Manda Troutman is a lifelong storyteller and community builder who began her educational outreach and advocacy journey nearly 22 years ago as a program advisor with the Killeen Independent School District in Harker Heights, Texas. Her work has spanned from academic program coordinator to charter network director of communications. Manda’s experience includes the school development and founding of both a Denver public charter middle school and a public charter school elementary. Manda’s work as department chair for the middle school literacy program is credited for achieving the district’s highest growth rating for the 2016 Colorado Measure of Academic Success in English language arts for eighth-grade students.
Joining Highline Academy Charter Schools in 2016, Manda is instrumental in launching community engagement through the Northeast Campus’s reading, writing, speaking, and listening programming. These sustainable efforts now offer multilingual literacy programming to nearly 600 students from ECE3 to fifth grade and provide outreach opportunities to a wide selection of families and community members in Denver’s Far Northeast. In her current role, Manda is a conduit and advocate for sharing the story of Denver students and families. A sustainable systems designer, who is passionate about academic access for all learners, Manda holds a Masters in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis in Community Development from Johnson University.