Administrative Team  
>> Please note, all faculty resumes are available to staff in the administration office.

Debra Slagle, Charter Representative & Superintendent  
Debra Slagle is superintendent of Westwind Community Schools (WCS) and CEO of Westwind Children’s Services, a nonprofit, 501(c)3 corporation. She is one of the founders of Westwind Prep Academy, which opened in 1998, as well as Westwind Middle School Academy, which opened in 2000. Westwind Middle School is one of the few public schools in the country to offer separate classes for boys and girls. In addition to Westwind Prep and Westwind Middle, WCS includes Park View Middle School and Caurus Academy. In addition, to her daily responsibilities for WCS, Mrs. Slagle has been responsible for the acquisition of over one million dollars in competitive grants and donations for the organizations.

Mrs. Slagle received her undergraduate degree from the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. She holds Masters Degrees from Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University. Mrs. Slagle is a member of the Leadership for Educational Entrepreneurs (LEE) Academy of Fellows through Arizona State University, an esteemed program partially funded by the US Department of Education, with members from all across the United States. She is a past president and current board member of the Arizona Charter Schools Association, as well as having served as an External Team Chair for North Central Association for Accreditation (AIA). She is a certified school administrator, certified secondary education teacher and guidance counselor and a licensed professional counselor. Mrs. Slagle has been the guest speaker at several national and regional conferences on education and school choice, including the National Charter Schools Conference and the Regional Conference for Alternative Schools.

Mrs. Slagle has almost 30 years of experience working with adolescents and their families, fifteen of which have been in education. Mrs. Slagle and her husband, Chuck, have two grown children.

Rhonda Rides, Director 
Rhonda Rides graduated from Arizona State University with a B.A.E. (specializing in social studies). She taught history at Westwind Preparatory Academy and was their mentor teacher for eight years prior to becoming the director at Caurus Academy . Rhonda has been a resident of Anthem since early 2001.  She enjoys spending time with her husband and three children and is an avid Coca-Cola collector.

Frank Yanez, Business Manager 
Mr. Yanez is a tenured business manager with targeted expertise in the management of business dealings, purchasing, finance and procurement for free, independent public schools. He has over 15 schools he assists on a regular basis in the areas of financial advice and oversight, accounting issues, cash management, budget development, financial projections, and school management issues.  Mr. Yanez has served in various roles in the public school sector in Arizona over the past twenty years and he specializes in helping schools stay healthy and continue to grow. Mr. Yanez holds various AASBO Certifications in purchasing, materials management, property management, technology and school finance.   
 
Maria Pryce, Administrative Assistant 
Ms. Pryce joined the staff of Caurus Academy in October 2005 as an Assistant in the office.  Ms. Pryce has a B.A. in History/French and an M.S. in Library and Information Science.  Prior to joining Caurus Academy, Ms. Pryce managed a research library for a computer science institute in Palo Alto, California.  Her family moved to Carefree in the summer of 2004, and their son, Danny, enrolled at Caurus Academy that fall.  Ms. Pryce was a parent volunteer in 2004.

School Faculty

Suzanne Aho
Suzanne Aho is an Assistant Educator in the K/1 classroom. She graduated with a B.S. in Engineering.  When her eldest son was born with special needs, she became an advocate, lobbyist and served on the Governor appointed Developmental Disabilities Council of New Mexico for several years.  Suzanne has worked with special needs children and studied Early Childhood in college.  Her youngest daughter had attended Caurus Academy for two years and has become an excelling student at AAEC in Paradise Valley.

Nicole Bowen
Nicole Bowen is a Grade 2/3 Educator at Caurus Academy. She was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She graduated from New Mexico State University in May 2006 with a B.A. in Elementary Education. Upon graduation she taught 7 th grade Language Arts in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and 6 th grade Social Studies in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Nicole recently moved to Anthem, Arizona with her husband and two children in June of 2009. She enjoys crafting, cooking, golfing, and spending time with friends and family.

Rayna Clark
Rayna Clark is a Grade 2/3 Educator at Caurus Academy . She is Montessori trained and taught in a Primary Montessori school in Kansas City, Missouri from 2003 to 2007. Rayna spent the last two years at Anthem College in Phoenix before joining Caurus Academy in 2009.  She is very excited to get back to her teaching roots and looks forward to enriching the lives of the children here at Caurus Academy .

Lee Dotson
Lee Dotson is a Middle School Educator at Caurus Academy teaching a combined 7/8 Grade class. He has three years of teaching experience. Mr. Dotson holds a B.F.A. in Photography from ASU and a K-8 Education Degree from NAU. He is currently completing a Masters in Educational Technology at ASU.

Deborah Fox
Deborah Fox has been a K/1 Educator at Caurus Academy since 2006. Ms. Fox moved to Arizona 15 years ago to enjoy the desert lifestyle. Her love of working with children led her to a career in education. Ms. Fox has taught Montessori for 11 years. Ms. Fox has a B.S. degree in Home Economics and has her AMI Montessori certification. She enjoys cooking, sewing, gardening, hiking, and horseback riding with her daughter. She has 2 parakeets, one of which was rescued.

Julia Hernandez
Ms. Julia has been with Caurus Academy since 2008 as Assistant Educator. Ms. Julia enjoyed serving in the K/1 class last year and now is venturing into the 2 nd/ 3 rd grade level. While working towards her B.S. in Biology, Ms. Julia has enjoyed Montessori assistant training and is a highly qualified paraprofessional. Born in Colorado Springs, Ms. Julia has also enjoyed living on the beach in California and in the foothills of Issaquah, WA. Ms. Julia enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters.

