Gail Podaridis

High School Development Specialist

Gail Podaridis is a native New Yorker, born to Greek immigrants, but has called Houston home since 1979 by way of serving in VISTA/The Peace Corp. Gail has been employed in Spring ISD since 1996, where she began her career in education as a middle school Special Educator. Gail moved on to teach high school English and has served as an ARD Facilitator and Emergent Bilingual Campus Contact before the Multilingual Department as the Secondary Language Acquisition Specialist. Gail’s focus is building capacity in educators to better support our Emergent Bilingual students with language acquisition strategies and ensuring there is equity in instruction. Gail resides in Houston, Texas where she is an active member of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

Brenda Peak

High School Development Specialist

Brenda Peak began her career in education working as a paraprofessional in Ysleta ISD while she completed her studies to become an educator at the University of Texas at EL Paso. She received her Masters degree in Educational Leadership from Lamar University in 2018. She has taught middle school and high school ELA and ESL courses and has served as a high school instructional coach for both. She is currently serving as an Emergent Bilingual Development Specialist in Spring ISD. She resides in Spring, Texas with her husband Jeff where they enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren.

Melissa Solano

High School Development Specialist

Melissa Solano, a native Houstonian, has been in education for 21 years. Melissa has taught middle school and high school with an ELA/ESL background. She has also served as a high school instructional coach and district curriculum writer. Melissa currently works as a Emergent Bilingual Development Specialist for the Multilingual Department in Spring ISD. She strives to advance students’ language development by empowering teachers with instructional strategies for the EB student. Melissa currently resides in Spring, Texas with her husband, Anthony, and their three children, Joshua, 14, Mikayla, 11, and Savannah, 5.