NEW ORLEANS – (Jan. 29, 2020) – At the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) board business meeting on Thursday, Jan. 16, the board unanimously elected OPSB District 2 Representative Ethan Ashley to serve as president, and District 6 Representative Woody Koppel as vice president. The OPSB conducts the election at its first meeting in January of each year.
Together, Ashley and Koppel will lead the OPSB’s 2020 board business meetings, which are set to take place on the following dates at 5:30 p.m. :
• Feb. 11
• March 19
• April 23
• May 14
• June 11
• July 30
• Aug. 20
• Sept. 17
• Oct. 22
• Nov. 19
• Dec. 17
Ethan Ashley, originally from Compton, CA, obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in political science and Juris Doctorate from Howard University in Washington, D.C. To continue improving his skills to positively impact the students of New Orleans, Ashley received his certificate in Education Finance from Georgetown University last fall. Currently, Ashley is the Co-Founder and Partner of School Board Partners, a nonprofit that connects emerging, inspired elected community leaders serving on local school boards with the training, support and mentorship needed to successfully create high quality school systems.
In regards to service, Ashley serves as the Program Chair of the NORD Commission and board member for Bard Early College New Orleans, a rigorous, credit-bearing, tuition-free college course program in the liberal arts and sciences available to junior and senior level students. Ashley is also a board member of the Boy Scouts of America Southeast Louisiana Council, the National Juvenile Justice Network and the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute. As a cancer survivor, Ashley proudly serves as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Chairman; he is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity, Inc. and funds and runs his own scholarship program for college bound public school students living in District 2.
Woody Koppel, a native New Orleanian, attended Henry Allen, Jean Gordon, De La Salle and the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine arts. Koppel has been a member of the OPSB since 2012. A successful businessperson, Koppel was an award-winning teacher at James Lewis Elementary. He has travelled as far as the Anna Freud Centre in England to learn strategies for teaching at-risk youth. Koppel is married and has two daughters and a son.
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About NOLA Public Schools
NOLA Public Schools is the public school district for Orleans Parish, which includes the district’s elected school board, known as the Orleans Parish School Board and the district’s administration led by NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis Jr. NOLA Public Schools currently oversees 78 public schools. For more information, visit www.nolapublicschools.com.