Joyce Keegan
Joyce Keegan holds a B.F.A. in Art Education and Applied Design from the College of New Rochelle and a M.ED in Special Education in Vocational Assessment/Resource from ASU. Joyce teaches Art at Caurus Academy. In her Art classes, the students survey a broad range of artists and cultures and explore a wide range of media and techniques, with the hope that they discover the pleasure of the arts as both a leisure activity and possible career opportunity. Joyce is also the Special Education liaison at Caurus Academy. She is a “transplant” from New Jersey and has lived in Arizona for the past nine years.

Irina Kelsall
Ms. Kelsall has been an Upper Elementary Educator at Caurus Academy since 2004. She has been a Montessori educ since 1998. Ms. Kelsall holds M.A. Degrees from Kiev State University and the University of Phoenix. She was born in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to the United States in 1998. She became a U.S. citizen in 2004. Ms. Kelsall has been a Montessori educator since 1998. She is fluent in four languages and is also a trained concert pianist. She has a daughter who is a student at ASU. Ms. Kelsall strongly believes in respecting the uniqueness of every student. She uses the student-parent-educator team process to help students achieve their highest potential.

Cadmus Kyrala
Cadmus Kyrala is an Assistant Educator in the K/1 classroom. He has spent the last six years teaching English as a foreign language in elementary schools in Japan. During his time there he discovered a love of working with children and acquired a deep interest in childhood education – particularly in language arts. He is fluent in Japanese and has just recently finished all the requirements for an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Birmingham, UK. He also holds a B.S. in Finance from ASU and is just starting work on an AAS in Early Childhood Education with joint AMS Montessori certification. He is anticipating the pending publication of two academic articles (one in the 2008 JALT Conference Proceedings and one in the Journal of Language and Politics). He hopes to one day obtain a Ph.D. in cognitive science and educational policy with a focus on child cognitive development.

Carrie Oatis
Carrie Oatis is an Assistant Educator in the Grade 2/3 classroom.  She graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor in Elementary Education.  For the past four years she has taught the fourth grade at public charter schools throughout the Phoenix area.  She enjoys working individually with students and is eager to learn more about the Montessori teaching method.  

Miriam Pissas
Mrs. Pissas graduated with a specialty in Early Education from Instituto Pedagogico Chihuahuense in Mexico. Mrs. Pissas was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to Phoenix in 1999. She opened a store in Anthem, Mexicolor, in 2006. In 2008 her sons Alan and Alex enrolled in Kindergarten at Caurus Academy and she volunteered as to teach Spanish in her sons’ classroom. In 2009, Mrs. Pissas joined the Caurus Academy staff, teaching Spanish for the K - 8 grades. She loves teaching her first language and she loves when her students communicate in Spanish amongst themselves and with her.

Cynthia Rowland
Cynthia Rowland has been an Assistant Educator in the K/1 learning environment at Caurus Academy since 2004. She started as a parent volunteer in 2001, at AMCS in Glendale. In 2003, she became a staff member. Ms. Rowland has worked with children in early education facilities since 1996. She loves children and loves to teach and experience learning with the children.

Lance Taubman
Mr. Taubman joined the staff of Caurus Academy as a K/1 Educator this year. He holds a B.A. in Education from NAU and received his M.A. in Early Childhood from ASU. He is an Arizona native and has one daughter, Maxine, who is a fourth grade student at the Caurus Academy.  His wife Lara is also a K/1 Educator at Caurus Academy.

Lara Taubman
Lara Taubman is a K/1 Educator at Caurus Academy. She holds a B.A. from Centenary College of Louisiana and an M.A. from Louisiana Tech University. She received her AMS certification from the Houston Montessori Center in Houston, Texas. Ms. Lara has spent ten years teaching in Montessori schools in Louisiana and Arizona. She is happy to make a return to teaching at Caurus Academy after being a stay at home mom. She and her husband Mr. Lance Taubman live with their daughter Maxine, also a student at Caurus Academy – in Black Canyon City along with their three dogs, five cats, two turtles, many fish and their goat Daisy.

Brandon VanGalder
Brandon VanGalder is the Physical Education Educator at Caurus Academy.  Mr. VanGalder graduated with a B.S. in Physical Education/Coaching from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, in 2005.  From there he attended Florida State University and earned a Master in Sport Administration in 2006.  Most recently Mr. VanGalder attended Arizona State University studying Physical Education/Teacher Certification and completed his post bacc. studies in 2009.  He is very excited for the opportunity to work with students from each grade level.

Tracy Wagner
Ms. Wagner is starting her second year as a Grade 2/3 Educator at Caurus Academy. She has a M.A. in history from Arizona State University. She discovered her love of children and education while working in local museums. She moved to the Valley about 10 years ago and enjoys spending time with her husband and young son.

Lauren Walkenhorst
Lauren Walkenhorst is in her second year of teaching at Caurus Academy as a Grade 4 Educator. She graduated, with honors, in December 2007, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and an endorsement in Science from the University of Central Missouri. She comes from a family of educators, including both of her parents and a few aunts and uncles. She loves working with children, teaching them science and about life in general. She believes every child should be respected and taught at his or her own level.

Careers

We are accepting applications for the upcoming school year. Montessori Certified Teachers, please apply. To care for and teach children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Small classes. Professional attitudes, leadership qualities and commitment to the Montessori/Early years philosophy desirable. Must be enthusiastic and willing to work as part of a team. Full or part time hours. To apply for a position, please email your resume to rrides@caurusacademy.org