Andrés A. Alonso

Andrés A. Alonso is a Special Trustee of the Public School Districts Opioid Recovery Trust, a court-established fund to distribute grants from court settlements to address the harm of the opioid epidemic in American school districts. Dr. Alonso was a professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), where he received his doctorate as part of the former Urban Superintendents Program. He taught courses on urban and systemic reform and on instructional leadership of districts and schools, as well as contributed to leadership programs such as the Doctorate in Educational Leadership (Ed.L.D.). He also co-chaired the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP), a partnership among HGSE and Harvard Business School and the largest school systems in the nation.

Andres served as CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) for six years, where he led a reform effort marked by improvement in achievement and climate data across all levels, the first increases in enrollment in 40 years, and widespread political and ground root support for the districts’ policies. Before Baltimore, he was chief of staff and then deputy chancellor for teaching and learning during the first phase of New York's Children First reforms. He spent 12 years as a teacher of English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities in Newark, N.J.  

A native of Cuba, he began school in the United States at the age of 12 as an ELL student in the public schools of Union City, NJ. He holds a B.A. in English and History from Columbia College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.