INTRODUCING LEAWOOD'S LATEST AND GREATEST!

My name is Danni Rosenthal.  I have been a preschool teacher for Jeffco for twenty years, a wife and a mother to two grown boys. I love being a part of young children’s lives as they are learning to explore and grow. I am very excited to be a part of the Leawood Community because of the welcoming environment.

When I’m not at school I enjoy porcelain doll making, crafting, gardening and spending time with my family.  I look forward to a wonderful year. 

My name is Lara Coffey.  I am excited to be a part of the preschool team this year at Leawood!  I have been married to Ben for 15 years and we have two beautiful children who keep us busy! Spencer will be in 8th grade this year and keeps busy with Boy Scouts, acting, swimming and friends. Sophia is going into 5th grade. She is a competitive dancer and loves art projects. When I am not being “Mom Chauffeur”, I enjoy taking walks, puzzles, playing with our dog, Dobby, and road trips with my family.

I am a product of Jeffco schools. I graduated from Bear Creek High School where I learned to love singing and musicals. I earned my BA in Elementary Education and Mathematics from the University of Northern Colorado in 1999. During my first year of teaching Kindergarten, I went back to school to earn my Master’s Degree in Teaching and Learning from Regis University in 2002. I was lucky enough to get to be a Stay-at-home-mom for 8 years where I learned to celebrate the small discoveries. Most recently, I was a preschool teach at Blue Heron Elementary for 3 years, a half day kindergarten teacher at Powderhorn Elementary and a full day kindergarten teacher at Bear Creek K8.  I absolutely love teaching Preschool! My main goal is to teach your child to love learning and to love coming to school every day!

Kindergarten:

In Kindergarten, we welcome Ms Tami Grauer who replaces our beloved Lisa Rombach.  Lisa will surely be missed as such an important part of community, starting with her preschool legacy.  Lisa opened our preschool many years ago as the director, and then went on to Kindergarten and 1st grade positions.  She made the decision to try something new and welcomed the opportunity to teach a very different population of students at Westgate Elementary.  We wish her all the very best.

Hi. My name is Tami Grauer. Ever since I was a little girl, I had three goals: to live in Colorado, to be a teacher, and to write a children’s book. So far, I’m 2 for 3.  I grew up in Kansas, Missouri and graduated from the University of Kansas…ROCK CHALK! I moved to Colorado and began my teaching career. I love living in this beautiful state. I enjoy hiking, walking, creating, fall, Halloween, going to the movies, and laughing. I am a proud parent of two young adults, a son and daughter, and blessed to be a Grammy of a 1 and 4-year old (they have my heart). I am fortunate to be able to spend time with my mama and we like to travel and shop! I have many years in the teaching profession with a background in Early Childhood Education and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. I have taught in both private and public schools, most recently teaching kindergarten and first grade for Jeffco. Now that my own kids have grown, I’m ready to start a new adventure with Leawood. I am so excited to be a part of this wonderful community and joining the “LEAWOOD LION” family. I can’t wait to get to know everyone and love this school!!! Most of all I can’t wait to work with the kids. There is no greater reward than to watch children learn, grow, and succeed.  I can’t wait to be a part of their learning.  Please feel free to stop in, wave hi, or send a smile…I promise I’ll send one right back ‘atcha!   

First and Second Grade

We will sure miss Mrs Elton who has taken a position as the Instructional Coach at Blue Heron Elementary.  Judy joined Leawood in 2011 and brought a wealth of knowledge as a Special Education teacher for two years.   She taught 4th and 3rd grade, and then landed in 1st grade for the last four years.  Her legacy will continue as her moose will still live in her classroom!  She will be an incredible Instructional Coach!

In first grade we announce that Kayla Chasney will be moving from 4th grade to 1st, and Miss Leu will be moving to 2nd grade. We hired Lynn Helm to join the 1st grade team.  

5th Grade

As our 6th grades transitioned to Ken Caryl, our beloved 6th grade teachers had choices to make.   We wish  our dear friend Mr Lupo the very best as he starts his next chapter at Summit Ridge Middle School, and we are thrilled that Mrs Story decided to stay and join our 5th grade team. We will miss Mr Lupo's humor, passion for teaching, and involvement in everything Leawood! Mrs. DHS will be missed as she moves on to Emory Elementary where she will be teaching 5th grade.  Her involvement and support of the Leawood school and community as a parent and staff member will always be treasured: PTSA President and Accountability chair;  para, special ed teacher, 3rd grade and 5th grade teacher.  

Hello Leawood families!

 My name is Julia Cable and I am going to be teaching fifth grade this year. Leawood has a special place in my heart because it is where my younger brother and I attended all 7 years of elementary school and where I completed my student teaching last fall in 6th grade.

I graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a BA in Elementary Education and a minor in Reading. After graduation I became a guest teacher in Jeffco where I was able to experience many different classrooms and schools. 

Leawood is my home and I could not be more excited to be working with the two amazing teachers on my team and meeting all the wonderful students in just a few short weeks!

Aimee Crispin has accepted a job as Assistant Principal at Dennison Elementary.  Aimee started at Leawood 19 years ago, fresh from student teaching!  She taught 4th-6th grade for 14 years before becoming the Instructional Coach for the last five years.  Leawood has been her 2nd family for so long, so this decision comes with tears of both joy and sadness.  She will not be a stranger though, as she is still a Leawood mom and lives in the community!  We wish her the best of luck in her new position.  At this time, we have not yet replaced Mrs Crispin.  She'll have some big shoes to fill!!

