For-profit

Scholar First

Website:

thescholarfirst.com/

Location:

Benton, LA

Type:

For-Profit Educational Consulting

Founded:

2021

Executive Director:

Tammy Campbell

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The Scholar First is a small, nationally active K-12 educational consulting firm based in Louisiana that provides critical race theory-aligned “antiracism” workshops and faculty retreats on diversity, equity, and inclusion. It was incorporated and appears to be led by Tammy Campbell, a former superintendent of Federal Way (Washington) Public Schools. 1 2

Background

The Scholar First was incorporated in Benton, Louisiana as a limited liability company on May 12, 2021 by Tammy Campbell, a former superintendent of Federal Way (Washington) Public Schools. 3 4 The firm’s objective is to help K-12 educational institutions attain and maintain “racial equity” and reduce academic and social achievement gaps. Services that The Scholar First offers include coaching, leading leadership-oriented staff workshops, giving keynote addresses, and conducting retreats for members of school boards and superintendents. 5

On the firm’s website, directly below a subhead that reads, “Welcome to The Scholar First!” the text introduces Campbell in the first person, suggesting that the firm is either staffed by Campbell alone or at least by her principally. The website claims that during Campbell’s tenure as superintendent of Federal Way Public Schools, the district increased advanced placement class participation, enrollment in four-year post-secondary programs, and graduation rates for non-white students. 6 7

Former clients who have offered testimonials for The Scholar First include Carol Lautenbach, the assistant superintendent of Godfrey-Lee public schools in Wyoming, Michigan, and Michal Dunn, a superintendent in NEWESD 101, a large educational cooperative-service-provider based in Northeast Washington. 8 9

According to the Consultant Report Card profile published by Parents Defending Education, a right-leaning education watchdog group, The Scholar First has signed at least two consulting contracts, doing $77,000 worth of business. 10 11

Activities

On May 15, 2021, the same month that the firm was incorporated, The Scholar First signed a “letter of Agreement” with the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Schools to provide a three-hour virtual workshop for $7,000. On June 16, 2021, the school system signed another letter with the firm to provide “leadership sessions” in 2021-22 for $70,000. 12

Tammy Campbell

Tammy Campbell is the founder of The Scholar First. Formerly, Campbell was superintendent of Federal Way (Washington) Public Schools. The Scholar First website asserts that for eight consecutive years (though Campbell was only superintendent for six years), graduation rates in the district for non-whites increased. The website also notes that in 2017, voters in the Federal Way district enacted a $500 million bond measure to support schools, the largest such measure in the district’s history and one of the largest in the region. 13

References

  1. “New Domestic Filings.” Louisiana Secretary of State. May 9, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://coraweb.sos.la.gov/NewCorpNewsletters/NewCorp_20210518.txt.
  2. “The Scholar First, LLC.” Open Corporates. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_la/44418667K.
  3. “New Domestic Filings.” Louisiana Secretary of State. May 9, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://coraweb.sos.la.gov/NewCorpNewsletters/NewCorp_20210518.txt.
  4. “The Scholar First, LLC.” Open Corporates. Accessed November 1, 2021.

    https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_la/44418667K.

  5. Homepage. Scholar First. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://thescholarfirst.com/.
  6. Homepage. Scholar First. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://thescholarfirst.com/.
  7. “About Me.” The Scholar First. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://thescholarfirst.com/?page_id=2.
  8. “About NEWESD.” NEWESD 101. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://www.esd101.net/about.
  9. Homepage. Scholar First. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://thescholarfirst.com/.
  10. “Scholar First LLC (The) | Tammy Campbell.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/tammy-campbell/.
  11. “Who We Are.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://defendinged.org/about/.
  12.  “Scholar First LLC (The) | Tammy Campbell.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/tammy-campbell/.
  13. “About Me.” The Scholar First. Accessed November 1, 2021. https://thescholarfirst.com/?page_id=2.
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Scholar First

2876 Cypress Village Drive
Benton, LA