Collaborators & Staff

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Floating & Lead Collaboator: Dr. Courtney Luce

Courtney is one of the three co-founders and is a Floating Collaborator. She has been in education for 16 years and has spent 7 years working in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Northern Colorado. She has a doctorate in Educational Psychology and an undergraduate and master’s degree in English Education.
 

 

 

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Special Education & Lead Collaborator: Caitlin Konecny

Caitlin is a co-founder and is also the Special Education Collaborator and Lead Collaborator. She has a master's degree in curriculum and instruction with a focus on urban education. She is passionate about social emotional learning, diversity in education, and working with second language learners. She is a co-founder who believes all students deserve equal access to education.  

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Black Band & Lead Collaborator: David Edwards

David is a co-founder and currently teaches in the middle school. He has a master's degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado. He is passionate about divergent thinking and hands-on learning. He believes students learn by doing and loves to create along side students.

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Yellow Band Collaborator: Amanda Haraksin

We are so excited to welcome Mandy to the TSOI staff as our new Yellow Band Collaborator! Prior to teaching at TSOI, Mandy taught at outdoor schools all over the country and also taught English while living abroad in Ecuador. Mandy has a dual master's in Environmental Education and Teaching from Southern Oregon University. She is excited to share her passion for outdoor education with our TSOI community!

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Red Band Collaborator: Craig Newkirk

Craig began his teaching career in Basalt, CO with a degree in Elementary Education from UNC. He recently took a two year hiatus from the classroom to return to UNC to obtain his master's of science degree in applied statistics and research methods. Craig is excited to join the TSOI staff and is especially excited to share his extensive science background with our learning community. He is passionate about supporting students as they become researchers and is focused on developing strong relationships with all learners. 

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Green Band Collaborator: Chesley Bond

Ches graduated from UNC with a bachelor of arts in english and an emphasis on secondary education. After student teaching at TSOI, he was able to become a permanent member of the staff. He is passionate about exploring new concepts and learning alongside students. 

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Blue Band Collaborator: Tiffany McCall

Tiffany has been in education since 1999, teaching everything from Kindergarten- middle school, serving as a Gifted and Talented Facilitator, as well as an Instructional Coach. She holds a master's of arts in educational leadership from University of Northern Colorado.  She loves the magic of learning and enjoys working with students and their families.  

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Orange Band Collaborator: Chelsea Gersch

Chelsea began her teaching career working with 4th and 5th grade students and is now beginning her second year at TSOI working with our 1st and 2nd graders! Chelsea has a masters degree in elementary teaching and a bachelors in speech, language and hearing sciences. She believes literacy is an essential life skill and is driven to inspire a love for reading in all students. Chelsea goes above and beyond to create a learning community that is inclusive and supportive of all children. 

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Purple Band Collaborator: Luca Carpenter

Luca has been learning with young people for 15 years. They have a master’s degree in early childhood education from Goddard College. They are passionate about hands on learning and getting kids outside. Prior to coming to Colorado they ran a forest school in Michigan. They are excited to begin their second year with TSOI next year!

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Floating Collaborator: Dr. Tatum Monaghan

Tatum will be entering her 19th year in elementary education; she taught in the classroom for 13 years and has worked as an instructional coach for 6.  She holds a master’s degree in elementary education as well as her doctorate in education reform and research. Tatum is moving into a new role this year at TSOI as a floating collaborator to support with intervention work and provide even more personalized learning for our students. 

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Special Education Paraprofessional: Tasja Guerrero

Tasja began working part time at TSOI as a lunch and recess monitor and now we are lucky enough to have her on staff full time as our Special Education Para Professional! Students just love working with Tasja and she goes out of her way to connect on an individual level with all of TSOI's learners.
 
Tasja loves that the school is so open and welcoming. And, she plays a huge role in making sure the environment remains open and welcoming to all!

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Master of Hats: Austin Vaclavik

If there is something you need at TSOI, Austin is likely the person with whom to start. Austin's title at school is 'Master of Hats' because he does SO much! He is the office manager, the health clerk, the attendance secretary, and the building manager. He also teaches exploratory classes with topics ranging from woodshop, to frisbee, to sewing. 

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Secretary: Maria Dacus

Maria has been the wonderful secretary and lunch/park monitor at TSOI for the past 4 years. She goes out of her way to greet students and families everyday with a smile and shows so much care to everyone. Some students even lovingly refer to her as their 'school grandma'!
 
We are so lucky to have her caring presence at TSOI! 

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School Psychologist: Dr. Sean Peters

Sean is a licensed School Psychologist and is starting his 6th year at TSOI! He earned his Ph.D. from The School Psychology Program at The University of Texas at Austin. Sean is excellent at coming up with personalized and student-centered supports to help care for all of our learners!

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Occupational Therapist: Toshifumi Araki

Toshi is an Occupational Therapist with 12 years of experience specializing in the areas of fine motor, visual motor and sensory processing. He has a masters of arts from University of Southern California and loves coming up with unique and FUN ways for kids to practice developing their motor skills. 

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Therapist: Debbie Beach

Debbie is our North Range mental health therapist. She has her Master’s from Regis University and is a licensed professional counselor. She loves helping kids find ways to express their feelings through play.

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Speech Language Pathologist: Teresa Adams

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Social Worker: Rodrigo Morendez

We are so excited to welcome Rodrigo to TSOI this year as our Social Worker! Rodrigo earned his Master of Social Work from Colorado State University and has been a social worker for 8 years. Rodrigo is committed to partnering with families to help them access resources and support within our community. He also loves building relationships with students and teaching them new skills to help them be successful at school and in life.

 

 

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Kitchen Manager: Brenda Hensley

Brenda has been working in school kitchens for 13 years, and has been with TSOI for 7 years since we opened. She is passionate about providing our students with healthy and delicious meals and takes the time to really get to know each and every student at the school. We are so lucky to have Brenda as a caring adult in our TSOI community!

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Building Manager: Linda Tellez

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Custodian: Melissa Craven