Full Time AMP: Art,  Music, and PE

With the addition of adding full time Specials AMP this year, we had some staff changes as well. Our dear Mr Joel Zigman, last year's music teacher, has decided to branch out on his own and open his own music school.  Once he gets situated, he will have flyers and information available for any students wishing to take lessons with him.  Mr Gonzales will continue as our PE teacher, and our previous art teachers will return to their other home schools.  Introducing the rest of our new AMP team:

Hi! I am Avrial Turner, and I am so excited to be joining the Leawood team as the General Music Teacher. My primary objective in life is to bring true, authentic, and relatable music into the lives of kiddos. My hope is that I can, with the students, foster an environment that allows for them to be impacted by the community and music making in a positive and shaping way that expands to their lives beyond the music classroom. As I continue to explore this goal, I have learned and hope to continue learning how to more greatly impact the community and the students I am privileged to work with.  

In addition to music class, I hope to see your kiddos in CHOIR. Fourth and fifth graders will have the opportunity to explore their voices and develop community and collaboration through music and their peers. I hope they all consider joining! 

In my outside of school life, I love to garden and tend to my many household plants. When the weather outside turns a little chilly and the gardens are at rest for the season, you can find me inside either baking, cooking, or watching Star Trek (or all three at once!). My family is small with just my little puppy and not so little husband. We are newly married and excited for all the new things happening in our lives. 

Also, last thing! If you have any interest in being a room family supporter (room mom, room dad, or any another member of a child's family who is their supporter), PLEASE let me know by email. A few of the AMP teachers are testing the waters on having room family supporters, and we'd love to kick it off amazingly this year! 

Hi!  I'm Kate Wheeler and I'm so excited to be going into my first year art teaching at Leawood, and my eighth year teaching art in Jeffco. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, I moved to Colorado to attend college at the University of Denver, where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts.  After college, I worked various jobs—one of which led me to Belize where I taught art for a summer and discovered my love for teaching. I later returned to DU to get my teaching certificate and earned a Master in Arts Integration. I believe in creative thinking and creative problem solving.  I am part of a small group of art teachers that explore student-led learning, choice art stations and TAB (Teaching Artistic Behavior). I am married to Mike Wheeler and have two daughters, Rose (6) and Keira (5) as well as a blue heeler Australian cattle dog, Brooklyn. I am an avid sports fan, closely following my Chicago teams.  I love being outdoors, keeping busy by hiking, camping, skiing, fishing and playing recreational sports.  I am so excited to be a Leawood Lion and share my love of art with the Leawood community! 

New Special Education Team Members

We are so proud of our beloved Mrs Linda Gryski who has moved on to a district level position in our Special Education department.  Linda has dedicated many years to speech and language pathology, and now she gets to oversee district level evaluations in this specialized field.  She's going to be amazing and touch many more lives.  Replacing Linda is Ali Grush, coming to us from Columbine High School.

My name is Ali Grush and I am the new Speech-Language Pathologist at Leawood! I grew up in this area and am a graduate of Jeffco Public Schools. I played tennis at Colorado Mesa University and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. I then went on to get my Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and graduated from University of Northern Colorado in 2015. This will be my 5th year as an SLP. I spent my last four years just across the street at Columbine High School. I loved working at the high school level and while I was there, I got involved with coaching both cross country and tennis. However, my heart has always been with the elementary population. I am so excited that I will still be in the Columbine community and get to work with future Rebels here at Leawood! I recently got engaged, so in my free time I will be planning a wedding! I also enjoy running, playing tennis, hiking, snowboarding and spending time with family. 

Greetings Leawood!

I will be your new Early Childhood Special Educator for Preschool this year. While this will be my first year working with pre-k students, I have been working with students with special needs for the last 6 years. Previously I have worked at special schools for children who have Autism and severe behavior problems. During that time worked very closely with Behavior Specialists and Speech Language Pathologists to increase communication and reduce problem behavior, all while teaching academics. The last two years I taught at Blue Heron Elementary in the Primary grades Center-based Autism Program. While I loved working with my kiddos, at the beginning of each school year parents would tell me how horrible their preschool SPED experiences have been. I decided that I wanted to change that. 

I am originally from Pennsylvania, my sister (who is a preschool teacher) and I moved to Colorado 7 years ago. Shortly after we moved our parents came here too. My sister and I are very close and her daughter, Evy, is the cutest 3-year-old I have ever met! You can believe that I am a very proud Aunt and spend as much time with her as possible. In my free (ha ha ha) time I like to cook, dye fabric and make cool things from it and do anything outside in the mountains. 

I am super excited to be working with you all and getting to know a new school!

English as a Second Language Teacher

Mrs Margo Williams leaves us this year, as the needs in our area changed and our district paired us with another school.  Our new teacher, Mrs Anne O'Reilly, will be half time at Leawood, and half time at Stony Creek.

Hello Leawood!  My name is Anne O'Reilly and I very excited to be the new part-time ESL teacher (English as a Second Language)!  I have been a teacher in JeffCo for 14 years - mostly teaching 4th and 5th grades until I started teaching ESL 5 years ago.  I absolutely love working with English language learners, their families, and their teachers to help these remarkably smart students do their very best in school.  I am a Denver native with two young sons, George and August, who attend school near our house in Denver.  My husband and I bought an RV this spring and the four of us have had a great summer of adventures exploring the national parks of Utah and Wyoming in it with our boys.  I am looking forward to working with the staff at Leawood because I've heard great things about them and, of course, working with the language learners who impress me every day.  

From Our Principal

From the School & Office  

From Our Teachers

From Our Preschool  

From PTSA/Accountability  

From the District/Community