 Yee Wan, Ed.D. Director (408) 453-6825 |
Yee Wan, Ed.D. is director of School Climate, Leadership & Instructional Services at the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE). She is the past president of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Board. Over the past 20 years, Yee has worked as a bilingual teacher, assistant professor, and administrator of English learner programs.
Yee provides leadership for building school and district capacity in developing systems for supporting English learner success. She leads professional learning on the English Learner Roadmap, implementation of the California English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework, and a community of practice for English learners with disabilities in Santa Clara County. She serves on key statewide ELA/ELD and Mathematics Collaboration Committees to support the implementation of these frameworks. Yee also spearheads the national My Name, My Identity Initiative in partnership with NABE for building a culture of respect by honoring others' names and identities.
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 Natalie Andrade Senior School Climate Specialist (669) 212-4444
| Natalie is the School Climate Senior Specialist in the Tobacco Use Prevention Education Program. She joined the SCLIS team from the San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Office of Diversity and Equity. Natalie has a strong passion and commitment to working with youth and building young leaders to advocate for the issues they believe in. Natalie is also a Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor and has been teaching adults who work with young people how to recognize warning signs and risk factors of a mental health challenge for the last 6 years. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor's degree in Public Health.
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 Alex Coronel Manager, PBIS (408) 453-6737
| Alex is the Manager of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Technical Assistance Center (PBIS TAC). She joined the SCLIS team from the Nevada Department of Education, Office of Student and School Supports, where she worked with district and school site leaders in building sustainable systems of equity for Nevadans. Her Top 5 Gallup Strengths are Intellection, Input, Connectedness, Positivity and Learner. She enjoys leveraging her Intellection, and Input, by learning all she can about teams, school sites, and districts and their contexts to then utilize her Connectedness strength to help align systems and processes in the best service of students, staff, and families. She is driven by her passion for supporting educators in working toward building efficient and effective systems to increase positive school climate. Alex graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno (go pack!) with a bachelor's degree in English and a focus on Gender Studies. She is a SWIS Facilitator for PBIS Applications and is also a certified trainer in the RISE Curriculum through the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
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AJ De Guzman School Climate Specialist , TUPE (669) 212-8631
| AJ is a School Climate Specialist in the TUPE Program! He joined the SCLIS team from being a Professional Expert with the TUPE Program. AJ has previous experience in working for the Public Health Department Tobacco-Free Communities program. He strives to advocate that youth should utilize their powerful voices to implement change in their community. He graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Public Health. He is excited to work with school districts all over the Santa Clara County and coordinate youth events with the TUPE program.
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 Itzhecatl De La Cruz Supervisor, TUPE (669) 212-8629
| Itzhecatl is the Supervisor, Tobacco Use Prevention Education in the TUPE Program! He joined the SCLIS team from Foster & Homeless Youth Educational Services. Itzhecatl has a strong passion for serving youth and their families. He has been an advocate for youth since he was in high school. He received his Master's Degree in Equity and Social Justice. He has over 14 years of restorative practices as a trainer. He is excited about opportunities for finding creative ways in engaging youth, families and community partners.
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 Juan Edquiban Ednalino IV School Climate Specialist, TUPE (669)212-8664
| As a specialist for the TUPE Program, Juan joined us from the Santa Clara County, Public Health Department via the Tobacco-Free Communities Program and more recently, as a responder for the COVID-19 response. Juan has an immense passion and fascination with how pedagogy and public health intertwine and ways they can be used to guide and support the community. He looks forward to finding unique and impactful solutions to challenges he may encounter in his role. More importantly, in his work with the youth he is eager to absorb the invaluable knowledge and insight they have to offer.
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 Laura Guajardo Coordinator, History-Social Science & Secondary Literacy (408) 453-4354
| As Coordinator for History-Social Science and Secondary Literacy, Laura came to the Santa Clara County Office of Education with almost 30 years of experience. She is well-versed in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Response to Intervention (RTI), is an expert in Direct Interactive Instruction (DII) which specializes in establishing classroom rules and routines, classroom management, gradual release instruction, and standards-based assessments. She has worked in partnership with both Gender Spectrum and the Office of Civil Rights to promote district-wide Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT), is certified in Restorative Practices, and believes all students can and should succeed no matter their circumstances.
