Authors & Presenters

Casey R. Ahner is currently the coordinator of special programs at Albuquerque Bilingual Academy, and he has served as a special education teacher, counselor, assistant principal, and principal at the intermediate and elementary levels.

Leticia Amalla has 30 years of educational experience in the West Texas area. Her areas of expertise include gifted and talented, bilingual, and special education. She experienced tremendous success as a turnaround school principal, leveraging every aspect of the professional learning communities framework as one of the vital components of school improvement.

Dr. Aspasia Angelou has 25 years of educational experience as a teacher, teacher trainer, high school principal, and director of high school design and superintendent.

Toby Arritola is the principal at Mountain Vista Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado. With more than 20 years of experience as an educator, Toby specializes in and advocates for developing PLCs and a healthy school culture.

Eric Atuahene serves as principal at Littleton STEM Academy in Avondale, Arizona. He has more than 10 years of proven leadership experience, including implementing systems, raising student achievement, and improving school culture.

Kim Bailey is former director of professional development and instructional support for the Capistrano Unified School District in California. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at Chapman University in California.

Jack Baldermann has been a passionate educational leader for over 30 years. His experience includes leading several high-poverty urban schools to significant success and supporting eight different priority or high-poverty schools to become Model PLC at Work® schools.

Debora Bamforth, an educational speaker, has more than 40 years of experience in education. She served as principal of the D. J. Bakie School in New Hampshire and also worked in the Timberlane District, where she designed and implemented an enrichment program for a school of nearly 1,200 students before assuming the administrative role of curriculum coordinator.

Mandy Barrett, EdD, currently serves as an elementary school principal in northwest Arkansas. She has over 20 years of experience working in high-poverty schools and schools with large ESL populations.

Kendra Bell, PhD, retired from Peoria Unified School District in Arizona in 2022 after serving as chief academic officer for the district. Throughout her career, Dr. Bell has emphasized the importance of continual improvement through professional learning communities.