Dan Thomas

Dan began his career in teaching and educational leadership more than 30 years ago after obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Science and Technology from Mississippi State University. Dan joined Urban Corps of San Diego County as a teacher in 2001. His classroom experience includes a variety of subjects and instructional methods geared to meet the diverse learning needs of students of different ethnic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds ranging from pre-teens to young adults.

As Urban Corps’ onsite charter school grew in student population, Dan transitioned into educational leadership. He obtained his Administrative Services Credential in 2010. In 2011, he helped transition the school into a stand-alone non-profit under its current charter through the Mono County Office of Education, simultaneously obtaining Public Charter School Grant Program funding. Under his leadership Urban Corps Charter School obtained e-Rate funding eligibility in 2011, became WASC Accredited in 2012, began the National School Lunch Program in 2013 and added campuses in National City and Vista serving the youth of the California Conservation Corps in 2014.

In this time, the school also adopted an intensive wrap-around student support services department known as Corpsmember Development which aids students in career planning, job placement and life skills through counseling and case management accessing additional resources from a plethora of community partnerships. When Dan started at Urban Corps in 2001, he was the single teacher serving 70 total students and teaching a class of 10-15 each day per week. Today, Urban Corps Charter School attendance has grown by 250% and the school now boasts 15 credentialed teachers (including administrators), 17 classified and support staff and five permanent volunteer aides serving a student body of between 150-200 Corpsmembers attending school one day per week.