Kathleen Padian

Deputy Superintendent, Orleans Parish School Board

Kathleen Padian serves as the Deputy Superintendent for the Orleans Parish School Board. Her responsibilities include leading both the charter school and facility offices at OPSB. Charter schools comprise 80% of the District’s enrollment. Kathleen is also responsible for all processes related to the transfer of schools out of the Recovery School District to the OPSB as authorizer. The Facilities Department of OPSB includes both a capital project plan for $400m in new construction and renovations as well as an ongoing maintenance program for all OPSB owned buildings. Kathleen has more than twenty years of experience in the field of K-12 public education from her start as a classroom teacher to the executive management of schools, non-profit and philanthropic organizations. She moved to New Orleans in 2008 to continue her work on charter school facility issues that began while serving as Vice President of Building Hope, a foundation based in Washington, DC. Kathleen subsequently founded an organization dedicated to these issues in New Orleans, providing consultative services to a variety of clients. She is currently the Board President for Educational Properties, Inc., and previously served as the founding President of the Board for Achievement Preparatory Academy charter school in DC and as President of the Board of NOLA 180 which governed a Type 5 (RSD) charter school in New Orleans. Additional past experience includes serving as the National Director of Development for New Leaders for New Schools (New York, NY) and Strategic Investments Director at Fight for Children (Washington, DC). She is thrilled to be the mother of an energetic 6 year old and to serve as a founding Float Lieutenant in the Krewe of Nyx (the largest all female parading Krewe in Mardi Gras history).