Laura's journey in education began in the Fremont Unified School District as a paraprofessional aide with special education students. It progressed to teaching social studies and working as an Activities Director at a high achieving multilingual junior high school in which she was recognized for "going above and beyond the call of duty" more than once. For the last two years there, Laura worked at the district level as an Instructional Coach; wherein, she provided one-on-one support for teachers and administration, created highly-interactive professional development, refined curriculum, and lead textbook adoptions to promote learning literacy skills through content.
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 Sonia Gutierrez Manager, TUPE (408) 453-6762
| Sonia Gutierrez is the Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) Manager and currently oversees the TUPE Technical Assistance Grant, Tier 1 and 2 TUPE Grant Consortiums, and the Department of Justice Tobacco grant. The TUPE program provides tobacco, vape and cannabis education supports to students in Santa Clara County. Sonia's prior work experience has been in tobacco control, cessation, and health education at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and the Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center Health Education Department. Sonia has over 10 years' experience working with students in youth development and advocacy programs. Sonia received her Master's in Public Health at San Jose State University, with an emphasis in Community Health Education.
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 Jaime Koo Coordinator, Parent Engagement (408) 453-6992
| A true homegrown educator, Jaime Koo started her early education at Milpitas Christian School and attended local San Jose schools. Discovering the joy of teaching while in high school, Jaime pursued her BA in English at Santa Clara University. She also holds a teaching credential and MA in Ed. Admin. from Santa Clara University. Jaime taught English Language Arts at Rancho Middle School for ten years, motivating and inspiring young people to become effective communicators and contributors in their community.
Prior to becoming the SCCOE’s Parent Engagement Coordinator, Jaime worked as an Education Consultant at Encouraging Literacy, providing reading and writing workshops for parents to encourage literacy development at home with their children. She is also a contributing blogger on GenParenting.com, a Teacher Consultant with the San Jose Area Writing Project, and a former Parent Engagement Specialist with the SCCOE.
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 Shama Marshall Coordinator, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) (408) 453-6742
| Shama is the Coordinator of MTSS at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Shama's journey into education began over 20 years ago with her love of working with students on the autism spectrum, increasing their access to community activities and joy in supporting the development of peer relationships. She joined the SCLIS team after serving as principal/SPED director, curriculum and instruction specialist, inclusion specialist and supporting inclusive practices (SIP) coordinator. Shama started her career in education working with children on the autism spectrum in non-public schools before gaining her teaching credential and master's degree in early childhood special education from Santa Clara University. In addition to promoting inclusive practices in the public school setting, Shama has also shared her passion for inclusive education as a faculty member and coach of the Educator Preparation Program's special education credentialing department. In the non-profit sector, Shama has served as both director of a special needs camp for students in grades 3rd-12th and assistant director for Via's First Step program, assessing and connecting families of eligible young children (0 to 3 years old) with disabilities to the San Andreas Regional Center and SCCOE's Early Start Program.
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 Hushi Natividad Coordinator, ELD & Dual/World Languages (408) 453-6859
| Hushi has served as an educator for over 11 years and has led learning for colleagues as a teacher leader and supported administrators and stakeholders in her role as an instructional coach of English Learner Services at both the school sites and the district office. In 2014-2015, she was recognized as the Alum Rock Union School District Teacher of the Year. Prior to teaching students, she taught English at an adult literacy school to Hmong refugees and refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Bangladesh and many more countries.
Hushi takes pride in connecting with community partners at the local and state level to build positive partnerships to ensure access and opportunity for all students. She is a member of the ELLLI (English Learner Leadership and Legacy Initiative) community and participated in Schools ReTool (in partnership with Stanford's Design School) to engage with school leaders on designing educational hacks that lead to equitable outcomes for students. She has also led projects on integrating technology meaningfully through language development and student portfolios with support from Seesaw and Apple.
