Andrew Adelmann, Project Coordinator

An employee of Designs for Learning since 1993, Andrew is the organization’s project lead for evaluation and mandatory report. He has authored fifteen successful charter proposals. As part of Designs’ school services contracts, Andrew does evaluation work including drafting school improvement plans and annual reports; applications for federal Title funds; assistance with mandatory government reporting, board support, and planning/coordination of services. In addition, Andrew has taken part in all aspects of start-up for several new charter schools, including drafting charter proposals, obtaining 501(c)3 status, grant administration, promotion/publicity, recruiting and hiring staff, and coordinating the start-up effort.

He has made presentations to charter school groups on topics such as Board governance, writing a charter school proposal and applying for federal nonprofit status, and has co-authored publications on school vouchers, on charter school laws across the states, and on parent involvement in charter schools. In December 2008, Andrew completed his Masters in Evaluation Studies (Department of Educational Policy and Administration) at the University of Minnesota. He has served on the Minnesota Council for Quality’s Board of Evaluators which evaluates organizations based on the Malcolm Baldrige quality criteria. Interests in evaluation focus on organizational improvement and the use of data to drive organizational decisions.

 

Susan Airhart, Director of Finance

Susan brings to DL clients significant experience in school finance. She worked with Edison Schools, Inc. for the last 5 years in Business Services and Financial Management. Her most recent position was serving as Manager of Area Financial Management, Site Implementation. This position required Susan to oversee Financial Management for the Midwest, manage client relationships, as well as operations management. In addition to working for Edison Schools, Inc., Susan has experience in working at a legal and accounting firm, small businesses and schools.

As Director of Finance for Designs for Learning, Susan oversees Financial Management for all of our Finance & Accounting clients. Managing and cultivating client relationships, as well as internal and external operations management are primary roles. She works closely with Directors and Boards and monitors “pulse points” monthly at the sites to foresee any issues and help find solutions as problem arise.

 

David Alley, President

David serves as managing partner of Designs for Learning’s extraordinary team of education consultants and managers. He guides Designs’ development of new programs and services and provides leadership for its consulting work. He serves on the Higher Ground Academy Building Board. He is a member of the Education Industry Association and was a founding member of the national Education Industry Leadership Board. Clients include: more than 25 charter schools in Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Education, St. Paul Public Schools (High School of Tomorrow and Area Learning Center), Migizi Communications, Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, Charter Friends National Network, Seward Learning Systems (SBIR project), MN Agricultural Education Leadership Council, San Diego (CA) Children’s Museum charter schools.

David has a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Memphis. He was Project Coordinator for the Community Learning Centers project funded by a five million dollar grant from the New American Schools initiative to reinvent American education. Before joining Designs for Learning, David gained extensive experience as an administrator in rural post-secondary education, serving as director of institutional evaluation and planning, associate academic dean, and vice president for student services at a small private college in Arkansas. He was a systems engineer at IBM and has extensive knowledge of educational technology.

 

Steve Bosacker, Systems Development and Project Coordinator

Steve Bosacker works from a base of over 15 years of experience in organizational development in education and non-profit sectors, as well as an extensive background in project management to Designs for Learning. Most recently, Steve has worked with PACT Charter School managing an $11.5 million facility and school expansion project. Expansion included improving the school’s organization, processes and policies. Steve’s work experience includes Director of Community and Organizational Development at the University of the Nations in Hawaii, Project manager for PCS Systems and Regional Coordinator of Volunteer Development for American Field Service in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Steve completed his Bachelor of Arts at Macalester College, received a Master of Science degree and a Master of Education in Human Resource Development from the University of Minnesota. His expertise serves our clients in organizational development, technical support for management systems, facilities development and facilitating projects. He also manages client schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, commonly known as "E-Rate."

 

Lynn Dahlgren, Accounting Assistant

Lynn Dahlgren comes to Designs for Learning with 16 years of experience in school finance. She worked for many years in a large public school system as a financial assistant and has brought that knowledge into the Charter School environment serving Charters School’s unique demands for the last two years. She has provided services to Charter Schools in their start up year and first year of operations in the areas of financial reporting, budget preparation and federal and local grant tracking and reporting. In addition, she has experience in School Nutrition Services with coordinating the implementation of a computerized food service record keeping and reporting system.

