2014 Empowered Educators Day – Speaker Bios (alphabetical)
Barnett Berry is the founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality, Inc., based in Hillsborough, N.C. Created in 1999, the center seeks to dramatically increase student achievement across the United States by advancing teaching as a 21st century, results-oriented profession.
A former high school teacher, Berry has worked as a social scientist at the RAND Corporation, served as a senior executive with the South Carolina State Department of Education, and directed an education policy center while he was a professor at the University of South Carolina. He frequently serves in an advisory capacity to organizations committed to teaching quality, equity, and social justice in America's schools.
Berry has authored numerous academic reports and publications and many articles for the popular education press. His new book,Teaching 2030, penned with 12 expert teachers from the Center for Teaching Quality's dynamic virtual community, Teacher Leaders Network, poses a provocative and hopeful future for the profession that makes all others possible.
Kevin Brewster earned a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and teaching credentials from San Francisco State University. Kevin was a Special Ed paraprofessional for 3 years in the San Francisco Unified School District and taught Kindergarten and 4th grade for 7 years in the district. He is a member of the Transition Team that created Reiche's Teacher-Led model. For 10 years, he taught kindergarten in Portland Public Schools. For the last three plus years, he has been a .5 Teacher Leader at Reiche Community School in Portland, Maine. Kevin is a member of the PEA's Screening and Endorsement Committee and of the Contract Negotiating Team for the last two contracts. Kevin is the newly elected Vice President of the Portland Education Association. In addition, he is owner/Director of Farm Camp, a children's summer day camp with an ecological focus.
Andy Coons joined the National Board in August 2012 as the Chief Operating Officer. In this position, he provides strategic leadership and oversees all elements of day-to-day operations. Coons is a National Board Certified Teacher in Middle Childhood/Generalist and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors, from 2009 to 2012.
A former middle school math teacher, Coons served as president of the Tacoma Education Association in Washington State. His educational leadership experiences includes serving as a Board Member on the Washington Education Association, a Commissioner on the National Education Association’s Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching and as a member of the Board of Examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
Maria Elena Cruz. As a first generation, Huichol (indigenous Mexican), woman born in Northern California, Maria is the first person in her family to graduate from college and the first to receive a Ph.D. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 2004 where she majored in English with an emphasis on Twentieth Century Literature (from Modern to Contemporary) Anglophone and Multicultural Studies. She received her Masters in Social Cultural Anthropology at the University of Texas Austin in 2007 and a PhD. from the same department in 2013. She is a socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in the anthropology of Indigenous studies with an emphasis on Mexican American and Latina/o (im)migration policy and law in the U.S. – Mexico borderlands. Her research interests align closely with her teaching experience, which includes teaching undergraduate courses at the University of Texas at Austin for two years in the areas of Anthropology, History, Mexican American Studies, and Indigenous Studies Program. Currently, she is teaching a class on Indigenous and Mexican American History at San Jose State University, CA.
Dr. Vincent Devlahovich has been a public school educator for over 18 years. He is currently president of the College of the Canyons Faculty Association in Santa Clarita, California, a large community college with over 23,000 students in northern Los Angeles County. Vincent is a Professor of Geology at the college and holds a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. He is a 2011 graduate of the California Community College Association (CTA/NEA) Building Strong Locals Academy and a 2012 graduate of the NEA Emerging Leaders Academy. He has committed his professional career to teaching, union advocacy, and fighting for human rights.
Melissa Erickson began her teaching career as a Fellow for the National Science Foundation. In that role she conducted research on teaching and learning and has since held numerous professional positions in teaching and other areas of education. She has worked with National PTA and the Council of State Governments educating parents, teachers and legislators about the Common Core State Standards Initiative and with the National Council on Disabilities on the impact implementation of the new standards will have on ESE students. Melissa has also coordinated community work with the US Department of Education in neighborhoods with turnaround schools. She is the co-founder of the Alliance for Public Schools a Florida based parent engagement and advocacy group. The Alliance utilizes innovative strategies to engage parents and other community stakeholders in the education policy discussion. In March 2011, she was chosen by The White House as a “Champion of Change” working in the field of education. Additionally, she was selected in 2012 for and continues to serve on the CAEP Commission on Accreditation of Teacher Preparatory Programs as the sole parent representative. Melissa has been married to her husband David, a Naval Submarine Officer, for over 20 years. They have one child, Daniel, currently attending a Public High School in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Montserrat Garibay is a National Board Certified Teacher. She taught bilingual Pre-K for 8 years in Austin Independent School District. Montserrat is the Vice President for Certified Employees with Education Austin. Education Austin is the biggest union in the district represents over 3,000 employees. She was recently elected to be an At Large Member of the Democratic National Committee.
Montserrat is a staunch education activist. She was the president of LULAC Council 4859, and a co-founder of the University Leadership Initiative, which promotes the passage of the DREAM ACT and immigration reform. She came to the US as an undocumented immigrant, and after 20 years in the US, she recently became a US Citizen. In December 2011, she was recognized by the American Federation of Teachers as a Texas Super Advocate.
Montserrat received a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. She was awarded a scholarship to attend the Complutense University in Madrid for a Children’s literature course. She was a science researcher with the BLOCKS grant at the University of Texas.
Montserrat is a product of public schools; she attended the Texas public schools and graduated from the University of the Texas at Austin.
