Maurice Thomas, executive director of Teach for America’s Milwaukee branch, has departed the organization to pursue a fellowship that will prepare him to launch his own secondary school in Milwaukee.
Thomas is one of 10 individuals accepted last fall into the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, a Boston, Mass.-based program. The entrepreneurial fellowship, which attracted about 1,000 applicants during Thomas’ application cycle, will send fellows across the country to visit high-performing urban schools and learn “the lessons of what it takes to make those types of schools,” he said.
Following a year of traveling, Thomas will spend a year recruiting between 100 and 200 sixth graders for his charter school, which he hopes to establish on the north side of Milwaukee in Metcalfe Park where he grew up.
“When I think about the need…I can’t have another generation of people who come from the neighborhood I come from not having the opportunities that I have and so many other people have in this city,” said Thomas, who is a 2004 graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools.
While he doesn’t yet have a building for the school or a chartering authority, Thomas anticipates opening in fall 2016 and growing enrollment to serve grades 6 through 12. He will lead the school’s instructional operations and business operations with a projected base of 10 staff members.
Thomas has served as executive director of Teach For America in Milwaukee since 2011, but his relationship with Teach For America extends back to 2008, when he joined the education initiative as a core member.
He taught high school history classes in Atlanta, Ga., and also served as a teacher coach for the Teach For America’s Atlanta region and a school director of an Atlanta school.
During his teaching tenure, in 2010, he earned national recognition from Teach For America with the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award, which honors teachers driving significant classroom success. His classroom was also highlighted in “A Chance to Make History,” a 2011 book authored by Teach For America Founder Wendy Kopp.
Teach for America in Milwaukee recruited Thomas for the organization’s helm in August 2011.
“I stuck with Teach For America because I believe that we have people in this organization who are dedicated to solving some of our toughest questions when it comes to education,” Thomas said. “I feel like every single day I’m surrounded by and being pushed by people who I meet who want excellence for kids.”
Thomas will remain involved with Teach For America as a board member of the organization’s regional board.
Garrett Bucks, who was the founding executive director of Teach For America’s Milwaukee affiliate in 2009, will return to succeed Thomas.
