Christy Noe

Educational leader and innovator, Dr. Christy Noe, served in leadership positions in Florida and North Carolina prior to founding Collaborative Educational Network in 2005, and also serves the planning board and leadership team for the Florida Charter Institute. She has been involved in the charter school movement since 1997 when she became principal of the first charter school in Collier County, Florida, one of only 33 charters in the state at that time. The following year she was recruited to serve as principal of Exploris Charter Middle School in Raleigh, NC, which opened in partnership with the former Exploris Museum. Christy was recruited back to Florida to run the Florida Charter School Resource Center, founded to provide Exceptional Student Education (ESE) training and technical assistance to charter schools across the state.

A pioneer in the charter school movement, Christy is a nationally known expert in the areas of governance, exceptional student education, curriculum and instructional strategies, operations, and federal and state legislation. She worked closely with the Florida Legislature in the development of laws related to charter schools, and was a member of the team that developed the first statewide charter accountability report with the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. During her tenure as Executive Director of the Florida Charter School Resource Center the state experienced a rapid increase in the number of charter schools, expanding from 182 in 2002 to 334 in 2005. The first Florida Charter School Sponsors Intensive Seminar was held under her leadership in collaboration with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the Broad Education Foundation.

Christy’s expertise also extends into the realm of Exceptional Student Education. For a decade, she served as the Project Manager for the Portal to Exceptional Education Resources (PEER), Florida’s statewide electronic IEP system. In this position, Christy actively collaborated with Florida school districts to develop IDEA compliant content that also complied with Florida statutes. Through PEER, Christy provided training to over 48 school district ESE staff. She also conducted large scale ESE evaluations in Orange County and Broward County, Florida, as well as in Virginia Beach and New Hampshire. Christy was also responsible for developing and delivering training to all Polk County staff, as a part of their corrective action plan with the Office of Civil Rights.