Schools

Medfield Resident Elected to Virtual High School Board of Directors

Martha Coakley was recently elected along with two other members to the Virtual High School Global Consortium's Board of Directors.

Virtual High School Global Consortium, the pioneer of K-12 online learning and course design for teachers, recently announced the election and addition of three new members to their Board of Directors, including Medfield resident Martha Coakley.

The additions bring the representation to 13 members and the newly elected officials include Dr. Mark McQuillan and Michael Ehrhardt in addition to Coakley.
 
“We are rapidly realizing our vision for how VHS can forge new paths in online education and serve more schools in more ways,” said Liz Pape, President and CEO of VHS. “Therefore, it’s imperative that we have the counsel of a strong board who can help guide our strategic direction and rapid growth. Our new board members all have a tremendous amount of expertise in a variety of different aspects of education that will prove to be invaluable as we continue to grow and expand our services to schools.”


Coakley has worked in K-12 educational publishing for more than 10 years. As the Northern Specialist for Macmillan College Publishing, she presents and trains instructors in all of the company’s math, science, economics and psychology titles. Previously, she was a market development manager for Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing, where she was responsible for all research, compliance and management of work flow for the adoption states.

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McQuillan is an educational writer, researcher and former teacher who has spent his entire career in education. He served as Commissioner of Education for the Connecticut State Board of Education until his resignation this year. He holds advanced degrees from Harvard University and has served in a number of administrative capacities, including Superintendent, Deputy Commissioner of Education and Chief Operating Officer of the Massachusetts Department of Education. The author of several publications, he has written extensively about curriculum and staff development, leadership training and strategic planning.
 
Ehrhardt is the Head of School at Marshall School in Duluth, Minnesota, a college preparatory school. He began his education career working for American international schools on the island of Cyprus and later in Brazil and the UK. He has held positions as a teacher, director of technology, assistant high school principal, middle school principal, and assistant head of school. Mike has earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Olaf College, a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, a master's degree in educational administration from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and a doctorate of educational administration from the University of Minnesota.
 
With these additions, the Virtual High School (VHS) board now consists of 13 members. Continuing board members include the following:
 

  • Tom Anderson, Curriculum Director for the Collingswood, NJ public schools
  • Chad Dorsey, President & CEO of Concord Consortium
  • Ernest Hasselbrink, Jr., Manager of the R&D Performance team at SunPower Corporation
  • Denise Goodwin Pace, Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer of The Halo Group
  • Kevin Lyons, Ed.D, Superintendent of Schools for Hudson, MA
  • Chuck Olson, Partner at LTGO
  • Liz Pape, President & CEO of VHS
  • Suellen Reed, Vice President of Business Development for Ross, Sinclaire and Associates
  • Barbara Stein, educational public policy expert
  • Robert Tinker, founder of Concord Consortium

 
Designed to supplement a school’s classroom curriculum, VHS is a non-profit, worldwide collaborative of schools, teachers and students. VHS member schools have access to over 400 online core, elective, Advanced Placement and honors courses, which are delivered co-synchronously and taught by VHS teachers who actively teach in classrooms at their member schools.  All are certified in their specific discipline and have completed a graduate level professional development program in online teaching. Instructors facilitate and continually monitor all courses, engaging students in discussions, and assessing each individual student’s progress.

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