Dr. Sarah A. Odneal has over a decade of practitioner experience in the k-12 setting. She has served as teacher, principal, curriculum specialist and most recently as the district's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director. Dr. Odneal has always been driven by and organized around equity. Beginning with teaching middle school in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Dr. Odneal really immersed herself in trying to come to terms with what true disproportionality presents as at the district, state, and federal levels. Serving as a principal in an urban district also deeply impacted her leadership. It was in this position that she began to understand how deeply rooted biases are, and how long the continuum is in helping to coach people around equitable practices. Most recently as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, she was assigned as lead project manager on a district wide equity audit in partnership with the research firm WestEd. Dr. Odneal holds several advanced degrees in education including a Master's in Instructional Leadership: Literacy, Language, and Culture.