It’s our privilege to serve educators, and we couldn’t do it without the invaluable feedback and support of the Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board: a special group of teachers, counselors, media specialists, school- and district-level administrators and education professors. These educators and leaders volunteer their time to review our resources, try our curricular tools and act as ambassadors for TT.
In February, we put out a call for advisors and received about 250 applications. Our staff reviewed each application with an eye for the applicant’s knowledge of our work and resources and for their experience in the field of anti-bias education. With our final selections, we also aimed to achieve a wide representation of disciplines, grade levels, expertise, locales and voices on the advisory board.
Without further ado, we’re happy to announce the 2017-19 advisory board members, who will begin their two-year term in July.
We’re excited to welcome six first-time members:
- Julie Bradley – Middle school ELL teacher, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- Hayley Breden – High school social studies teacher, Denver, Colorado
- Kimberly Burkhalter – Director of equity/diversity and magnet programs, Wichita, Kansas
- Kevin Cordi – Assistant professor of education, Ada, Ohio
- Angela Hartman – Secondary school librarian, Hutto, Texas
- Kinette Richards – Middle school psychologist, Aurora, Colorado
And we’re proud to welcome back 19 members:
- Dale Allender – Assistant professor of education, Sacramento, California
- Lhisa Almashy – High school ESL teacher and coordinator, Palm Beach County, Florida
- Kim Estelle – Sixth-grade teacher, Huntsville, Alabama
- Carrie Gaffney – Middle school IB teacher and coordinator, Indianapolis, Indiana
- Soñia Galaviz – Elementary teacher, Boise, Idaho
- Gail Heath – Sixth-grade English and language arts teacher, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Michelle Higgins – High school social studies teacher, Walla Walla, Washington
- Amy Melik – K–12 ELL coordinator and teacher, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Veronica Menefee – Special education teacher and consultant, Nottingham, Maryland
- Amber Makaiau – Associate specialist and director of curriculum and research, Oahu, Hawaii
- Amber Neal – Elementary reading and language arts teacher, Houston, Texas
- Sarah Neely – Elementary school teacher, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
- Lois Parker-Hennion – High school library media specialist, Orangeburg, New York
- David Paschall – High school social studies and humanities teacher, Austin, Texas
- Celeste Payne – High school science teacher, West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Kim Siar – Elementary school teacher, Norristown, Pennsylvania
- Joe Schmidt – High school social studies initiatives specialist, Augusta, Maine
- Scott Thomas – Elementary school principal, Eagan, Minnesota
- Barbie Garayúa-Tudryn – Elementary school counselor, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Congratulations to our new and returning members. We look forward to working with you!