Robert Goodman is the executive director of the NJ Center for Teaching and Learning. As a teacher at Bergen County Technical High School in Teterboro, he founded and led the development of the Progressive Science Initiative® (PSI®) and, later, the Progressive Mathematics Initiative® (PMI®). In 2006, he became the NJ State Teacher of the Year and in 2007 received the NEA Foundation’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Goodman served on the NJ Task Force on College and Career Readiness and NEA’s Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching.
Goodman received his BS in physics from MIT, where his undergraduate research led to an article in the Journal of Applied Physics; his MAT Physics from SUNY Stony Brook; and his Ed.D. in science education from Rutgers, where Kappa Delta Pi awarded him for outstanding dissertation.
Before teaching, Bob had a twenty year career in the electronics industry which included serving as the president and CEO for Haman Kardon, JBL Consumer Products, and Onkyo International Operations.
Lesley Hagelgansis an 8th grade Language Arts teacher and Yearbook Advisor in her 15th year with Marshall Middle School. She has participated in nearly every committee her district has offered and now serves on her district's Learning Design Model Leadership team, Evaluation Committee and Language Arts Committee, and she serves as PR Chairperson for her local EA. In her ʺspareʺ time Lesley raises 2 kids, lends her time to VIVA (going into her 4th year now), and tackles an Action Research Project to improve student achievement in her school through Intervention Focus. “I believe every single child has a unique talent that can enrich our world if it can be discovered, nurtured and cultivated,” she says. “Every student may not conquer writing essays or calculating algebraic equations, but they might be the next Picasso or JFK. What’s wrong with that?ʺ One thing you should know about Lesley: “I am ambitious. I am not good at sitting idle or waiting. I have noticed that when other people give up because they don’t know ‘how’ to do something, I dive right in to figure it out. I take initiative.ʺ
Jonathan Knapp came into public education after stints in the private and humanitarian sectors. He is a high school automotive technology teacher. In previous professional incarnations he taught French at a small liberal arts college, led humanitarian interventions with Pharmacists Without Borders in Bosnia during the war there, owned and operated a small auto repair business in south Seattle, worked as a tour operator and guide for a firm that offered bicycle vacation tour packages in France, fought forest fires for the U.S. Forest Service around the American west, and organized progressive political action in the political, environmental, and labor sectors. He is now president of the Seattle Education Association.
Christopher Lloyd enthusiastically teaches children at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, Maryland. In this capacity, he focuses on building technology and media literate students, who are able to navigate the exponentially digital landscape
Mr. Lloyd also serves as the Montgomery County Education Association Vice President because he believe the voice of teachers is vital to great education, and because he believes those involved in the day-to-day life of schools and offices that support schools have much untapped insight that will benefit our students. He believes leadership is not positional, but rather relational, and relies on the ability to craft and sustain a vision of social justice.
Mr. Lloyd has been a classroom teacher for a mere 25 years in MCPS, having taught for 14 years at Blair High School, and now at Baker MS. He’s served on the MCEA Board of Directors, as Chair of the Middle School Council on Teaching and Learning, as a member of the Career Lattice Panel, and as a team leader for the MCPS Onboarding Team. In addition, he is the co-chair of the MCPS Peer Assistance and Review Panel for teachers. He’s a National Board Certified Teacher in Career and Technology Education, and served on the Governor’s Commission on School Leadership. And he always wants to teach children.
Mr. Lloyd believes teaching is difficult work, and a noble and honorable profession, best accomplished with collaboration, integrity, and a sense of humor.
Dr. Lopez-Crowley is a National Board Certified teacher and has been in the education field for over thirty years. She has two Master's degrees and received her PhD in Educational Leadership. During her educational career she has been a classroom teacher, worked in Jefferson County Public School's Office of Educational Equity and is currently a Lead Teacher at the Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy in Denver Public Schools.
My name is Alexis Machado I am 18 years old. I come from a big family but a small circle. I am the oldest of 5. I do not live with my mom or dad. I live with my old neighbors that kindly opened their arms and home to me. I Graduated June 10, 2014, my plans now is going into the Navy or be a Juvenile Probation Officer. I Love meeting new people and just a loving person in general.
Andria K. Mitchell
My teaching career began in Rochester, New York, where I was born and raised.
I did my undergraduate studies at the State University of New York College at Brockport. I majored in African American Studies and Sociology. I worked with Rochester City Schools for five years shortly after graduating from college. During that period, I taught 8th and 9th grade Language Arts and History. In 2005, I moved to Charlotte, NC and began teaching with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. I now teach at Westerly Hills Academy, where I am the Language Arts lead teacher, the 8th grade Chairperson, a member of the School Leadership team, and the 2013-2014 Teacher of the Year.
This past year, I worked collaboratively with VIVA-MET teachers from various parts of the United States on a project that discusses numerous teacher concerns. Our group traveled to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and to The United States Department of Education to share the voice of educators.
I have experienced the world of education from various vantage points. Each new role and new opportunity has sparked a greater appreciation for the learning opportunities presented to me, as well as, an increased dedication toward presenting a meaningful learning experience to my students.
Paula Monroe has worked for the Redlands Unified School District for 26 years. She has served in numerous leadership positions during this time, including as local president from 1999 to 2007. She started her career as a paraprofessional before shifting gears to serve the district as a clerk-typist and then a secretary.