ABOUT SALIMAH

Salimah is an expert in education policy, with a focus on special education and disability justice. She has a Master of Science in Education Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

She started her career as a Baltimore City Public Schools teacher, where she led school-wide professional development for teachers on how to support students who learn differently. She has worked at the Maryland State Department of Education as part of a partnership with Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education, and she was a Policy Fellow in the Office of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. Currently, Salimah is an education consultant who works with school districts and State Education Agencies around the country and helps them solve some of their toughest challenges.

Salimah has a background in grassroots community organizing. She has advocated with Baltimore’s students, parents, teachers and community members in front of the Maryland General Assembly, the Baltimore City Council, the School Board, and the Kirwan Commission.

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Salimah is an immigrant, a former English learner, and a member of the disability community. She was born in India and lived in many places before choosing to make Baltimore her home. Like many of Baltimore’s immigrant students, Salimah knows what it feels like to wonder if you belong. She wants to help make our schools the types of places where all our students feel like they belong.