Kristan Justice currently serves as the Director of Special Services at Democracy Prep Public Schools, where she leads the special education strategy, compliance systems, instructional programming, and coaching structures across multiple campuses in New York City, Las Vegas, and Texas. In this role, Kristan is responsible for building the capacity of Deans of Special Services, aligning inclusive education practices to organizational goals, and ensuring students with disabilities and multilingual learners have equitable access to high-quality instruction and support services. She spearheads multi-tiered systems of support, inclusive master scheduling, and data-driven special education reviews to close opportunity gaps and elevate scholar outcomes.

Prior to her current role, Kristan served as an Assistant Principal, Instructional Coach, and Master Teacher at Democracy Prep, where she played a pivotal role in teacher development, special education compliance, and the design of school-wide academic interventions. In her role as Assistant Principal, Kristan created Project Excel, a 12:1 special class program, by building differentiated scope and sequences and curriculum guides to meet the diverse learning needs of middle school students. Her leadership contributed to increased IEP compliance rates, strengthened partnerships between general and special education teams, and greater academic access for students with disabilities.

Kristan began her career in education as a Teach For America corps member, teaching in secondary special education settings with a focus on literacy and student empowerment. She is passionate about developing systems that humanize education and center joy, access, and equity.

Kristan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Communications from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science in Special Education from Relay Graduate School of Education. She is currently focused on scaling inclusive master schedules, codifying specially designed instruction practices, and reimagining how schools deliver on the promise of equity for all learners.