LSAISD Class of 2017 Profiles
Sean Atwood
District: SAISD
Election District: 7
“As a graduate of SAISD schools and a returning resident to the Thomas Jefferson neighborhood, I am passionate about taking an opportunity to give back to the community that I grew up in. I believe that I possess a perspective needed to relate to the school body and the professional experience required to effectively communicate and contribute ideas to the administrative board. My professional specialties are centered in communication, community and team building, ideation and mediation.” – Sean Atwood
Cynthia Balle
Assistant Principal, SAISD
“I think the most significant issue SAISD faces today is the lack of teamwork. I think it is important for our children to see that our parents, administrations, and teachers are all in agreement with their education. I think there needs to be fidelity from parents, administrations, and teachers to the programs our District offers our students. If students see parents, administrators, and teachers united in their education, they will see the value of the programs being offered.” – Cynthia Balle
Fatema Basrai
District: SAISD
Election District: 3
“I would like to join LSAISD to deepen my knowledge of the San Antonio Independent school district and learn the root causes of the problems the district faces. As a former SAISD teacher, I saw the policies and systems being lived out every day in my classroom. I am a visionary who creates big goals as well as a realist who lives for the details. With these traits, I am well poised to put plans into action.” – Fatema Basrai
Sara Beesley
“I am currently on the Trinity University Alumni Board- San Antonio Chapter. I served as Young Alumni Chair for two years, before stepping down but continuing to serve on the board. My most recent contribution was organizing a collaborative family-friendly event between my organization (Mitchell Lake) and Last Chance Forever (a raptor rehab center) to do a fun and educational presentation on birds of prey on the Trinity U campus, and included physical and creative activities, in addition to the live bird presentation.” – Sara Beesley
Damika Brown
Administrative Assistant, San Antonio Fighting Back
District: SAISD
Election District: 2
“Community engagement in the School System is very important to me. As a mother of 7 children, I like to get involved in the process as much as I can and think that parent engagement to vital to the children's success. I currently serve as secretary for Sam Houston's PTA committee and will use my experience to contribute to my work with SAISD leadership program.” – Damika Brown
Angela Cardona
City of San Antonio
District: SAISD
Election District: 3
“This is an opportunity for me to give back to my former school district and bring my skills and knowledge in leadership and local government as part of the conversation. I am the founder of District 3 Legacy Leadership Initiative which collaborates with local school districts that fall within the council district 3 boundaries to focus activities with students surrounding civic engagement.” – Angela Cardona
Carlos Cruz
Director of Student Success, Palo Alto College
District: NEISD
“As a product of the south side, community is a big part of my life. This is one of the main reasons why I care about our public education, and focus on the resources and programs that enable our children to have academic success. I have a true passion in creating and understanding the issues plaguing our public school system and finding solutions that foster an environment for growth for our children and families. I am true believer in creating opportunities for every student to seek a higher education and embedding a college going culture at all of our campuses. With my previous roles in K-12 and higher education, my experience and talents would fit will within Leadership SAISD and the mission it seeks to accomplish.” – Carlos Cruz
Debbie Degollado
“I believe the biggest issue facing SAISD students is high school completion and graduation rates. I believe with the program we (YMCA) offer in SAISD afterschool that we can play a part in helping students with homework completion and help students build self confidence.” – Debbie Degollado
Mendi Etheredge
District: SAISD
Election District: 1
“There are several reasons I would like to join LSAISD. Some of these include: 1) Professionally - I work on staff at Teach For America. Part of my unique position is to help elevate the story of our work and the potential of our students. Because TFA is strongly dedicated to SAISD and is continuing our partnership over the next 5 years, I aim to become more fluent in what is going on in the district, so that I may elevate more positive stories throughout our community. 2) Parent - As someone who lives in SAISD and is beginning a family, I have interest in becoming more involved in the school district where I see my children growing up. 3) Former teacher - Prior to joining TFA 3 years ago, I was a Kindergarten teacher in San Antonio for six years. I believe the knowledge I bring from the classroom could be beneficial to the conversation.” – Mendi Etheredge
Claudia Garcia
