Maria A. Casillas is President of Families in Schools (FIS), an organization created by the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP) in 2001 to engage parents in the education of their children and to strengthen the relationship among families, schools and communities.

Along with leading a successful nonprofit organization, Casillas is using her extensive knowledge and strong leadership skills to support K-12 school reform through community-based coalition efforts such as the Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative (BHLC) and Communities for Educational Equity (CEE) and as an active member on various nonprofit boards and advisory committees. She was also appointed co-chair for the Los Angeles Presidents’ Joint Commission on LAUSD Governance and served on the Los Angeles County Board of Education (LACOE).

Prior to her work in the nonprofit sector, Casillas was a teacher and principal in Guadalajara, Mexico, held the position of Executive Director in the Educational Service Center in Texas, serving the greater El Paso community, and gave more than 20 years of service to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) as a teacher, elementary school principal, and regional superintendent. In addition to her K-12 positions, Casillas has taught at various campuses in the California State University (CSU) system and has collaborated with the Chancellor of the CSU system in the creation of special teacher development initiatives aimed at improving teacher quality. She has held various leadership roles through the California State Department of Education and served on the Commission for Children Youth and their Families for the City of Los Angeles.

Casillas believes strongly that the promise of our nation will be fully realized only when every student is provided the necessary opportunities to achieve academic success, when their families are respected as valuable partners in the learning process, and when communities uncompromisingly protect and nurture their children’s pathway to the future.

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