About the Authors
Creating and Sustaining Family Friendly Schools was written by Wayne B. Jennings and Andrew J. Adelmann with Designs for Learning, an education consulting firm in St. Paul, Minnesota and Nancy Smith with the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota.
Wayne B. Jennings
Now in his 44th year in education, Wayne began as a teacher in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. He received his BA, Masters, and Doctorate degrees from the University of Minnesota. He held numerous education leadership positions before forming Designs for Learning, an organization which works on school transformation. From 1992 on, Wayne has been director of the Community Learning Center project, originally funded by New American Schools. His vision for education is embodied in the CLC design. Wayne has served as superintendent for 5 CLC-model charter schools in St. Paul. He is the author of several books and numerous articles and serves or has served as an officer and board member of many other education organizations. He is an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas and Minnesota University at Mankato. Now in semi-retirement, Wayne conducts training on the CLC model and acts as a mentor to lead Designs staff.
Andrew J. Adelmann
Andrew joined Designs for Learning in 1993, during the initial implementation of the Community Learning Centers project under New American Schools sponsorship. Andrew's work has involved education-related research; writing of materials such as grant/contract proposals, research and evaluation reports, and promotional materials; and administrative tasks such as communicating with clients, assisting with hiring support staff, and managing the company's extensive information databases. He has co-authored publications on school vouchers, on charter school laws across the states, and on parent involvement in charter schools. Since 1996, the focus of Andrew's work has shifted toward charter public schools. As a project coordinator, Andrew took part in all aspects of start-up for these new programs, including preparing proposals to sponsors, promotion/publicity, obtaining 501(c)3 status, fundraising, recruiting and hiring staff, and recruiting students.
Nancy Smith
Nancy is the Director of the New Twin Cities Charter School Project, a charter school developers' technical assistance center, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. She has been a teacher, coordinated youth alcohol, drug, and gang prevention programs, advocated for special needs students and parents, and assisted in the development of tribally controlled contract schools. Prior to her work at the University of Minnesota, she was the Education Program Officer at the Urban Coalition in St. Paul, MN - where she advocated for improved educational opportunities for low-income children and children of color. Besides providing technical assistance to new charter developers, she is also working on a unique project with the Cargill Foundation to assist Twin Cities schools, including public, charter public, alternative and private, to implement school-wide education reform initiatives.