“As a self-designated life-long learner, I have continuously endeavored to surround myself with individuals who share my desire to pursue opportunities that provide new information while affording me the chance to share my knowledge of leadership as well as pay it forward through community based initiatives. I thoroughly enjoy giving effort and dedicated time to increasing my capacity to be an effective transformational leader and, in turn, help others reach their educational and professional goals. I have developed effective leadership capacity, tenacity, attention to detail, time management, interpersonal abilities and communication skills along with a desire to contribute to the mission, vision and goals of LSAISD. I am confident that my academic and professional backgrounds have afforded me an advantageously unique collection of experiences that will add positive diversity to the program.” – Claudia Garcia
Janet Garcia
Arianna Gonzalez
Operations Manager, The Workery
District: SAISD
Election District: 7
“As a parent, I know that the more informed I am, the more I can contribute to my child's education. The parents’ perspective can be such a helpful contribution. Parents need to be involved to have a voice for their child's school and/or district. I am absolutely a proactive parent wanting to make a difference where it is needed.” – Arianna Gonzalez
Christopher Green
District: SAISD
Election District: 2
“This summer I am working in a fellowship that has allowed me to work in San Antonio ISD as part of the Governmental and Community Relations Department. This position has allowed me to see first hand the challenges and opportunities in our future. I am truly inspired by the positive changes that are happening within the district and would like to be a part of working with families to improve educational and life outcomes. All of my work and volunteer experience has involved working as part of a team. From working with my students to my days as part of the leadership team at a radio station,it gives me great pleasure to accomplish goals with others. To the Leadership SAISD team, I will contribute my collaboration, curiosity, relentlessness and passion for equity.” – Chris Green
Morgan Jones
“I moved to San Antonio about 2 years ago from Los Angeles, CA. When I was in LA, through various programs, I worked with a lot of schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. I worked with students on developing public speaking, leadership, and goal setting skills and showed them that higher education is possible. It was sad to see how many students felt that they could never be successful in school due to their economic background. But, when you are able to encourage a student that the possibilities are endless and they believe you, it is the most powerful experience. Now that I live in San Antonio and this is my new home, I would like to continue to fulfill my passion of giving back and helping students to reach their fullest potential. In order for me to do that successfully, it is imperative that I first educate myself on how the school districts operate. I am confident that my enthusiasm, open mind, and passion for advocating for students will make me a great asset to this program.” – Morgan Jones
Jo Ann Lopez
Retired Paralegal
District: SAISD
Election District: 6
Ryan Lugalia-Hollon
“I am intensely invested in the success of children and youth and San Antonio. But I am also new to town with a lot to learn. For me, Leadership SAISD would make me a more informed change maker with a deeper understanding of the formal education system. I moved to San Antonio last year after living in Chicago for nearly 15 years, so I am very much still learning the landscape, specific challenges and special opportunities facing young people in town. Through my leadership role with Excel Beyond the Bell, I am working to support 36 out-of-school time agencies in town, many of which are active in SAISD. As a network, we have a strong data sharing partnership with the district and are working to strengthen that partnership in the months and years to come. We are also thinking through ways to make the data we collect and share more actionable, so that it directly informs organizational and ultimately student improvement efforts. Personally, I would bring grounded commitment, strong analytical skills, and passion for learning to Leadership SAISD. I love, love, love asking questions, and learning from people is my absolute favorite way to grow in my knowledge of the world. I also bring a real sense of humor and a deep well of optimism when facing entrenched challenges. Finally, I have a strong background in restorative justice coming from my years in Chicago, which may be a good resource for SAISD if they are actively thinking through their school discipline strategies and tactics.” – Ryan Lugalia-Hollon
Darlyne McClinton Drummer
Family Advocate, Family Service Association
District: SAISD
Election District: 2
“I am a Family Service Association Family Advocate for the six Eastside Promise Neighborhood schools - Tynan ECEC, Pershing Elementary, Bowden Elementary, Washington Elementary, Wheatley Middle, and Sam Houston High Schools. I advocate for parents, students and families and empower parents to advocate for themselves. I believe this training would equip me to better navigate the support services SAISD has to offer our families and would in turn inform our parents.” – Darlyne Drummer
Patricia Morales
District: SAISD
Election District: 3
Evita Morin
District: SAISD
“As the Executive Director of Rise Recovery, serving teens and families overcoming substance use and abuse, we already have a growing partnership with several SAISD schools, offering direct recovery services, alternatives to suspension and community support. We seek to be in alignment with the vision of SAISD and provide the critical supportive services necessary for at risk youth to thrive.” – Evita Morin
Walter Perry
District: SAISD
Election District: 2
