Dominique Lee began his education reform efforts in Newark, N.J. before Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook bestowed $100 million on the city’s public schools. Lee is the CEO and founder of the BRICK Academy of Newark, which is aimed at meeting the needs of children growing up in poverty. In a candid interview, Lee talks about how he came to Newark from his boyhood home state of Michigan, and how his teaching experience at Newark’s Malcolm X. Shabazz High School drove him to working toward education reform. Lee also discusses Dale Russakoff’s book, The Prize: Who’s In Charge of America’s Schools, which includes several references to Lee as part of its examination of what happened to the Facebook money given to Newark’s schools.
