Manuel J Fernandez, Chief Equity Officer
Manuel is a second-generation Cape Verdean American who identifies as a Black cisgender male. Since 2021, he has served as the district’s inaugural Chief Equity Officer, following nine years as the founding Head of School of Cambridge Street Upper School. He is in his second term as the founding President of the Association of Massachusetts School Equity Leaders (AMSEL). He is a 40-year veteran educator and has served as a counselor, humanities teacher, middle school and high school principal, and a K-8 assistant principal. He is well-versed in anti-racism and cultural proficiency, family engagement, school culture, and workplace climate, as well as leadership coaching and development. He has over 30 years of experience as a skilled facilitator of equity-focused concepts and school leadership development. In that role, he has consulted with municipalities, private and public schools, community groups, and workplace institutions, providing services to advance equity and inclusion. Fernandez earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from the University of Massachusetts Boston, and a Certificate in Race, Equity, and Leadership from Harvard University. He graduated from the Lorraine Monroe Leadership Academy, the National Institute of School Leadership, and the Boston Principal Fellows Program. He is the former Director of the Wayland METCO Program, a two-term President of the METCO Directors’ Association, and the founding Executive Director of Empowering Multicultural Initiatives (now IDEAS), a professional development collaborative that promotes equity and inclusion in schools. He currently serves on the DESE Commissioner’s Advancing Student Learning Task Force and the Secretary of Education’s Advisory Council for the Advancement of Representation in Education. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth, Northeastern University, Wheelock College, and the Teachers 21 leadership preparation program. His efforts on behalf of Educational Equity have been profiled in Learning for Justice Magazine, Cambridge Day News, The Hechinger Report, The Christian Science Monitor, and Edutopia.
He has been recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth and for Social Justice in Education by the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In addition, he has been awarded the Armond Munoz-Bennett Leadership Award by the METCO Directors Association, the Outstanding Leadership Award from Empowering Multicultural Initiatives, and the Multicultural Leadership Award from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He has also served as a Community Advisor for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and as an Advisory Board Member for the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.
He is the founder and President of the ManDez Group. ManDez Group provides transformative development on equity and inclusion issues in schools, organizations, municipalities, and community groups.
Dr. Leslie Jiménez, Director of Equity
Leslie is a proud first-generation Mexican American from Compton, California. After serving as a high school science teacher to an amazing group of students, she fell in love with education and since then has committed to increasing the opportunities and outcomes for all students, especially those traditionally underserved, including low-income, English Learners, Latinx, African American, and Special Education students.Leslie has experience working in both the district and charter sectors, across the K-12 spectrum, and with different school stakeholders (students, educators, caregivers, school and district leaders, board members, and community partners). She taught science in various secondary schools in Los Angeles and has served in a range of leadership roles, including Parent Workshop Coordinator, Founding and Instructional Lead Teacher of a transformational middle school in Los Angeles, and as a School Leader at an elementary school in San Jose. She also served as the Director of Quality Diverse Providers for the Oakland Unified School District. Prior to her current role at CPS, Leslie served as a Special Assistant to the Superintendent at Cambridge Public Schools, where she led the strategic planning and development of monthly anti-racism professional learning sessions for approximately 60 school and district leaders.
As an aspiring superintendent, in her current role as the Director of Equity, Leslie is focused on creating a coherent, district-wide vision for equity-based teaching and learning by partnering with students, educators, school and district leaders, and caregivers.
In addition to a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Leslie holds a master’s degree in Education Policy and Administration from Loyola Marymount University, and a Doctorate in Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Leslie also holds teaching and administrative/superintendent credentials in California and Massachusetts.
Ailene Orr, Curriculum and Training Specialist
Ailene joined the OEIB team in 2023 after teaching for 10 years in bilingual education classrooms, most recently for three years at Amigos, with a focus on increasing racial and linguistic equity using culturally sustaining practices. She began her career working on building foundational math and literacy skills with students with limited or interrupted formal education at a children’s home in Honduras. After spending two years in Spanish language Preschool classrooms in Washington D.C., she pursued a Masters in Bilingual Education from Teachers’ College at Columbia University. Her focus on Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy led her to run social justice focused literature circles for Latino elementary school students and serve as a dialogue session facilitator at Teachers’ College’s Reimagining Education Summer Institute. She has worked across grades Preschool to 5 and participated in various research projects, facilitated professional learning for colleagues and developed curriculum in order to better serve diverse and historically marginalized students.
