Leadership Academy

$233,940.00

  • Hillsborough County Public Schools, FL - 2017-2020 - Multiple Purchase Orders Download
  • Hillsborough County Public Schools, FL - 2020 - $24,500 for Equity Audit Download
  • Hillsborough County Public Schools, FL - 2017 - $125,000 for Equity Walks Download
  • Fairfax County Public Schools, VA - 2021 - $49,600 for Anti-Bias Community Engagement Policy Download

School Districts

California

Florida

New York

Virginia


Report Details

What is the Leadership Academy?

On Jan. 23, 2003, The Leadership Academy of Education, Inc. was registered as a not-for-profit corporation with the New York Secretary of State, based in Long Island City, New York. That June, its name was changed to The NYC Leadership Academy, Inc.

Then, on Sept. 9, 2020, in the midst of the new booming national business of diversity consulting, the organization changed its name yet again, this time to The Leadership Academy, Inc.

According to the organization’s website, the “decades of collective experience as district superintendents, principal supervisors, principals, and leadership coaches, all with expertise in and a deep commitment to disrupting inequities, enable [the organization] to support aspiring and sitting leaders striving to give each student access to the opportunities they need to thrive.”

The chief executive officer is Nancy B. Gutiérrez.

What K-12 work has the Leadership Academy done? 

CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles Unified School District

Leadership Academy said on its website: “As part of a district restructuring, we partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District to design and deliver standards-based professional development for 60 newly-designated Instructional Directors who now supervise all LAUSD principals.”

FLORIDA

Hillsborough County Public Schools

Leadership Academy said on its website: “Hillsborough County Public Schools has partnered with us to support senior staff and board members in examining district policies and goals through an equity lens.”

Miami-Dade Public Schools

Leadership Academy said on its website: “We provided training grounded in the Florida Principal Leadership Standards to mentor principals in Miami-Dade Public Schools who work with aspiring school leaders.”

Orange County Public Schools

Leadership Academy said on its website: “We have worked with Orange County Public Schools to strengthen their mentoring program for new principals and assistant principals, providing training in the use of our Leadership Performance Planning Worksheet tool and ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the mentoring program.”

The School District of Palm Beach County

Leadership Academy said on its website: “We are partnering with the School District of Palm Beach to help them revamp and strengthen their district-based principal preparation program in order to make it more rigorous and more equity-focused.”

St. Lucie Public Schools

Leadership Academy said on its website: “Two principal supervisors from St. Lucie Public Schools have participated in Foundations of Principal Supervision.”

NEW YORK

New York City Department of Education

The Leadership Academy has a testimonial on its website from Marisol Rosales, Executive Superintendent for Manhattan, with the New York City Department of Education, stating: “The Leadership Academy was a transformative experience for me. When I left the Academy, I knew my belief system, I knew my values. I was equipped to go into a school that was low performing, where well intended, loving teachers and staff needed to rethink expectations for children. I knew what it meant to bring teachers, with different perspectives, to the table to be able to strengthen and to build from where they are.”

VIRGINIA 

Leadership Academy said on its website:We are delivering Fundamentals of Leadership Coaching, an introductory training on our proven leadership coaching model, to faculty at Virginia State University and district partners from Henrico County Public Schools, Hopewell City Public Schools, Sussex County Public Schools and Gwinnett County Public Schools.”

Fairfax County Public Schools

On Thursday, May 6, 2021, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand sent the community a biased, unscientific survey that promotes critical race theory. In new documents released through a FOIA request, Parents Defending Education has learned that Fairfax County Public Schools agreed to pay NYC Leadership Academy $49,600 in an “informal competitive process.”

According to the February 8 purchase order, the school district hired the outside group for the school district’s “Anti-Bias Community Engagement Policy,” including the cost of doing a “survey and policy work.” (View the entire survey to parents here.)

In its FOIA response, Fairfax County Public Schools said: “The cost of the survey and policy work by the NYC Leadership Academy is $49,600 and was procured via an informal competitive process and falls under an Exception to Competitive Procurement as allowed by the Fairfax County Purchasing Resolution which states “Procurement for single or term contracts for goods and services not expected to exceed $200,000 as identified by the Purchasing Agent.” The department is required to solicit at least four (4) written competitive proposals by sending the solicitation to known sources. This is a one-time engagement, and nothing has been paid to date.  Purchase order, which reflects the $49,600 is attached for reference.”

In addition, Parents Defending Education has learned that the school districted signed a four-year “Notice of Award” on March 11 with the organization with a “pricing schedule” of 21 items that could add up to a minimum of $702,700 of business and possibly run into the millions of dollars.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Consortium of Jewish Day Schools

Leadership Academy has a testimonial on its website from the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools, stating: “We supported the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools in its effort to strengthen instructional leadership capacity of early-career Jewish day school principals, by providing training and access to our Leadership Performance Planning Worksheet tool.”

HIGHER EDUCATION 

California State University

Leadership Academy said on its website: “We provided our signature coach training for 35 school leadership coaches working with high-poverty schools as part of California State University, Dominguez Hills’ U.S. DOE-funded Inspiring Leaders Program.”