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 Saletha Okunnuga Coordinator, History-Social Science & Civic Engagement (408) 453-4260
| My name is Saletha Okunnuga and my pronouns are she, her, and hers. Over the past 15 years, I have enjoyed learning with K-12 students and educators in various capacities and look forward to continuing this important work with the Santa Clara County Office of Education. My career in education began after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California Los Angeles, then a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Southern California. I have taught everything from Ethnic Studies to World History utilizing a project-based learning model. My greatest joy is seeing students understand the content and apply it to their own lives! As an Affinity Group Coordinator, I served on an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Strategic Leadership team, specifically supporting 21 campus affinity groups. Upon obtaining an Administrative Services Credential, I joined the Peninsula Bridge Summer Academy as a Site Director. This non-profit organization provides academic and personal support to students and their families beginning in 4th grade and extending through college. Whether in the classroom or office, it is always my goal to cultivate safe learning environments and to develop inclusive curricula that amplify students' voices.
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 Cheryl Palladino Coordinator, ELA/ELD/Literacy (408) 453-4302
| My name is Dr. Cheryl (Cheri) Palladino, and I am excited to be joining the Professional Learning & Instructional Support Division! Previously, I served as an Inclusion Training Specialist on the Inclusion Collaborative team where I worked with diverse Pre-K-12 schools, districts, and other partnerships in equity, inclusion, and continuous improvement. I have over 20+ years of experience in education as an ELD professor, elementary and middle school teacher, and ELA/ELD/Literacy coach. I have extensive experience and knowledge of Dyslexia, Special Education, Social-Emotional Learning, and UDL research and implementation. My current research interests focus on the preparation of teachers and administrators in literacy development, instructional leadership in literacy, and preventing and remediating reading difficulties and disabilities. I am proud to be a collaborator in the California Dyslexia Initiative, California Coalition for inclusive Literacy, California Learning Acceleration Grant, and the Ways 2 Equity Playbook.
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 Olivia Santillan Coordinator, History-Social Science & Civic Engagement (408) 453-4261
| Olivia Santillan started her teaching career in Fremont Unified in 1997 where she led multiple cross curricular teams through aligning curriculum and creating cross curricular lessons and units. Starting in 2014, Olivia worked as an assistant principal in San Lorenzo Unified where she was trained to conduct administrative work with staff, students, and families through a Restorative Practices and Equity lens. As a site administrator, she supervised and was responsible for the History Social Studies, ELA, and the ELD departments, CELDT testing, ELAC, Seal of Biliteracy, and CAASPP. She created and maintained partnerships between the engineering academy she supervised and the Computer History Museum, Facebook/Oculus, and Morpho Detection.
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 Jessica Simpson Coordinator, PBIS (669) 212-4444
| Jessica is a Coordinator of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at Santa Clara County Office of Education. She previously facilitated classroom learning as a teacher and teacher leader for 13 years before her talents for supporting and cultivating a diverse and nurturing learning environment led her into leadership roles. After attaining both a bachelor's and master's degree in secondary education, she pursued and was awarded an Educational Specialist degree in Educational Leadership and Administration. As a believer in lifelong learning, she is working toward her Doctorate in Education.
Jessica served as Assistant Principal for three years before serving as Coordinator of Student Services for Eastside Union School District. She continues to incorporate new and innovative learning practices and techniques to support educators and leaders in improving student instruction by providing quality Professional. Her sustained goal is to ensure equity in education by providing guidance with learning strategies, interventions, and practices that close the achievement gap and address disproportionality. |
 Stephanie Tague Coordinator, PBIS (408) 453-4348
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 Lindsey White School Climate Specialist, TUPE (669) 212-8632
| Lindsey White is a Specialist for the Tobacco Use Prevention Education program. Lindsey has a great passion for serving youth and providing them with the tools that they need in order to become the best possible version of themselves as they grow older. Lindsey received her Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Chico State and her Masters of Science in Mental Health and Wellness from Grand Canyon University. She looks forward to serving youth all over Santa Clara County. |
 Aries Rivers Yumul Coordinator, LGBTQ+ District Resources & Support (408) 453-6906
| My name is Aries Rivers Yumul, my pronouns are he/him/they.
I am excited to work with you on creating LGBTQ+ supports and finding the resources that you need to affirm all of your students. Understanding the how to be supportive adults, build a sense of community, foster a connection with peers, and access to resources one needs not only to survive but to thrive.
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 Jhun Madriaga Administrative Assistant II (408) 453-4318
|  TBA Administrative Assistant II (408) 453-6690
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 Alison Medeiros Sr. Administrative Data Technician, TUPE (669) 212-8663
 Amanda Keeling Administrative Data Technician, PBIS/MTSS (408) 453-4347
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