Dr. Rita Raichoudhuri

  • Superintendent, Kalamazoo Public Schools

    Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rita Raichoudhuri has almost two decades of experience in education, including expertise in career and technical education, STEM education and professional development. Raichoudhuri joined KPS in June 2020, immediately guiding the district through a year of virtual learning during the COVID-19 lockdown. She also started an Equity Task Force and won a grant to expand career and technical education and apprenticeships within the district. Before joining KPS, Raichoudhuri worked for Chicago Public Schools from 2010 to 2020. She was executive director of Early College and Career Education for CPS from 2017 to 2020, implementing processes to provide students with rigorous, career-focused courses and launching high-quality STEM classes. She established secondary-to-employment pipeline programs that helped students gain college credit, professional credentials, and the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century. She helped establish Jumpstart to Jobs, which allowed students earn early college and career credentials; FastTrack, a collaboration with the City Colleges of Chicago to provide students with post-high school internships; and the district’s first apprenticeship program. From 2012 to 2017 she was the resident principal then principal of Wells Community Academy High School, where she increased attendance, graduation rates, and the freshman on-track rate. Raichoudhuri’s other positions within CPS were director of the Office of Professional Learning and senior manager of the Office of Performance. A native of California, Raichoudhuri holds a doctorate in urban education leadership from the University of Illinois, Chicago; a master’s in education from Chapman University, Orange, California; and a bachelor's in environmental sciences from the University of California, Davis.