Committee Member Bios

Andrew Crossley

In his second year in DPS, with previous experience teaching in Jeffco and Mapleton Public Schools, as well as Portugal, China, New Zealand, India, and the UK. He teaches High School English at DCIS, Baker.

Why he wants to serve on LCC:

Andrew is particularly concerned about the impact of LEAP as a source of tension and anxiety which harms teaching and learning. He thinks that it's asking too much of a bureaucratic system to be as detailed and specific as LEAP tries to be - on the basis that it will always be used inconsistently both within and across schools.

Wade McManus

Currently in his 6th year teaching in DPS, Wade is a 1st grade literacy teacher and the Site Coordinator for the Teacher Academy at Gust Elementary.

Why he wants to serve on LCC:

Wade is excited to work on the LEAP Collaboration Committee as a representative of DCTA and its members. Wade hopes to work to ensure that LEAP is being applied in a way to support teachers and their growth in the classroom; and that LEAP is being applied in a fair and equitable way across the district. It is important to him that LEAP not be just a critical evaluation system, but that it is also a coaching system with stronger teacher input.

Sean Precious

Currently an instructional superintendent supporting our Early Colleges in the Division of Secondary Education. Sean is a former MS teacher and principal.

Why he wants to serve on LCC:

Sean is excited to gather input from educators to make improvements to our growth and performance system (LEAP) and to accelerate our outcomes for students!

Jennifer Engbretson

Currently in her 10th year teaching in DPS, Jennifer is a 9/10th grade math teacher and Senior Team Lead at North High School

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Jennifer is excited about the opportunity to gather perspective about the LEAP evaluation system from both the teachers and evaluators in order to make positive changes to our current system in service of our students.

Lisa Hogan

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Elizabeth Lewis-Riggs

Currently in her 19th year as a Montessori teacher for ECE/K students in mixed-age classrooms. Her current role is as a Senior Team Lead, Early Literacy Specialist, and Reading Interventionist at Denison Montessori

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Liz is looking forward to participating in the LEAP Collaborative Committee to gain clarity as to how to help teachers see the LEAP process as a coaching tool that helps improve their ongoing classroom practice. She would like to see a kinder, gentler LEAP! Liz would like to clarify the use of appendices in the evaluation and coaching of LEAP teachers who are in non-traditional educational programs like Montessori and ECE.

Kris Bethscheider

Kris is in her 20th year as an educator and 16th with the district. She has been a Social Studies teacher at Montbello, Lincoln, and resides now at West Early College. She is active in the union, representing her colleagues as her buildings AR, sitting on the DCTA Board of Directors and as the chair of the Innovation Schools Committee.

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Kris has been knee-deep in the calculations of LEAP since it first came out, contacting the LEAP office often to discuss scores and outcomes. Also, having participated in many LEAP Appeals hearings, she has seen the impact that LEAP can have on a teacher’s career and wants to help insure fairness and equity in the process

Michelle Garrison

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Sandra Just

Currently in her 30th year with DPS, Sandra has been a building leader at the middle school and high school level- both traditional and multiple pathway. She also spent time serving as the performance management advisor with the Talent Management Team.

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

As I have served at several levels along with centrally, working to ensure that we have a system that allows for strong growth for school based staff is extremely important.

Lisa Hennessy

Lisa is in her 36th year of teaching in 4 different states with a significant amount of experience in mental health and treatment centers both as a teacher and administrator. Currently in her 14th year in DPS and her her 4th year as a Senior Team Lead/Sped Teacher/Interventionist

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Lisa was invited to serve on the LCC because she has had positive experiences with LEAP after negative experiences with peer observers. It is her hope to make this evaluation process equitable for all professionals in education to enable people to grow to their best in order to make a positive impact on students.

Theress Pidick

Theress has worked as a teacher and leader in DPS for over 25 years and has extensive experience in management, cross-functional collaboration, program design and strategic planning. She currently is the Director of Work-based Learning supporting students with their career development needs/experiences.

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Theress looks forward to hearing from practitioners about what is working well with LEAP and what can be improved to create a fair and equitable system that supports student learning

Cristina Bansch-Scott

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Emily Barthel

Jennifer Harris

Currently in her 21st year in education, with 7 of those being with Team DPS. She serves as the Performance Management Advisor for the Growth and Performance Team and has had the joy of serving as an Elementary Teacher, Assistant Principal and Principal throughout her journey.

Why she wants to serve on LCC:

Jen is excited about the opportunity to get feedback from teachers on what is working with our LEAP Growth and Performance System, as well as what we need to refine to make their classroom experience feel more supportive, with the end result impacting students in a positive way.

Brian McNamara

Currently a Special Education Mild/Moderate teacher at South High School, he has taught for over 7 years within DPS; including several stops in both Traditional and Alternative Pathways High School Network Settings. He is a Student First Teacher who is working hard to try to close the Opportunity Gaps for All Students; especially in the area of Special Education.

Why he wants to serve on LCC:

Brian wants to make the LEAP Evaluation Process more equitable and fair for all teachers, especially for Student Service Providers. Calling Particular attention on ways to either help improve or strengthen specific indicators on how District Inclusion Teachers are being evaluated under the current Co-Teaching Model Setting.

Lisa Cannon

Lisa has worked as an educational audiologist in the district for 19 years. She also has a leadership role at the state level as the audiology coordinator for CDE where she was a part of the steering committee and working group for the state model evaluation system for SSPs.

Why she wants to serve on the LCC

Specialized service providers (SSPs) are not evaluated under the DPS LEAP framework - they currently have their own evaluation framework, with indicators specific to each of the licensed disciplines. SB 191 included SSPs in addition to teachers and principals, a fact that is often overlooked. As the sole representative for SSPs on this committee, Lisa’s voice is a reminder of the intent of the law as well as a reminder that DPS SSPs are an equally critical group of professionals in the education of DPS students.