Rachel Ponce
Owner, Exclusive Autoplex
District: SAISD
Election District: 6
“I believe I can contribute to the dialogue as a result of my 20 years volunteer involvement with SAISD. I also think I can learn new information I may not know about the operations of the District. Things are always changing. I am very involved with my grandchildren's education and want to stay abreast of District policies and what is available for them. SAISD and education has always been important to me. As a community advocate, parents turn to me for advice or direction; and I want to have intelligent and correct answers.” – Rachel Ponce
Anastasia Rodriguez
Teacher, SAISD
Veronica Rodriguez
Administrator, SAISD
“A significant issue I feel that San Antonio Independent School District is facing is the lack of quality educators specifically in our special population areas such as Special Education and English as a Second Language. Our ESL students stay in the program from over six years instead of being exited in a timely manner. Our Special Education population students are not on grade level as compared to other school districts in San Antonio. Many of our districts good teachers leave within three years because they do not receive the support they need to be successful in the classroom. I would like to help coach and support our teachers so that we can attain our quality teachers and help grow from within. While I may not be originally from San Antonio, I have always desired to serve as an educator for San Antonio Independent School District. I am committed to my campus, community, and school district. I would like to provide teachers with the same support and coaching I was given by my mentors, professors, and Trinity University.” – Veronica Rodriguez
Salena Santibanez Guizpot
District: SAISD
Election District: 2
“As a former student and resident of the Eastside, I have my personal experiences and perspective to bring to the table. As a culture we emphasis the importance of education, yet don't prepare our children for the real world adventures. As a former banker and M&A consultant and now a small business owner, I had to learn the hard way about a lot of things my parents did not teach me. I believe it is in our better interest to provide financial literacy to our children, who may otherwise, be oblivious to decisions that will impact them for a lifetime. “ – Salena Guizpot
Scott Taylor
Teacher, SAISD
District: SAISD
Election District: 5
“I want to be in Leadership SAISD because I want to understand the challenges our district is facing on a macro level. I can see varying levels of success and disfunction on the campus level, but am very interested to see how the district, as a whole, is working to solve these problems and I want to help in any way possible. Some skills that I can contribute to Leadership SAISD are that I think very logically and can balance multiple perspectives when given a problem. I am capable of taking in a lot of information and organizing it into a more digestible argument or point of view. I have shown this ability with my work on the Campus Leadership Team at Rodriguez Elementary. As we were on the verge of going into Improvement Required status for a third year in a row we had to prioritize our endeavors for the coming year into a new constitution for our campus. I was the spearhead of this project and took great pleasure in absorbing all of my colleagues ideas and consolidating them into a formal, detailed document. In doing so I had to simultaneously sift through all of the information to find the key points that each member contributed, while maintaining a logical perspective of what we could really accomplish in one calendar year.” – Scott Taylor
Sandra González-Lamb
District: SAISD
Election District: 7
"I would like to apply to LSAISD so that I can become better informed, in terms of how the school district functions, while at the same time learn how my family can help support the school system. I believe access to equitable education is at the core for changing our community and workforce so that we can all prepare for the future in terms of innovation, skills set challenges, etc." - Sandra González-Lamb
Yolanda Uranga
Self-Employed
District: SAISD
Election District: 4
“My highest career achievement has been to earn a PhD, and with this achievement I have the responsibility to teach what I know to those who want to learn. My heart swells when I hear the story of my hero, Astronaut Jose Hernandez, who decided when he was just 10 yrs. old that he wanted to be an astronaut. He dreamed this dream while he was working in the fields with his dad who was a farmworker. I just can't help but think about those children at Graebner Elementary, SAISD, where I went to school, who may have big dreams too and I want to help them achieve those dreams by setting paths for achievement. I know this may sound corny but its true...I want to nurture the dreams and help cultivate them, especially in today's world.” – Yolando Uranga
Renee Watson
District: SAISD
Election District: 2
Crystal Spears
District: Judson ISD
Election District: 2
“As an educator and leader in the San Antonio community, I felt compelled to join LSAISD to learn more about the landscape of education in San Antonio to become a strategic figure in shaping its future. Additionally, I joined to gain a better understanding of San Antonio ISD's continued improvements in addition to the challenges it faces in order to provide greater educational opportunities and life outcomes for students that mirror my educational journey." - Crystal Spears