Mary Kingston Roche
Public Policy Manager
Coalition for Community Schools
rochem@iel.org
202-822-8405, ext 140
Mary Kingston Roche is the Public Policy Manager for the Coalition for Community Schools. In this role she leads the policy and advocacy efforts of the Coalition to promote the community schools approach both on the federal and state levels. Prior to this role, Mary served for 2.5 years as Manager of Government Relations for the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). In this role she represented the NASSP members as an active voice on Capitol Hill at the federal level for the best policies possible for secondary school leaders and school districts across the nation. While at NASSP, Mary also led the lobbying efforts of the nation's largest education coalition, the Committee for Education Funding, in the role of Hill Teams Co-Chair. Mary is a proud alumna of IEL's Education Policy Fellowship Program, class of 2011.
Mary received her Master of Public Policy from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Boston University. Prior to joining the staff at NASSP she taught secondary English for three years in Oakland, CA through the Teach for America program.
In her spare time, Mary leads workshops for DCPS parents through the nonprofit Turning the Page to help parents become more effective educators of their children at home, advocates for their children in school and leaders within their school community.