Maria Montoya

Maria Montoya

2019 NACSA Leader

Manager of School and Community Partnerships, Grand Valley State University Charter School Office

Maria Montoya is the Manager of School & Community Partnerships at Grand Valley State University’s Charter School Office (CSO) in Detroit, MI. Maria is an enrollment, engagement, and communication specialist with a background in assisting authorizers/district leaders in developing systems and strategies to improve access and transparency.

Prior to moving to Michigan, Maria worked for the Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans as the Director of Enrollment and Student & Family Services. She helped lead the creation of the district’s unified enrollment process. Maria was additionally a member of the RSD team responsible for launching the city’s first citywide truancy center, and early childhood care and education enrollment processes.

She is a former journalist who received her Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Florida. This spring, Maria will earn a M.Ed from GVSU’s College of Education.

When not in school or helping improve the quality of Michigan schools, Maria can be found at the cooperative bookstore (Book Suey) that she, and several book loving friends, opened in 2017.


Most Recent Posts
New Charter Schools Need Vetting. But the Process Shouldn’t Shut Good Ones Out
Over the last year, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and our partners engaged nearly 150 school leaders, authorizers, organizations, prospective school founders and advocates — through interviews, focus...
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NACSA’s New Schools With Communities Guide
In every community–especially those historically under-resourced–there is long-ignored and underutilized knowledge and potential. At the heart of NACSA’s work lies the recognition of these tremendous assets and a desire to...
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Continuing Conversations on Multiple Measures
At NACSA, we work to ensure students and communities—especially those who are historically under-resourced—thrive. Thriving means different things for different students, schools, and communities. And to ensure we capture the...
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