Kenney names Community Schools Director

Longtime education activist Susan Gobreski has been picked as Mayor Jim Kenney’s Community Schools Director, the mayor announced Wednesday morning.

She’s spent the last decade doing policy development on community outreach campaigns, among other public school-related initiatives.

These have most recently been in her roles as executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania — which works to push politicians to adopt pro-public education agenda policies—and in the same leadership position at Education Voters Action Fund of Pennsylvania—a nonpartisan nonprofit that links legislators with the public.

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“Susan’s longstanding commitment to improving our city’s schools, coupled with her expertise in community engagement made her an obvious choice for this role,” Kenney said in a statement.

“Her insightful policy ideas and ability to bring diverse stakeholders together around common goals is exactly what we need to make community schools successful.”

In short, her new role as Community Schools Director will be to oversee the expansion of community schools in Philadelphia, a city spokeswoman helped summarize. Community schools essentially serve as hubs for social services. When public school students having particular needs, such as in areas like English as a Second Languageor special health needs, that’s where Gobreski links them with area service providers and partners.