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Board Member Focus: Marla Donovan, Young Audiences Charter School


Why did you choose to serve on your school’s board? The idea of an art integrated education for young minds was more than enough to get me interested and get me on board. As an artist at heart, I knew that the curriculum we were planning would provide a creative, nurturing, and challenging academic environment to encourage individual learning and to empower students for their future endeavors. I also knew that charter schools were, and a still are, independent public schools with a rigorous curriculum, unique educational approaches and “out of the box thinking. ” Young Audiences Charter School fits that description perfectly.

How did you become involved with your school? I was a long time board member of Young Audiences of Louisiana. Young Audiences of Louisiana is the leading provider of arts education and integration programs in the state of Louisiana. Rickie Nutik, the Executive Director, invited me to become a founding board member of the charter elementary school that our organization had proposed to Jefferson Parish. I was honored and I am now on the Young Audiences Charter School’s Board.

What leadership roles have you had while serving on the board? I am on the Financial Committee and I am very involved with it. As a former Federal Reserve Internal Auditor, I was also involved with the review of our accounting procedures and policies. I assisted with the official recommendations to enhance our internal accounting controls.

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