The nation’s top special education official is leaving the Obama administration for a job in the private sector.
Alexa Posny, who has served as assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services since 2009, will step down from her post at the U.S. Department of Education effective Friday.
She’s leaving to take a job as senior vice president of state and federal programs at Renaissance Learning, a Wisconsin company that sells technology products to schools.
In a statement to Disability Scoop, Posny noted the many hats she’s worn in her role with the Obama administration overseeing everything from regulations affecting toddlers to transition programs and a multi-billion dollar budget.
“I am honored to have been able to serve in this position and to serve this administration as we strive to improve results and outcomes for individuals with disabilities,” Posny said.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan informed his staff of Posny’s departure in a note this week, indicating that another Education Department veteran — Michael Yudin — will be taking over her responsibilities on an acting basis.
Yudin, who is currently the deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, is not new to the disability community, according to Duncan, who called him a “knowledgeable and tireless advocate for students with special needs.”
Prior to joining the Education Department, Yudin worked as a U.S. Senate staffer where he was instrumental in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. His biography also indicates that he worked on disability issues as an attorney at the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Education Department officials were mum Thursday on when a permanent replacement for Posny may be expected.
Thank you Dr. Alexa Posny for your service to our country and work in OSEP. We will be lucky to find another person who has been as experienced, willing to fight the good fight and as dedicated to children as you are.
We ( special needs parents ) need SOMEONE who is “knowledgeable and a tireless advocate for students with special needs.”
How sad that she couldn’t fulfill her duties and serve a full term as opposed to jumping into the private sector at the first opportunity. It looks as if she used her post as a stepping stone rather than a “service to her country”. It’s all about business with education now – special education has been seen by charter orgs as an easy fund-grab, and at some point I wish someone, anyone in the White House will acknowledge charters for the scam that they are. It seems we don’t have “leaders” anymore – only lackies to business interests…
Now that the infrastructure is in place and millions of dollars moved to the private sector, government funds can be funneled to private salaries. Brilliant.
I am writing rom St.Croix United States Virgin Islands, we are a Territory just like Guam. Sorry to see Ms. Posny leave. I am a parent with a child that has Down Syndrome. and what ever she has done to assist in special eduation I am sure we were able to benefit from it here in the Territory. Now is her new job going to involve technology for special education? All and all good luck in her new job.
You need to be your own advocates.