The Maryland State Board of Education has tapped an education policy expert who helped found a charter school as its new president.
His career also includes stints as an education aide at the White House Domestic Policy Council during the administration of President George W. Bush and as deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education in 2008-2009. He served as deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.
Smarick helped found the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, as well as a college-preparatory charter school — KIPP Harbor Academy in Annapolis, which he said closed after two years for lack of a long-term facility.
He is the author of the book “The Urban School System of the Future: Applying the Principles and Lessons of Chartering.”
A self-described product of Maryland schools, Smarick also earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland, College Park, and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. He lives in Stevensville, Md., in Queen Anne’s County, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Smarick succeeds Guffrie Smith, a retired educator who served one term as president, and remains on the state board.
The board on Tuesday also elected board member S. James Gates Jr., a physics professor at the University of Maryland, as vice president.
Gates, who lives in Prince George’s County, serves on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In 2013, President Obama awarded him the National Medal of Science. Gates earned two bachelor’s degrees and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
