Megan Atkins is Director III of District Support Services for the Los Angeles County Office of Education where she provides executive leadership to districts under, or in the process of, state receivership, in the area of special education, with a focus on compliance with all related federal and state laws. She also serves as a member of a strategic support team in the Inglewood Unified School District, created from the passage of AB 1840, in order to provide technical expertise to districts as they move from state receivership back to local control. Previously she held the role of assistant superintendent for Student Services in Manhattan Beach Unified for four years.
Megan chose to enroll in LMU’s Ed.D. Program because of its dedication to social justice, which comes not only from those who design and teach in the program, but also from every member of every cohort she has met. It has been a unique and special experience for Megan to learn from and alongside educators who have dedicated their careers to research and lead the work toward equity, inclusion, and liberation.
Megan’s research has been inspired by her work for the County Office as well as the Inglewood Unified School District. She has studied the policy of receivership, and specifically the impact of the passage of AB 1840. While AB 1840 is a fiscal trailer bill, it includes a shift of power and oversight from the state level to the local county offices of education. She is interested in this movement to local control, as well as the policy levers for change.