Sam Musher, Youth Advocacy Specialist
Before joining OEIB, Sam was a middle school teacher-librarian for 18 years, the last 8 at Rindge Ave. Upper Campus (RAUC) in Cambridge. Advising student-led clubs has always been a joyful part of their work, including 5 years as RAUC’s first GSA (Genders & Sexualities Alliance) advisor. Sam has been a community leader as well, serving as a longtime union rep in the Cambridge Education Association, on the core planning team for Cambridge’s first Community Pride Day in 2022, and as a coordinator with Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville (MAMAS). They hold a Bachelor of Arts in Educational History and Public Policy from Brown University and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Simmons University. Sam identifies as white, queer, and Jewish.
Sam made a banner for her 6th grade advisory classroom that says, “Take Care of Each Other,” and that is the mission statement of her work as an educator. She is passionate about loving, healing-centered educational spaces, and about the power of young people to change the world.
Mia Ferej, Special Assistant
Mia Ferej was born in Abu Dhabi, UAE and spent her early years in Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania, before immigrating to the United States. A proud Muslim woman of Yemeni and Zanzibari descent, Mia is a former student of Cambridge Public Schools and a graduate from University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Health.
Mia has been a dedicated CPS employee since 2015. Before stepping into her current role as the Special Assistant for the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Belong and the Family and Community Engagement team, Mia served as a Clerk Specialist for the Office of Student Services (OSS).
Mia is deeply passionate about family engagement and believes in building strong, inclusive relationships between schools and the community to support student success. As an immigrant herself and a current caregiver to a CPS student, she understands firsthand how vital it is for families and students to feel seen, heard, and included in the school community.
Debbie Bonilla, Family Engagement Specialist
Debbie is a proud Puerto Rican woman and single mother to three Black American and Puerto Rican children. Debbie was born and lives in Cambridge and has lived there most of her life. Currently, she is the Family Engagement Specialist for the Cambridge Public Schools and formerly served as the Title I Family Liaison and Homeless Service Outreach Worker for Cambridge Public Schools, and as a Baby University Family Care Worker for the City of Cambridge. She co-founded The Spot, a place that provides free clothing, and other necessities to the community; she co-founded a nonprofit called Equity Roadmap, with a subsidiary mentoring program, called Friday Night Hype, a program that focuses on addressing the opportunity gap with middle school age youth in Cambridge; co-founder of Canopy Equity Coaching LLC. Debbie is a Trained and experienced Restorative Justice Circle Keeper, mentors victims of domestic violence, is a founding member of the Riverside Community Care Family Advisory Board, served in the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, and worked to further justice in Cambridge Public Schools through the Building Equity Bridges Project. She is the co-coordinator of Las Comadres, Boston Chapter, a Latina Network Group. She serves on several local boards and committees. Her life’s work has been in ensuring equity, access, participation, and rights for all. Her passion for and commitment to Race and Equity work drives her in all areas of her life. She is motivated to help create spaces where every voice has a chance to be heard.
Manny Jeudy, Assistant Program Manager for The Village
Manny is a long time Cantabrigian for 30 plus years and a caregiver of 4 children where three of which are current students in the CPS system. After spending some time outside the state of Massachusetts to obtain a bachelors in Science and gaining work experience, Manny returned to the Cambridge community to start a family of his own. A proud alum of the John M. Tobin and CRLS, Manny has the unique experience of once being a student in the CPS system who has been a direct beneficiary of entities like the Family Engagement and many others. Manny has long standing roots in the community and giving back to the very same community who has provided so much, is a dream come true. After obtaining a bachelor of science at UNH, he went on to pursue a career in higher education where he served as an administrator for the past 7 years. Manny is also an alum of Baby University, a program dedicated to teaching new and growing families in Cambridge through shared experiences on how to be successful caregivers. Manny was an integral piece in building a new Cambridge social group dedicated to the needs of parents/caregivers of color.