Authors & Presenters

David LaRose is an education coach and presenter specializing in PLCs, RTI, leadership, and organizational culture. He is former superintendent for Culver City Unified School District in California.

François Massé is a superintendent of education for several schools and has been working in collaboration with educators to transform the culture of these institutions into professional learning communities.

Mike Mattos is an internationally recognized author, presenter, and practitioner who specializes in uniting teachers, administrators, and support staff to transform schools by implementing response to intervention and professional learning communities.

Maria Nielsen, educational speaker and author, specializes in supporting teachers and administrators in the areas of PLCs, RTI, school culture, curriculum design, the highly engaged classroom, and assessment systems. Her life’s work is to help schools build successful systems to ensure high levels of student learning.

Geri Parscale spent 28 years in education and has worked as a classroom teacher, principal, professional development director, and finally deputy superintendent of Fort Leavenworth Schools, USD 207. Her mode of operation was always the same: learning for all kids.

Garrick Peterson helps teachers and administrators become high-functioning PLCs with a specific focus on making the connection between assessment and intervention.

Dr. Will Remmert is an author and educational presenter with over 25 years of experience as a principal, teacher, coach, and Solution Tree associate working with preK–12 and district-level educators across the country.

Paula Rogers is an educational speaker who supports schools in the implementation of PLC and RTI. Paula retired in 2015 after a career in public education as the deputy superintendent for instruction, accountability, and human resources for Hallsville ISD, a midsize district in East Texas with five Title 1 campuses.

Kimberly Salomonson provides coordination and professional development for state and district work in continuous quality improvement efforts. She served seven years as the director of pupil personnel services with the Sanger Unified School District.

Julie A. Schmidt recently retired as superintendent of schools for Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 in Illinois. The district began its professional learning community (PLC) journey 22 years ago, and all seven schools have been recognized as Model PLC at Work® schools. Woodlawn Middle School in District 96 was the 2018 DuFour Award winner.