Jonathan Klein, Executive Director
Jonathan has experience in teaching, educational leadership, entrepreneurial ventures, and nonprofit organizations. From 2006 to 2008, he played a critical role in ensuring the progress of Oakland Unified School District's "Expect Success" initiatives through three senior leadership transitions as Special Assistant to the State Administrator. Before joining the team at GO, Jonathan was the Chief Program Officer at the Rogers Family Foundation. He also teaches nonprofit management at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and serves on the boards of the Oakland Schools Foundation and New Leaders for New Schools, Bay Area. Jonathan is also a fully credentialed California teacher and an alumnus of Teach For America. In 2009, he was named one of the "40 under 40" national progressive political entrepreneurs by the New Leaders Council. Jonathan lives in Oakland with his wife and two children.

Ray Black, Outreach Specialist

As an Outreach Specialist, Ray strengthens the connection wide diversity of Oakland within all aspects of GO Public Schools. He developed his abiding interest in education, mentorship, and access to college while teaching four-year-olds in the Head Start program in Sacramento. Ray serves on the Steering Committee of the Alameda County Child Care Planning Council, advocating for more resources for our youngest children as well as those who care and teach children from birth to five years old. He has a long history of mentoring high school and college students, and actively works on helping underrepresented  youth get into and graduate from college. Ray is the Program Coordinator of Lift a Brother Up, an Oakland California-based College and Career Readiness Program of the non-profit organization Brothers on the Rise. With an undergraduate degree from the California State University Sacramento, and doctorate from the University of Chicago, Ray has taught at the University of California Berkeley and San Francisco State University among other institutions. Currently, his early childhood education skills are actively employed in raising his young daughter.

Casey Farmer, Operations Manager

Casey supports GO Public Schools with events, outreach, communications, development, and programs. She started her career in Oakland as a teacher at Youth Empowerment School (YES) in East Oakland, where she taught Special Day Classes to high school students with learning disabilities. During her tenure as a special educator, she acquired a passion for special education law, which she continues to use today as an advocate for special needs students. She has served as a voting member of OUSD's Community Advisory Committee on Special Education since 2010. After leaving the classroom, Casey worked in school operations and educational philanthropy. Casey earned her undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco where she studied Sociology and Public Service and served as student body President. Casey is active in League of Women Voters of Oakland, Good Ol' Girls, and as a Co-leader of a Girl Scout Troop at International Community School in the Fruitvale. She lives in Old Oakland.

Sara Nuño, Community Outreach Specialist

An Oakland native, Sara joined the GO team in the summer of 2010. She is the parent of 2 boys, and has been involved with the Oakland public schools for the last ten years in many different capacities. Beginning as an AmeriCorps literacy tutor and then leading AmeriCorps teams at OUSD schools, Sara began to understand the complexity of the educational system. She then joined Oakland Unified as a Student Attendance Compliance Officer, and began reaching out to families of students who were experiencing serious challenges with attending school. This work forced her to dig deep and shed tremendous light on all the inequities in our school systems and society that keep many of our students from succeeding. This work propelled her to join the Engagement Unit of the Family and Community Office at OUSD, where she was able to more actively engage leadership, including the school board and community around the current status of the schools and what changes needed to take place. Currently, Sara is part of a collaborative in West Oakland called the West Oakland Education Brain Trust, and is organizing with stakeholders to improve education in West Oakland.

Jessica Stewart, Managing Director

Jessica Stewart is a graduate of Auburn University,
where she was the President of the Alabama College Democrats State Federation and the Auburn College Democrats. She was a middle school math and science teacher at the Elmhurst campus in East Oakland, and a founding teacher at Elmhurst Community Prep Middle School. In her second year, she was named the Alameda/Contra Costa County Math Teacher of the Year. As a teacher, Jessica was involved from the very beginning of Great Oakland Public Schools. After four years at Elmhurst, she joined the staff at Teach For America, where she managed the professional development for 400+ teachers in the Bay Area. She joined the GO team in June 2011 as Managing Director. She lives in Oakland with her husband Jonathon, a former teacher working on a Masters in Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Marc Tafolla, Policy Director
As the Policy Director, Marc leads GO Public Schools in developing policy and advocacy to improve the quality and accessibility of education in Oakland, California. He works with stakeholders (parents, teachers, district staff, etc.) from across the city to ensure that GO Public Schools remains an effective partner in improving public education in Oakland.  Prior to joining GO Public Schools, Marc received a Skadden Fellowship to Direct the Education Equity Project (EEP) at the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights. As director, Marc helped establish and broaden the reach of the EEP, which focused on the implementation of the Williams v. California Settlement Legislation (a class-action lawsuit regarding equity in education). At the EEP, Marc was instrumental in supporting parents and teachers from across the Bay Area in understanding and asserting educational rights under Williams. He also worked closely with Districts to help them access resources and improve their systems. In addition to working on Williams, Marc provided legal services across a wide array of educational issues. Prior to law school, Marc taught high school history for five years in public schools in California and Oregon. As an undergraduate, Marc spent two years in AmeriCorps working on a youth anti-violence campaign. Marc holds a B.A from the University of Nebraska and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.