March 21, 2022

Lloyd A. Fry Foundation Hires New Education Program Officer

The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is delighted to announce that Sherly Chavarria will join our team as the new Senior Program Officer for Education. She replaces Sydney Sidwell who will be leaving the Foundation at the end of April.

Sherly brings deep knowledge and experience in the areas most important to the Fry Foundation Education program and its grantees: improving school leadership to ensure all Chicago students have access to rich and engaging instruction.

She has more than 10 years of leadership experience at the community, classroom, school and district levels. Most recently she served as the Chicago Public Schools Chief of Teaching and Learning where she advanced major initiatives such as the Skyline Curriculum Equity Initiative, a universal Pre-K Digital Curriculum designed to ensure that all teachers and students have access to excellent curriculum and instructional resources. Prior to her roles in District Leadership, Sherly served as the principal for William P. Nixon Elementary School and spent her tenure building trust throughout her school community while developing a shared instructional vision, strengthening community relations and activities, and improving the school’s operational functioning. As a principal, Sherly also was a member of multiple district leadership committees, including the Principal Advisory Council, SQRP Steering Committee, Instructional Equity Working Group, and Leadership Framework Working Group. Sherly was a teacher at National Teachers Academy where she was recognized for her leadership with the Madeleine Maraldi Award for Teacher Leader Excellence. Sherly holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in psychology and cultural social anthropology, a master’s degree in teaching from National Louis University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

We are thrilled to have Sherly join our team. She will be a knowledgeable and thoughtful partner to our grantees and the Education philanthropy community.