technology and media. Mr. Diaz-Asper has over 10 years experience in operations and finance with new ventures and multinational companies in the technology, marketing communications and telecommunications industries. He was raised bilingually, moved to Washington, DC when he was fifteen and is raising his two sons bilingually.

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Melissa Boasberg

Melissa Boasberg currently serves as head of direct marketing for Friends of John Kerry, after holding a similar position with the John Kerry for President campaign. She has a decade of work experience in Internet and technology start-ups, including serving as CEO of Amazing Media and Senior Vice President for Women's Consumer Network. She holds a BA, summa cum laude, from Yale University and a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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Carmen Posada DeSenne

Carmen Posada DeSenne is the president and founder of CPDR, Inc, a business management consulting company specializing in advising growing organizations with multiple aspects of their business, including strategic planning, operations, personnel and technology implementation.

Ms. DeSenne started her career in international education, working for Youth For Understanding International Exchange, in educational programming for the Smithsonian Institution, and has worked as an interpreter and translator for several organizations, including the United Nations. Her love for design and textiles, however, led her to France, Italy, Asia and New York City and a successful career in the fashion industry, where she worked in all areas of the business, including design, product development and business management. Her extensive experience in a variety of fields and the challenges confronting managers of new organizations, as well as existing companies restructuring, led her to start her own company with a client base primarily in New York City & Washington, DC. Ms. DeSenne was raised and educated multilingual. Having studied in both American and international schools and universities, and having come to appreciate the personal and professional benefits of a successful career in international business, she is an advocate for bi-lingual education in American schools. Ms. DeSenne holds a B.A. in Art History and Romance Languages from Kenyon College, a Certificat de Langue Francaise from Universite de la Sorbonne, Paris and has studied at Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. Ms. DeSenne speaks Spanish and Italian fluently and has a working knowledge of French.

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Samuel Klein

Samuel Klein has been involved in education for over fifteen years. Currently the MS ESOL Specialist in Fairfax County, VA, Mr. Klein has taught in several countries overseas, as well as at public schools in the US. He also conducts a wide variety of teacher trainings, revolving around the issue of English language learners and second language acquisition. Mr. Klein’s other work in education includes being a researcher for the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. Mr. Klein holds an M.Ed. from Temple University and a B.A. from Ohio State University.

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Ana Rondón
Ana Rondón is a resident of DC and has a daughter enrolled in ABC.

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