WASHINGTON, July 16 - Manuel Nunez, a member of the board of the Fresno Unified School District in California, has become chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of the nation's largest urban public school systems.

Nunez takes the reins for a one-year term, effective July 1, of  the national education policy and advocacy organization representing 57 big-city school systems.  The board is composed of the superintendent along with a school board member from each Council district.

He succeeds Clifford Janey, superintendent of  New York's Rochester City School District, who has been elected again to head the governing body following Nunez's term. 

Anna Dodson, a board member with Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia, has also become secretary-treasurer of the Council.

Founded in 1956 by the Chicago Public Schools, the Council is the only organization in the nation that exclusively represents the needs of urban public schools. "It's the voice of urban education," says Council Executive Director Michael Casserly.