The Normandy School District has announced the hiring of three Central Office administrators who will have key roles in assisting Stanton E. Lawrence, superintendent of schools. The new administrators will assume their positions July 1.
Phillip Boyd has been named chief administrative officer. Since January, Boyd has served as the district’s CARE Team Director, where he worked to form collaborative relationships between Normandy families and social service providers in pursuit of improved outcomes for at-risk students. He will now oversee the offices of Human Resources, Student and Family Support Services and Data Management.
Prior to joining the district, Boyd worked in the legal field and was a member of the Normandy School District Municipal Leaders Task Force. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in general studies from Indiana University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Illinois.
Candice Carter-Oliver is the district’s new chief academic officer. She will be responsible for coordinating and overseeing the district’s curriculum, instruction and staff development. Carter-Oliver joined the Normandy School District in July 2011 as principal of Jefferson Elementary School.
She had previously served as a principal in the St. Louis Public Schools. She holds an Education Specialist degree in educational administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is currently completing her doctoral degree.
Marcellars Mason has been named director of human resources. With over 25 years of education experience, Mason has served as principal of the district’s Washington Elementary School since July 2010. Prior to joining Normandy, Mason was a campus administrator in the Houston Independent School District. He holds a Doctor of Education degree from Texas Southern University in Houston, TX.
 Investing in Innovation fund grants
The U.S. Department of Education announced 124 highly-rated Development pre-applicants, all of which are invited to apply for a share of the nearly $150 million 2012 Investing in Innovation (i3) fund.
In February 2012, the Department invited potential Development applicants to submit pre-applications in an effort to simplify the application process and to allow a broader range of organizations to participate. The Department received more than 650 pre-applications, almost 40% more than last year, each of which was scored by peer reviewers.
Based on the highest scores within each of the competition’s five absolute priorities, the Department invited 124 pre-applications to submit a full application. Of these highly-rated pre-applications, 23 focus on teacher and principal effectiveness; 39 focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education; 32 focus on parent and family engagement, a new priority in the 2012 i3 Development competition; 20 focus on school turnarounds; and 10 focus on rural education.
Among the program’s three grant categories—Scale-up, Validation, and Development—the Development competition has attracted the greatest participation every year. In 2010, 1,310 i3 Development applications were submitted among the nearly 1,700 total potential applications. And in 2011, 474 i3 Development applications were submitted among 676 total applications.
The 124 applicants are eligible to apply for individual awards of up to $3 million that will fund new education programs that exhibit strong potential to improve student achievement and merit further exploration and research.
Applications in all three grant categories will be peer reviewed during the coming months and the highest-rated applicants will be announced later this year. Following the announcement, each potential grantee will be required to secure a private sector match of 15% for Development grants, 10% for Validation grants, and 5% for Scale-up grants in order to receive an i3 award.
To learn more about the Investing in Innovation Fund, and to view the list of the 124 highly-rated Development pre-applications, visit: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html.
