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      This will be my twenty-fourth year of teaching here in Arizona.  I taught for fifteen years in the Glendale Elementary School District. While there I spent two years teaching special education before I moved into the general education classroom.  I then taught 5^th grade for five years, 6^th grade Language Arts for one year, and held the position of gifted cluster teacher for seven years in 4^th grade. This will be my ninth year working as a special education teacher in the Deer Valley district.   I received a dual major in Special and Elementary Education from NAU before pursuing my Master’s Degree in Elementary Ed.  My goal is to provide an engaging educational environment where students feel safe and learn to advocate for themselves as lifelong learners.

      I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and still spend a lot of time there in the summer and fall.  I am a huge Cavaliers, Browns, Buckeyes and Indians fan, which has been filled with ups and downs (mostly downs) for the last forty years.  I enjoy listening to all types of music and attend numerous concerts in the valley. Claudia, my oldest, is currently working as an independent artist in Durham, North Carolina.  Indigo lives in Los Angeles, California pursuing a career in music production.   Gwyneth, my youngest,  will be attending Mountain Ridge High School as a junior.   She is a first degree black belt in Taekwando which she earned at Arrowhead Martial Arts Academy.  My wife works in Deer Valley where she helped to implement the Renaissance program at Highland Lakes and Canyon Springs.  She oversaw the Sage programs, as well as the gifted cluster classrooms, and spent four years as the Assistant Principal at Norterra Canyon, two year as the AP of Curriculum at Deer Valley Middle School amd will now be the Principal at Park Meadows.  

      My family enjoys camping, traveling, and swimming. We spend a lot of time with our three dogs; Arlo, Jesse and Max, and our four cats; Dash, Sofi, Xena and Tosha. We also presently have seven chickens, a duck, two crested geckos and our snake Henry who lives here at Highland Lakes.