Kate Parsons is the Head of School and COO of Portal Schools. In her current role, she is responsible for developing school design and instructional components, overseeing logistics related to operations, enrollment and accreditations, as well as hiring and managing the many staff, partners, and consultants that Portal Schools engages with as they build their model. Prior to her work with Portal Schools, Kate worked for the Da Vinci Schools from its founding year in 2009 until 2019. She served as the Principal of Da Vinci Design from 2013-2019 and was a math and science teacher prior to that. As Principal, Kate developed two career pathways at Da Vinci Design and built a third to launch in the 2019-20 school year. In addition, she initiated the Da Vinci Design Advisory Board, a group whose mission is to support and inform the relevance of each career pathway. She developed and ran professional development sessions for staff regularly and successfully led the Da Vinci Design team through a full WASC self-study process. Kate is a proud mentor in the Transforming Learning Collaborative, founded in 2018 by Da Vinci Schools, Schools that Can, and the Next Generation Learning Challenge. Kate earned her B.S. in Education and Chemistry from Manhattan College in New York where she was also a member of the Women’s Soccer team. She earned her M.Ed. in Educational Administration and Leadership through Arizona State University. She is excited and honored to be working on Portal Schools with a passionate team to create meaningful and lasting change in the world of education.