FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Beverly Keneagy904.626.0017 / bkeneagy@splc.org
Dr. Susan Enfield, a former high school journalism andEnglish teacher who now serves as a school superintendent in Washington State,has been elected to the Student Press Law Center’s Board of Directors.
TheStudent Press Law Center (“SPLC”) is a Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit whosemission is to promote press freedom and government transparency in colleges andschools nationwide. It provides legal information and attorney referralassistance at no charge to student journalists and the educators who work withthem.
“Susan Enfield has a deep appreciation for the uniqueeducational benefits of meaningful participation in journalism,” said MarkStodder of The Dolan Company, chairman of the SPLC Board of Directors. “As acareer educator with a distinguished record of successful school leadership,she will bring an invaluable insider’s perspective to the work of the SPLC. Wehope her appointment underscores the SPLC’s commitment to working cooperativelywith schools toward eradicating the censorship problem that so greatlydiminishes the learning potential of journalism.”
Enfield’s unanimous selection was announced at the Board’sJune 1 meeting in Arlington, Va.
“As a former high school journalism teacher I am honored to be joining the SPLC board and look forward to being a part of the important work they do on behalf of student journalists across the country,” Enfield said. “It has never been more important for our students to learn not only about their First Amendment rights, but more importantly, about the responsibilities that come with exercising those rights in a rapidly changing multimedia environment.”
Enfield is currently the interim superintendent for SeattlePublic Schools. She came to Seattle as the district’s chief academic officer afterserving as deputy superintendent of the Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver,Wash., from 2006-2009. On July 1, she will become the superintendent ofHighline Public Schools in Burien, Wash., just south of Seattle.
Before moving to Washington State, Enfield was the directorof teaching and learning for Portland Public Schools where she oversawcurriculum, instruction, federal programs and professional developmentdistrict-wide.
Prior to coming to Portland, she served as the bureau directorfor teaching and learning support for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.In this role she worked with legislators, state department and district leadersto develop education policy and implement standards-based curriculum andprofessional development to more than 500 school districts.
She began her career in education as a high school English,ESL and journalism teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. After seven years inthe classroom, she joined the UC-Berkeley Teaching and Learning Alliance as ahigh school support provider, coaching principals and assisting teachersengaged in whole-school, standards-based reform aimed at closing theachievement gap.
Enfield is a graduate of the University of California atBerkeley and earned masters’ degrees in education from Stanford University andHarvard University. She also earned a doctorate in administration, planning andsocial policy from Harvard University with a concentration in the UrbanSuperintendents Program.
Enfield replacesSPLC board member Jerry Ceppos of Louisiana State University, who departed afterserving the maximum two three-year terms. The SPLC’s 15-member board includesrepresentatives from the journalism, legal, education and nonprofit managementfields.
Since 1974, theStudent Press Law Center has been devoted to educating high school and collegejournalists about the rights and responsibilities embodied in the FirstAmendment, and supporting the student news media in covering important issuesfree from censorship. The Centerprovides free information and educational materials for student journalists andtheir teachers on a wide variety of legal topics on its website at www.splc.org.
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