Baltimore/Washington, D.C. Regional Rep - David Schloss

David Schloss has developed his many skills as a trainer progressing through the experiences of being an alternative educator as well as being a principal with several computer-age start-ups, in the business of proprietary software servicing and hardware manufacturing.

The fine art of teaching for David began by transferring out of the College of Education, when he began to see his calling was to alternative education. But, with a BS in Journalism, he became a teacher anyhow. Actually, as he likes to tell the story, teaching, for him, began as being a facilitator and developed through becoming skilled as an instructor. Only then did he see himself as a teacher, more than a decade into the development of his craft. By the end of a 5 year tour-of-duty as a Correctional Educator in the MD State Penitentiary; that experience providing the administrative responsibilities of running his own school (and led to his being featured on national TV as an innovator in Adult Education), it had become apparent he had become an Educator.

The career path he traveled was not planned, but rather unfolded, as he followed his heart seeking his own development. The chronology of these positions led him to being the Director of Placement/Services in the private world of higher education, prior to joining MEAPA.

Right out of college, David taught ninth grade English for 5 yrs. at a troubled Baltimore City Jr. High.  He ran a Human Relations Club and was both the activities director and the theatrical director, as well as a facilitator of faculty workshops. This was a difficult time in Baltimore and David had to use his skills to quell race riots and facilitate relationship building. It was during this introduction to the Art of Teaching that he furthered his counseling skills at the Graduate level at Central Michigan Univ. and thereafter began facilitating Encounter Group Weekends.

Next, David was asked to be a Correctional Educator in the State Penitentiary because he could "teach from the hip". He administered his own school, growing it to 50 assistants (inmates) who helped him run various departments throughout the institution. He innovated a comprehensive process of self-development while co-producing a newspaper (The Greystone Gazette Times) and, a thespian company (The Residents), which was featured on national TV. An orchestra was actually the result of a peace treaty between divergent bands, utilizing the same rehearsal space and combining talents for a music theory program up in his Little School, over the Laundry.

After "getting out of jail," the non-public world of business began to look very appealing. Being a life-long health/healing advocate led David to marketing private-label vitamins to the Health Food Industry and developing the business-to-business manufacturing/sales operation to national prominence.

Mr. Schloss was enticed back into the life of a full time professional educator. A kid's jail was calling: he became the Vocational/Occupational Coordinator in a Juvenile Justice facility on a State contract. There were some tender moments at the Thomas O'Farrell Youth Center, until the for-profit contractor lost its contract and the kids lost out in a business profit and loss spreadsheet.

The next development in Mr. Schloss' career path was to sharpen his skills as an Administrator and introduce the business world to "educational wisdom". Blue collar vocational training of adults for industry had become a necessity. His soft skills expertise was used to grow a post secondary trade school.

He started as Evening Supervisor at the North American Trade School in '06 and accomplished the mandate to make the night program look like the day program, in decorum and substance, in half the allotted time, and was promoted to Asst. Dir. of Ed. at six mos. For the last year an a half of his tenure, as Dir. of Placement/Services, he taught, wrote curricula, trained and counseled the staff as well as the students, developing a department to five people. His Job Search curriculum revamped the resume process and introduced the students to internet research. He created a framework within which to cradle the Thought Patterns for a Successful Career coursework, (from the Pacific Institute). Simultaneously, he brought more than 500 businesses into the school to shop for employees and join an Advisory Board.

The life and times of Mr. Schloss' journey as an Educator has taken him out from behind the podium to create circles of acceptance and to develop tools for self awareness designed for growth within the complex associations of a shrinking world. "Business in a ‘flat world' requires the ability to get out from behind ones self to be able to get behind another. Not just to see the other guy's point of view, but to appreciate where he is coming from so as to better serve his needs and sell him your product, yourself."

To contact Mr. Schloss, please click here.