Jessica Gogerty to be Director of Central Academy

Des Moines Public Schools is pleased to announce the appointment of Jessica Gogerty, the School Improvement Leader at Roosevelt High School, as the next director of Central Academy. She will succeed Crista Carlile, who accepted a position as the new curriculum director at Urbandale Community School District.

“Jessica is well-known and respected at the state and national level as a first-class educator, both as a classroom teacher as well as a building leader,” said Superintendent Tom Ahart. “She is going to make for an excellent director of Central Academy as the program continues to grow and build upon its established record of excellence.”

“Central Academy is among the very best programs in the country for providing students with challenging, college-level courses,” said Gogerty. “I am very excited for the opportunity to not only lead this great institution but to also work with our teachers and students to make it even better.”

Central Academy, located at 1912 Grand Avenue in Des Moines, is attended by approximately 900 students from DMPS and other metro area school districts for a growing selection of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma courses. The University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank Center for Gifted and Talented Education, in its annual Iowa AP Index, recently named Central Academy as the top Advanced Placement program in the state.

Gogerty began her career with Des Moines Public Schools in 1989 as a science teacher at Harding Middle School. She also taught sciences at East High School and North High School, where she was also a School Improvement Leader before joining the staff at Roosevelt. She earned a BA in chemistry education from the University of Northern Iowa and a MS in science education from the University of Iowa. She holds a Specialist in Educational Leadership degree from Drake University, where she recently completed course work for her Ed.D.

Gogerty has been involved at the state, district and building level in a large number of initiatives to support and improve learning the sciences and other areas. On the national level, she was presented with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching in 2009, and in 2012 was a panelist at a White House meeting on the proposed STEM Master Teacher Corps.