MEET LAUREN

Lauren is an educator, organizer, advocate, community volunteer, and lifelong learner. She has extensive experience in teaching, mentoring, policy work, and non-profit and civic organizations.

Experience in the Education Profession:

Lauren is in her 15th year of teaching and currently a third/fourth-grade certified special education teacher and case manager at KIPP Morial Primary in New Orleans. She started her teaching career as a special education teacher of first and second grade students at Emily C. Watkins Elementary and Fifth Ward Reserve Elementary in St. John the Baptist Parish School District. 

A National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Exceptional Needs, Lauren serves as the Policy/Advocacy Chairperson for the Louisiana NBCT Network and mentors National Board Certification candidates in her school and city as a professional learning facilitator. Lauren is also a Mentor Teacher in the state of Louisiana and during her career in education, she has served as a special education administrator and coordinator. She has formally coached new special education teachers in instructional planning and delivery, learning theory and pedagogy, and classroom management and culture. 

Lauren has worked with colleagues in education to present sessions at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual conference and the Louisiana Department of Education Teacher Leaders Summit, lead local professional development workshops for teachers with AfterCLASS New Orleans, and serve as a panelist for the National Board Core Connections webinar series. She is a 2021 New Orleans City Business Power 20 Education List Honoree, a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leader, and 2019-2020 Understood Teacher Fellow. She has written articles for ASCD’s In-Service blog, Understood.Org, the United States Department of Education official blog "Homeroom," and National Board for Professional Teaching Standards blog "The Standard." 

She is a member of Council of Exceptional Children, NOLA-Public Schools Special Education Advisory Council, and the Digital Promise Learner Variability Project Practitioner Advisory Board. She is also an active member of United Teacher of New Orleans, AFT Local 527 and served on its executive council from 2013-2022.  

Experience in Non-Profit and Community Organizations:

Since 2017, Lauren has served as a volunteer and collective member with Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to sending free reading material to people who are incarcerated in jails, prisons, and ICE facilities in Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas. The group also works with education and justice-focused community organizations to promote awareness about prison literacy. 

From 2012-2018, she served on the New Orleans Track Club Board of Directors, an organization in the Greater New Orleans area that caters to runners, joggers, and walkers and produces several running events throughout the year. Lauren served as a member-at-large, secretary, and president during her tenure on the board.

Personal Background

Lauren is the proud product of a K-12 public education. She holds a BA in history and political science with a minor in American Sign Language from the University of Rochester and graduated in August 2023 with an MA in English from the Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English where she participated as an involved member of the Bread Loaf Teacher Network. 

She has been a homeowner in the Airline Park neighborhood for the past 8 years.  She is an avid runner and yoga enthusiast.