About me
Education is a third career for me. I was an apprentice trained sign painter and then a union carpenter. After losing a fight with a table saw I found myself back in school where I completed my BFA in art education. After starting my teaching/coaching tenue in Southern Illinois, I found myself in in the northern part of the state in Belvidere. I completed my Type 75 and quickly moved on to administration. I was an Assistant Principal for 5 years the was offered the Director of Student Services position in the district. I wore many hats in that role including being the districts homeless liaison, transgender liaison, I oversaw the districts counselors, I oversaw discipline and safety and sat on several community advocacy groups helping students and families in the community. After working with a lot of students that did not fit the "traditional student" mold I had approached my superintendent to move the credit recovery program, which was being run by the ROE, in district. He agreed and Everest was started. We quickly realized that there was a whole sub-group of students that were being underserved educationally and we focused on becoming a trauma informed school. Everest is in its fourth year and we have taken a population of students with a 90% chronic truant rate (most being self admitted potential drop outs) and have created a 91% graduation rate.
