Philadelphia Staff Bios

Neil Geyette

Founding Principal

Neil is Principal of the U School. He has worked as an educator in the Philadelphia Public Schools for over eight years. He moved to Philadelphia after spending over a year teaching World History in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He began his career at West Philadelphia High as a Philadelphia Teaching Fellow. In 2008, he founded the Urban Leadership Academy at West Philadelphia High School, which used the community around the school as a source of learning, skills development and civic engagement. In recognition of his leadership and impact, Neil was awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and named the Philadelphia Teaching Fellow of the Year in 2009. In 2011, Neil gained acceptance to the Philadelphia High School Leadership Project (PHSLP), which was a school leadership development partnership between the U.S. Department of Education, the School District of Philadelphia, Lehigh University and Temple University. He spent over two years as a principal intern at Franklin Learning Center, and led efforts to integrate design-thinking into high school courses. Neil earned his teaching credential in Urban Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Lehigh University. Neil enjoys exploring our city, gardening and spending time with his growing family. He is passionate about Philadelphia and its people. He believes that the best schools are the product of stakeholder collaboration to build supportive, meaningful and empowering learning environments.