Hi, I’m Leah.
Let's talk K-12 & public health.
Keeping kids safe, healthy & learning during the next public health crisis.
About Leah:
During the pandemic, I supported K–12 and public health leaders nationwide, drawing on two decades of work to keep students healthy and safe. I’ve taught healthy-relationship classes, directed camps for kids who witnessed domestic violence, coached middle-school sports, and researched how to prevent youth violence. At the CDC, Brown University, and The Rockefeller Foundation, I combined on-the-ground experience with evidence-based practice to help districts and public health partners navigate Covid. My book distills what I’ve learned—what works, and why.
Discover Leah's Work
Practical Reads to
Keep Kids Safe, Healthy & Learning
״K-12 Schools and Public Health PartnershipsStrategies for Navigating a Crisis with Trust, Equity, and Communication״
Drawing on the practices of K–12 and public health leaders who helped bring students back during COVID-19, this book offers guidance to keep kids safe, healthy, and learning during the next public health crisis.
"Using Essential Elements to Select, Adapt, and Evaluate Violence Prevention Approaches"
Guidance for group leaders who deliver programs to prevent violnece and promote healthy relationships.
"Covid 19 Testing in K-12 Settings: A Playbook for Educators and Leaders"
Step by step guidance that supported K-12 leaders launch Covid-19 testing programs,
"Priorities and Policy Levers to Support School-Located Vaccination"
Guidance for leaders who want to host vaccination events in school settings.
In the Press
“What we’ve heard from districts and schools is that COVID fatigue is real. People are tired, they are frustrated, they are exasperated. I think incentives are a way to inject some new energy into this space.”
The White House highlighting the support I coordinated for districts.
"The U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the CDC plan to partner with The Rockefeller Foundation to help ensure that all schools can access and set up screening testing programs as quickly as possible."
“When resources are constrained, we need to prioritize who we test,” said Leah Perkinson, the pandemic manager for the Rockefeller Foundation, which has collaborated with the Education Department and CDC to expand the country's testing programs.
"The Biden administration and Rockefeller Foundation will host twice weekly sessions with experts to walk school districts through how to set up a testing program."
"Perkinson is leading the foundation’s efforts to create a national COVID-19 testing program in K-12 schools and is currently working with about 30,000 schools in the foundation’s Learning Network across 26 states and Washington, D.C."
“A lot of schools [and] districts might be relieved to turn the testing corner if it means that teachers, leaders and staff focus more on the social, emotional and learning needs of students. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t take time to look in the rearview mirror and document what worked [and] what didn’t … when we need to stand up school-based testing again.”
"Schools, have been reluctant to start testing. It's like asking a whole school on a field trip to somewhere no one has been."
