McDonnell announces appointments to Opportunity Educational Institution board

Gov. Bob McDonnell today announced his appointments to the Opportunity Educational Institution Board. The board will begin immediately to oversee the OEI.

The OEI, which was created through legislation passed during the 2013 General Assembly Session, will focus on turning around chronically failing or underperforming public schools in the Commonwealth to ensure a high quality education for all students.

“The Opportunity Educational Institution Board brings together top K-12 education reform leaders in Virginia with passionate education advocates in state government,” McDonnell said.  “These leaders will work to ensure all Virginia children have access to a high quality education, and they are going to get to work right away.  If a single Virginia school is allowed to continue to fail resulting in students being denied a high-quality education, then we are not doing our constitutional duty. That is unacceptable.  The status quo is no longer ok, and the leaders on the OEI Board will be critical to the bipartisan effort to ensure that every child in the Commonwealth goes to a high quality school and gets a world class education.”
Gubernatorial Appointments

• Lisa Goeas of Alexandria, Vice President of Political and Grassroots Program, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
• Julia Ciarlo Hammond of Richmond, Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy Advisor, Office of the Governor
• Doug Mesecar of Aldie, Founder of Adeptio Education and Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Innovation and Improvement for the U.S. Department of Education
• Dr. John Nunnery of Norfolk, Executive Director, The Center for Educational Partnerships at Old Dominion University (ODU)
• Anne S. O’Toole of Manakin-Sabot, Retired Principal for Chesterfield County Public Schools  and Educational Consultant

Senate of Virginia Appointments

• Sen. Ryan T. McDougle (R – Hanover)
• Sen. Kenneth C. Alexander (D – Norfolk)

House of Delegates Appointments

• Delegate Richard P. Bell (R – Staunton)
• Delegate Daun Sessoms Hester (D – Norfolk)