Azalia Hunt Speight has served students, schools, youth organizations, and local government agencies as an education leader for over fifteen years in both Washington, DC, and Maryland.  After leading in the classroom as a teacher in DC Public Schools (DCPS) and Prince George’s County Public Schools, Mrs. Speight’s worked to effect education policy change at the city level as a Program Analyst for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) in DC.  Mrs. Speight then re-joined the DCPS Team, providing both support and accountability for turnaround at specific campuses across the district as a School Improvement Officer.  

Mrs. Speight’s determined leadership and passion for transformational change resulted in her six-year principalship at the helm of DCPS’s Luke C. Moore (LCM) Senior High School in Northeast DC.  During her time as a school leader, Mrs. Speight led the LCM learning community in achieving double-digit reading and math gains on the city’s standardized assessments, as well as dramatically increasing both in-seat attendance and student engagement in various campus activities and initiatives.  In 2012, Mrs. Speight earned the prestigious DCPS Principal of the Year Award.  

Mrs. Speight has also served as a strategic partner and consultant to the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and DC Department of Employment Services.  In these roles, Mrs. Speight has advised and supported these organizations in successfully implementing major transformation programmatic changes and initiatives.  

At present, Mrs. Speight serves as Chief of Schools for the See Forever Foundation-Maya Angelou Public Schools in DC, where she provides oversight of day-to-day school operations, as well as strategic leadership at the senior level as the Foundation enters its 21st year of serving opportunity and court-involved youth in the District of Columbia.  

As a proven turnaround leader, Mrs. Speight exhibits broad knowledge of current trends in education and constantly motivates fellow education practitioners to innovate, trying new and creative techniques that continually improve academic outcomes for students.  She possesses an exceptional ability to inspire and motivate students, teachers, parents, community members, and other critical stakeholders and is able to effectively relate to people of diverse backgrounds and life experiences.  Mrs. Speight continues to champion the needs of urban, inner city, at-promise, underserved, and multicultural school and youth-serving communities. 

Mrs. Speight earned her Bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, her Master’s of Science in Organizational Leadership from Nyack College, and is a graduate of the Executive Master’s in Leadership from Georgetown University.