American Indian Model Schools
Under the leadership of Ben Chavis (Lumbee), a Native American professor, AIPCS students made considerable progress in academic scores from 2000 to 2007, and enrollment increased at the school. The first middle school, AIPCS, received national recognition in 2007. Some of Chavis's disciplinary methods and his treatment of students and teachers generated controversy, and he resigned as principal in 2007. But the board voted to maintain him in an influential executive role at the school and with the model school system. In 2012 Chavis ended his ties with the charter system (although his children remained as students) and returned to his home state of North Carolina.
Chas Roemer
Charles Elson Roemer, IV, known as Chas Roemer (born February 1970), is the Republican former president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the 11-member state body which sets and monitors education policy. A resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Roemer led the majority faction of the board which seeks to implement reforms and innovations pushed by then Governor Bobby Jindal and continuing state Education Superintendent John C. White.