Jeanne Allen is the Founder and President of the Center for Education Reform (CER), a Washington, DC based organization driving the creation of better educational opportunities for all children by leading parents, policymakers and the media in boldly advocating for school choice, advancing the charter school movement, and challenging the education establishment.

Co-author of "The School Reform Handbook: How to Improve Your Schools" (1995), Jeanne is recognized as one of the country's leading education experts. She appears frequently on national television and radio programs, and can often be found in the pages of the nation's most influential newspapers and magazines.

Jeanne is the mother of four school-age children, Johnny, Teddy, Anthony, and Mary Monica and is married to Dr. Kevin L. Strother.

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The Center for Education Reform salutes all those folks beyond the Beltway who have written laws on the back of a napkin, worked tirelessly to persuade lawmakers to pass those laws, created schools, written standards, and generally challenged the conventional wisdom in the interest of making schools work better for all children. These are YOUR Action Heroes, and here are their stories.

January 2007


Action Hero: Julie Merendino

Four years ago, Julie and I decided to send our children to the newly forming Kennesaw Charter School. Willing to do whatever we could to improve the education of our children, we both enrolled our children and volunteered to do whatever work that we could to start the school off successfully. I took on the community outreach chair for the scarcely formed PTSA and my friend Julie took on The President of the Kennesaw Charter School for the first year.

Since then, she has served another term as PTSA president and co-president. Because of her love for the children, her genuine interest in making sure that the children at KCS have the best education available and her continued involvement and creative ideas, she was offered and now works at the school as an employee. Although Kennesaw Charter School in Kennesaw, Georgia is full of parents who truly care about their children's educational success, Julie Merendino stands out above us all with her positive attitude and willingness to work hard to make our school top quality and competitive in the educational arena.

She does not just talk the talk, she walks the walk...and for that I greatly respect her! God Bless Julie Merendino for her wonderful contribution to education.


Click here for links to profiles of other Action Heroes
or
Click here for the full list with brief profiles.

Click here to nominate your own Education Reform Action Hero.



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