Board Member Focus: Kris Cangelosi

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
- Rabindranath Tagore

Kris Cangelosi is a free spirit with a concrete purpose to connect students with arts education.  A graduate of both the Baton Rouge Area Chamber Leadership Program and the Barton Leadership Program, Kris increased her awareness about Baton Rouge’s community needs and concerns.  She discovered that the Baton Rouge 
public education system was suffering and required attention.  As a business owner and a civic leader involved with the Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Krewe Mystique, Playmakers, a local professional theatre group in Baton Rouge, and Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana, Kris finds joy in service.

As an artist, Kris has traveled throughout the community providing free dance lectures and demonstrations at libraries, elementary schools, afterschool programs, and festival events.  She saw children thrilled about the arts who could not afford lessons. This need compelled her to say yes to serving on the boards of two elementary schools in North Baton Rouge.

---

“I am very familiar with the region as an artist in the schools and knowledgeable about the challenges students face.  I hope to build a better passage for their young lives in the arts and life lessons,” says Kris.

“Kris is passionately committed to quality education through dance.  She has a great talent for recognizing and developing individual artistry while developing the whole student in the process,” shares Renee Chatelain, Executive Director of Manship Theatre.

About Celerity Schools Louisiana - www.celerityschools.org
Hailing from Los Angeles, the mission of Celerity Schools is to create and operate high quality schools that serve underserved communities.  Per BESE’s approval, Celerity may open up to three Type 5 charter schools serving grades K-8 in East Baton Rouge and Orleans Parishes in the fall of 2014, pending assignment of a site by the RSD.  Based on 2011 academic results, Celerity’s schools averaged 85% student proficiency and were above the 90th percentile among comparable California schools (serving similar student populations – average of 90% free/reduced-lunch).
 
The Top Shelf
The success of a charter school hinges largely on the decisions of its governing board. The Top Shelf enhances the capacity of charter school boards through professional development, board recruitment and community engagement.