As part of the city bailout of the school budget a new Task Force of School Finance has been named to review the current school budget for operational savings and efficiencies in the School Department.
The following are the biographies of the Task Force members
Samuel R. Tyler
Samuel. Tyler became President of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau in January 1983 and has been a member of the Bureau staff since 1972. Mr. Tyler is recognized as an expert in the field of municipal finance and management. For over forty years, he has researched, written and commented on public policy issues in Boston.
Independent and nonpartisan, the Boston Municipal Research Bureau is a nonprofit, member-supported research organization that develops accurate data and objective analysis to support sound management of city government and to bring an unbiased analytical perspective to the finance and public policy choices made in Boston. Under Mr. Tyler’s direction, the Research Bureau has received local and national recognition for the quality and policy impact of its research on issues important to Boston. As part of his Bureau activities, Mr. Tyler has served on various state, city and school advisory committees. He is a past President of the Governmental Research Association, a national organization of professionals engaged in governmental research. Most recently, he served as a Co-Chair of Mayor Walsh’s Transition Team and served on the Baker-Polito Transition Team.
Jon Fullerton
Jon Fullerton is the Executive Director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he teaches on education finance and budgeting. Fullerton has extensive experience working with policymakers and executives in designing and implementing organizational change and improvements.
Before coming to Harvard, Fullerton served as the Board of Education’s Director of Budget and Financial Policy for the Los Angeles Unified School District. In this capacity, he provided independent evaluations of district reforms and helped to ensure that the district’s budget was aligned with board priorities.
From 2002 to 2005 he was Vice-President of Strategy, Evaluation, Research, and Policy at the Urban Education Partnership in Los Angeles, where he worked with policymakers to ensure that they focused on high impact educational strategies. Fullerton also worked for six years at McKinsey & Company as a strategy consultant and Senior Practice Expert in Education.
Dr. Dwayne B. Thomas
Dr. Dwayne B. Thomas, Ph.D. has more than 33 years as an organizational leadership and development and learning management professional. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education from HYPERLINK “http://www.fsu.edu/” \t “_blank” Florida State University. His areas of expertise are in Governance and Policy Development, Program Evaluation, Assessment, and Monitoring, and Using Action Research and Qualitative Research to solve problems in Business, Education, and Sports. He received a Masters of Arts Degree in Education (with Distinction) from The University of Iowa, and Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education Teaching (K-12) from Bethany College, in Lindsborg, Kansas.
Dr. Thomas has been a member of the Academy in Business and Organizational Leadership in education, business, and sport, since 1995. He has directed Doctoral, Masters, and Undergraduate Faculty, Research, and academic programs. Currently he is a member of the Lasell College School of Business Leadership Team and Program Director (Graduate and Undergraduate) and Associate Professor for Sport Management, in Newton, MA. He also has lead Sport Management education at Framingham State University and Emmanuel College, since 2016. Prior to assuming the leadership of the Sport Management Department at Lasell, Dr. Thomas was a member of the Mayor’s Cabinet and Director of Parks and Recreation programs for the Cities of Baltimore, MD and Harrisburg, PA.
Dr. Thomas has served as the Director of Instructional Services, Director of Sports Leadership, and Associate Professor of Sports Leadership/Management at Dominican University (DU) in River Forest, IL; Johnson C. Smith University, in Charlotte, NC, and at the University of North Florida. At DU, Dr. Thomas created the Masters and Undergraduate-level Sports Leadership Concentrations in the School of Leadership and Continuing Studies and collaborated with the College of Education to create the first Sports Leadership Concentration in the Education Administration Certification Program.
Dr. Thomas served as the Director and internal consultant for the Executive Management Team and provided executive and leadership training for leaders and staff responsible for the more than 200 SOI programs in 150+ countries. He also created the first SOI Leadership Development Institute, a leadership training program model selected by the US Leadership Council of Special Olympics North America as the model program for all leadership efforts. He is also the former State Coordinator for Physical Education and Physical Activity for the Florida Department of Education. At the FLDOE he was a member of the Grant Writing team that was awarded a $4 million grant from the CDC.
Dr. Thomas is the Founder, Chief Learning Officer, and Chief Strategist for Thomas Leadership Solutions (TLS). The consultants at TLS have more than 100 years of experience in advocacy for learning and leadership in our communities, schools, and educational systems. Our focus is on program evaluation, assessment, and monitoring standards and benchmarks in business, education, and sport. His work has taken him across the US, Western Europe, and South America. For more information on Dr. Thomas and the work of TLS, please review our website at www.t-ls.org.
Barry R. Sloane
Barry R. Sloane, 63, is President and CEO of Century Bank and Century Bancorp, Inc.
(NASDAQ: CNBKA), a 49 year old regional bank with 27 branches in greater Boston, and $4.8 billion of total banking assets.
Barry is a Trustee and member of the Investment Committee of SBERA (Savings Bank Employee Retirement Association).
Mr. Sloane’s charitable activities include: Chairman and Treasurer of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research at the Rockefeller University; Trustee of Hebrew SeniorLife; Trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital; Member of the Corporation, Partners Healthcare System; Trustee Emeritus of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Trustee Emeritus, USS Intrepid Museum Foundation; and President’s Council, Tufts University.
He was awarded the Silver Beaver by the Boston Council, Boy Scouts of America, in 2007, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Living Legend Award by the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School in January 2018.
He holds BA and MPA degrees from Harvard University.