Our Team.

Charles Ortiz joined the founding team of WHIN in late 2015 and was instrumental in writing the final version of the WHIN charter application. Prior to joining WHIN he served as the Director of Academics at the Harlem Children’s Zone for three years where he oversaw HCZ’s after-school elementary, middle, and high school academic programs.

Prior to HCZ Charles spent seven years teaching in public and charter schools in Brooklyn, Harlem, and his hometown of Philadelphia. While teaching Charles was asked to be Village Lead, served on school leadership teams working on such things as creating policies for a restorative school culture, interdisciplinary curriculum development, conducted Professional Development, and was a teacher mentor. Additionally, he created and maintained a contemporary band program growing it from serving twenty students in one grade to serving over 100 students in 6th-12th grade. The program enjoyed large parental involvement, performances at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and provided scholarships to students for additional study.

Charles recently completed the Leadership New York fellowship at Coro where he received training in Adaptive Leadership, Intersectionality, and group leadership and uses these skills to fulfill his commitment to create educational equity for the students and families of New York City.

Reporting directly to the WHIN Board of Directors, Charles is responsible for establishing and maintaining all aspects of WHIN Music Community Charter School.