Board of Trustees

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Board of Trustees Meeting: Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 6:30 pm.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the September 15, 2021 FACTS Board Meeting will take place via Zoom. Members of the Public are invited to attend. All participants will be asked to provide their first and last name prior to entering the meeting.

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Meeting ID: 956 0210 8127
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Meeting ID: 956 0210 8127

ABOUT OUR BOARD MEMBERS:

Pooja Agarwal, Policy Committee, Board Member since 2018

Pooja sought a role on the board of FACTS to further her support for the immigrant and refugee communities of Philadelphia who make up a large part of the FACTS family. Pooja Agarwal is an attorney in Philadelphia. While currently practicing in the corporate world, she has over 13 years of experience in immigration law, primarily working with people seeking asylum in the United States on a pro bono basis. Since 2009, Pooja has worked as volunteer attorney at HIAS PA, a local non-profit dedicated to immigration legal services and refugee resettlement in Philadelphia. She has a B.A. in economics-philosophy from Columbia University and law degrees from Brooklyn Law School and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Law.

Heather Davis-Jones, Board Secretary, Board Member since 2013

Heather is dedicated to FACTS because of its continuing fight for equity and justice in education, as FACTS works towards those goals in ways that support students and the community by recognizing the importance of home cultures. Heather Davis-Jones is a fiber artist and curator whose work addresses ritual and collective identities. She has a Master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University. Heather was previously an adjunct Art History professor at Cheyney University and teaching artist at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Her work is in collections in Europe, Canada and the United States.

Xu Lin, Stars Program Ad Hoc Committee, board member since 2019

Xu Lin dreamed of a school like FACTS for his peers and himself when he immigrated to America and entered a Philadelphia public school. He experienced first hand how lack of funding and advocacy disproportionately affected immigrant and racial minority students. Following high school, Xu became a community organizer and youth organizer who worked in the Philadelphia Chinese community on a variety of issues: affordable housing, race relations, school violence, and public education. Xu is currently a business owner and a proud father of two.

Selina Morales, Board Chair, Board Member since 2015

Selina is committed to FACTS because through the school’s curriculum and culture she sees a community-centered path to a more just and equitable future. Selina Morales is a public folklorist who consults nationally on projects at the intersection of community aesthetics and social justice. For nearly a decade, she worked with the Philadelphia Folklore Project (a FACTS Founding organization), for 5 years as Director. She is faculty in the Masters of Cultural Sustainability program at Goucher College, and on the Advisory Council to the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. In 2017, Selina was honored as one of the Delaware Valley’s 50 Most Influential Latinos.

Neeta Patel, Treasurer and Vice Chair, member of the Finance Committee and Policy Committee, Board member since 2016

As one of FACTS Founders, Neeta is deeply committed to its mission and values the role folk arts plays in fostering a caring community that encompasses multiple languages, cultures, and generations; in nurturing creativity; and in honing academic skills in service towards building a more fair and peaceful world. She also brings hands-on experience, having served as FACTS’s inaugural Operations Officer where she developed and directed FACTS non-instructional programs. Neeta currently works as a consultant and has over three decades of experience working with Philadelphia’s refugee and immigrant communities as an administrator, advocate, educator, fundraiser, and organizer in various organizations including Asian Americans United, one of FACTS founding organizations. She earned a BA from Haverford College, and an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Alan Phan, Development Committee, Board Member since 2019

Alan is a strong supporter of diversity, equity, and inclusion and FACTS’ mission to invest in the under-served Chinatown community and the students of our future. Alan Phan is an IT Professional at Chubb Insurance based in Philadelphia. He has over 15 years of experience in IT audit, security, and risk management working across various industries. Alan has served on several boards and held leadership roles on diversity and inclusion programs for multiple organizations. He currently serves as a board member for Temple University’s ITACS Masters Program advising on curriculum planning, recruiting, mentoring, and eventual placement of graduates. Additionally, Alan holds a leadership position for Chubb’s Asian Alliance employee resource group advocating for greater awareness and equity for the Asian community and their allies through training, knowledge sharing, collaborative events, and celebrations.

Thierry Elin-Saintine, Policy Committee, Board member since 2020

Thierry is excited to be a member of the FACTS family and be a part of the school’s fight to make “belonging” an integral part of its mission and philosophy of education. Thierry is an assistant professor of mathematics and First-Year Studies program at Stockton University. He teaches courses on quantitative reasoning, algebraic modeling, and academic identity construction. His research focuses on identity as belonging, mathematics education, urban education, and clinical empathy. Whether learning about housing inequity from homeless Philadelphians at a public library, or studying the meaning of clinical empathy from people living with dementia, or exploring the pervasiveness and depths of institutional racism in mathematics education, I have been fortunate to be part of budding movements in educational research (and the social sciences) helping to rewrite America’s social imaginary–the range of possible identities available to certain groups in this country. I hope to continue this work as a member of the FACTS community.

