Incoming Baltimore schools CEO names activist to cabinet job

In an Aug. 10, 2015 file photo, protester and social media activist DeRay McKesson records outside the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

BALTIMORE — DeRay Mckesson, who took a leave of absence from his career as an educator to become an activist and one of the most recognizable faces in the Black Lives Matter movement, has been appointed to a post with Baltimore schools.

Baltimore City Public Schools said in a news release that incoming chief executive officer Sonja Santelises appointed Mckesson to be interim chief human capital officer. The Board of School Commissioners approved the appointment Tuesday.

The office of human capital is responsible for staffing schools and dealing with reforms. Mckesson had served as assistant to the director and strategist in the office.

Mckesson, a Baltimore native, became an activist after an unarmed black man was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Santelises and Mckesson start their jobs on Friday.