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When the 2016–2017
school year begins for Indianapolis Public Schools on August 1, Manny Mendez
will be in charge of overseeing the district’s transportation department,
including the 1,465 bus runs made every single school day.
It’s an arduous
task, but one Mendez is prepared to take on.
“Manny has a
strong record of service at the City of Indianapolis and State of Indiana. He
is someone who has demonstrated results and improvements in all of his roles,”
said IPS Operations Officer David Rosenberg. “Manny is a Six-Sigma Black Belt
and process improvement specialist, both critical tools to continuing to
improve our service in transportation.”
His top
priority, however, will be to provide “safe, efficient and on-time service to
our students and families,” Rosenberg added.
Mendez
is just one of several new hires or administrative staff promotions made within
IPS in recent weeks.
Before
coming to IPS, Mendez most recently was director of program management for the
Bureau of Motor Vehicles. He served the City of Indianapolis for seven years in
various capacities, including director of Code Enforcement, deputy controller
in the Office of Finance, and director of the Office of Audit and
Performance.
Mendez
earned his Bachelor of Arts Management degree from Indiana Wesleyan. He served
in the United States Army from 1983–1992 and is a veteran of the first Gulf War,
serving in Operation Desert Storm.
Other recent
new hires or staff promotions include:
- Lisa Brenner has been named the new IPS Student
Services Officer. Brenner will oversee all aspects of student services, from
guidance and social services to positive behavioral supports and more. She has
served as our director of Graduation and Alternative Services since December
2014, and previously was supervisor of Social Services for Guilford County
Schools.
- Our
newest Academic Improvement Officer is Dr.
Yvonne Stokes, who joined IPS in December 2014 as director of Research,
Evaluation and Assessment. Dr. Stokes and her team have served our principals,
teachers and students by carefully analyzing trends in our assessment data to
ensure consistent improvement in student outcomes. Before that, Dr. Stokes was
a leader in Blackford County Schools as their director of curriculum. Now, Dr.
Stokes will use her wealth of academic experience to provide sound guidance to
our principals throughout the school year.
- Mindy Schlegel has served as Talent Officer in the IPS
Human Resources Division for the past year – now, she will lead the HR team as
Human Resource Services Operations Officer. Schlegel has contributed to the
field of education as a policy fellow for Public Impact, director of Great
Schools, senior advisor for the Indiana Department of Education and as a
teacher with Boston Public Schools. We look forward to the positive impact of
her continued guidance in this new role!
- Jason A.
Smith has a long history in academics and athletics at IPS and is moving
his talents to the district’s Step Ahead Academy as its new coordinator. The
academic-driven and focused alternative program helps middle school students in
Grades 6–8, who have fallen behind academically, get back on track in the
classroom. Most recently, Smith served as vice principal at Ralph Waldo Emerson
School 58. He also has a background as a curriculum resource specialist.
- New to the IPS family is Revonda Johnson, who has been named as the director of Principal
Development. Prior to her new position at IPS, Johnson served as Instructional
Improvement Officer for the Peoria Public School District in Illinois, where
she led a team of top-performing district principals. Throughout her career in
education, Johnson has served as a high school principal and assistant
principal in Guilford County Schools, and a middle school social studies
teacher, volleyball and soccer coach and athletic director for
Alamance-Burlington Schools.