Kenzo Sung, Stars Program Ad Hoc Committee, Board Member since 2020

Kenzo stands in solidarity with FACTS history of struggle for equity and justice for the Chinatown community, Asian American students, and all students and communities across Philadelphia. Kenzo is an Assistant Professor of Urban Education and Education Foundations, and affiliated faculty with Africana Studies and American Studies, at Rowan University. Kenzo’s research has been shaped by his years attending and teaching in urban public schools, and includes urban education/policy, ethnic studies, critical race theory, social movements, bilingual education, and history of education. Kenzo holds a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in Education Policy and Social Cultural Studies in Education, with prior degrees from Harvard University and U.C. Berkeley. Kenzo started as a youth organizer over 20 years ago, and was a public middle school teacher in Oakland, CA for several years before transitioning to academia.

Allaire Wohlgemuth, Development Committee, Board member since 2018

Allaire was a former employee of FACTS and has remained dedicated to the model of a school as a hub for community advocacy. Allaire is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and currently leads a new initiative in The School District of Philadelphia that places teams of mental health supports in select District schools. She has spent over two decades serving children and families in Philadelphia as a teacher and a social worker in school, court, outpatient and hospital settings. Allaire brings to the FACTS board her knowledge and experience around mental health, trauma informed communities and restorative practices. Allaire graduated from Swarthmore College with a dual major in Elementary Education and Sociology and also has her Masters of Social Service from Bryn Mawr College. She is currently working towards her Principal’s Certification at Drexel University.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES CONTACT INFORMATION

1023 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123

Selina Morales, Chair: selina@board.factschool.org
Neeta Patel, Treasurer/Vice Chair: neeta@board.factschool.org
Heather Davis-Jones, Secretary: heather@board.factschool.org

Pooja Agarwal: pooja@board.factschool.org

Xu Lin: xulin@board.factschool.org

Alan Phan: alan@board.factschool.org

Thierry Saintine: thierry@board.factschool.org

Kenzo Sung: kenzo@board.factschool.org

Allaire Wohlgemuth: allaire@board.factschool.org

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING SCHEDULE, 2021-2022

All meetings begin at 6:30 pm. Board meetings for the summer of 2021 will be held via Zoom; the Zoom link is posted above. Due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic, Board meetings will continue to be held on Zoom during the fall of 2021 and until further notice.

The Board of Trustees of the FACT Charter School meets on the third Wednesday of the month with an additional date on August 4, 2021: July 21, 2021; August 4, 2021; August 18, 2021; September 15, 2021; October 20, 2021; November 17, 2021; December 15, 2021; January 19, 2022; February 16, 2022; March 16, 2022; April 20, 2022; May 18, 2022; June 15, 2022.

Committee Meetings:

The Governance Committee will meet on the first Wednesday of every month at 1:30 pm via Zoom.
The Development Committee will meet on the first Thursday of every month at 4:00 pm via Zoom.
The Finance Committee will meet on the Wednesday of the week prior to the Board meeting at 12:30 pm at 1023 Callowhill Street.

Members of the public are invited to attend all FACTS Board of Trustees meetings.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

ABOUT OUR BOARD MEMBERS:

Pooja Agarwal, Policy Committee, Board Member since 2018

Heather Davis-Jones, Board Secretary, Board Member since 2013

Xu Lin, Stars Program Ad Hoc Committee, board member since 2019

Selina Morales, Board Chair, Board Member since 2015

Neeta Patel, Treasurer and Vice Chair, member of the Finance Committee and Policy Committee, Board member since 2016

Alan Phan, Development Committee, Board Member since 2019

Thierry Elin-Saintine, Policy Committee, Board member since 2020

Kenzo Sung, Stars Program Ad Hoc Committee, Board Member since 2020

Allaire Wohlgemuth, Development Committee, Board member since 2018

BOARD OF TRUSTEES CONTACT INFORMATION

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING SCHEDULE, 2021-2022

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES, 2021-22

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES, 2020-21

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES, 2019-20

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES, 2018-19

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES, 2017-18

FACTS 2018-21 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR PUBLIC REVIEW:

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