Sonja Brookins Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, will become chair of the Council of the Great City Schools’ Board of Directors for the 2025-2026 school year, effective July 1.

She will preside over the national urban education policy and research organization that represents 81 big-city school systems for a one-year term, effective July 1. The Council’s 162-member board is composed of the superintendent and a school board member from each of the districts represented.

Brookins Santelises will succeed Council Chair Marcia Andrews, a school board member in Florida’s School District of Palm Beach County, who has led the Council since last July.

Moving up to chair-elect is Valerie Davis, a school board member in California’s Fresno Unified School District, who currently serves as secretary-treasurer of the Council. Jill Baker, superintendent of California’s Long Beach Unified School District, has been elected to the secretary-treasurer post to round out the Council’s new leadership team for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.

Meet Sonja Brookins Santelises, the new chair of the Council of the Great City Schools.