FOR RELEASE                                                                CONTACT: Henry Duvall
June 28, 2006                                                                                   (202) 393-2427

National Urban School Council Names New Leadership
Nashville, Anchorage and Pittsburgh School Leaders Elected to Posts

WASHINGTON, June 28 - George Thompson III, a board member with the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee, becomes chari of the Board of Directors of the Council of the Great City Schools on July 1.

He will preside over the national urban education policy and research organization that represents 66 big-city school systems for a one-year term. The Council's board is composed of the superintendent along with a school board member of each Council district.

Thompson succeeds Arlene Ackerman, former superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, while Alaska's Anchorage Public School District Superintendent Carol Comeau steps up as chair-elect.

Taking Comeau's post as the Council's secretary-treasurer will be William Isler of the Pittsburgh school board.

Founded in 1956 in Chicago, the Council is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It is the only national organization exclusively representing the needs of urban public schools.

"Our mission is to educate the nation's most diverse student body to the highest academic standards," says Council Executive Director Michael Casserly.

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