Lynn has an Associate Arts Degree in Business, specializing in accounting. Her skills will be used at Designs for Learning in the areas of School Nutrition Services, Financial Management and School Start Up activities for our clients.

 

Jen Fielder, School Psychologist

Jen has a B.A. in Psychology from St. Cloud State University and an M.A.  in School Psychology from Northern Arizona University. Additionally, Jen helped provide special education services on many reservations in Arizona, worked as the 504 coordinator, and was a member of the special education compliance team at a district in the Phoenix area.

 

Gerry Fuller, Technology Support

Gerry’s background is in Windows Systems, Server, and Network management. He specializes in setting up, configuring, and maintaining servers in the “Best Practices” model, whether they are stand alone or working together in a server farm. He also excels at systems organization and documentation so data and procedures can be accessed efficiently.

Gerry has an Associate Degree in Business Management, 1-year certificate course on Systems/Network Administration, and A+ certification.

 

Mark Huggins, Technology Manager

Mark has expertise in Networking, Programming, and Technology support. Mark is an A+ Certified Professional as well as MCP Certified (Microsoft Certified Professional), also he has an Associates Degree in Network Engineering from St Paul Tech.

With his resourceful knowledge on new technology and well as an interest in increasing network performance, Mark makes a great addition to our Tech Team.

Mark has skills in configuration and management in Windows, Linux/Unix Servers and Desktops, also database management and web application development.

 

Patricia A. Kallio, Special Education Services Assistant

Pat joined the team at Designs for Learning in 2008 where she utilizes her diverse work experience to assist the Special Ed Director and staff and also assists with marketing the company.. Prior to joining the Design’s team, Pat graduated from the Minnesota School of Business, was employed on campus of a large parochial school, worked with a major audit firm and held a job at a government ship-building agency, factors that all helped broaden Pat’s range of service. Pat credits her 20 years at MECC (Minnesota Educational Computing Corp.) for growth opportunities, including her favorite role as Public Relations Coordinator during her final several years there. Pat’s flexibility and willingness to learn helped transition her to a position in St. Anthony-New Brighton ISD 282, where she worked for a decade in Special Ed. Pat supported the Director in all aspects of tuition billing, including Child Count and training on the SpEd Forms software program.

 

Pamela Meade, Director of Client Services

Pamela Meade’s expertise helps to coordinate Designs for Learning operations, spearhead strategic initiatives, and create systems and procedures for DL’s core services. She has been a Business Manager for three Charter Schools, most recently at Partnership Academy. At Partnership Academy, she was one of the founding staff members and helped the school to be financially sound, quality focused, and systems oriented. She assists schools with customized training aimed to build charter school internal capacity and self sufficiency.

Pamela has an MBA from Westminster College in Professional Communications. She has worked in the fields of legal compliance, contract negotiation, project coordination, grant management and school finance.

 

Deonna Perez-Evans, Human Resources Manager

Deonna has over six years experience working in human resources in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors.  Her strengths are in strategic planning, employee training/coaching, team development, conflict resolution, recruitment and retention, federal and state regulatory reporting, human resource best practices, compensation planning, payroll, and global benefits planning and administration.

Deonna has a bachelor’s degree in management with a minor in organizational behavior from The College of St. Scholastica.

 

Tamera Pulver, Director of Special Education Programs

Tamera has worked in special educational services for the last ten year in both traditional and charter school settings. Serving the needs of students in a variety of positions, Tamera brings her knowledge as a Para educator, teacher and administrator to each of her schools. She has worked to assure compliance of state and federal laws from faculty, staff, county and itinerant service providers for students with disabilities. Additionally, Tamera is experienced in team building, data analysis, school-wide goal setting, staff development, and instructional leadership.

Tamera has her M.S. in Special Education with a license in Emotional Behavior Disorders and certification in Autism. Additionally she has a Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership, licensed as a Director of Special Education and K-12 Principal.

 

Bruce Seal, Special Education Director and Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) Trainer

Bruce Seal has over 30 years experience in Minnesota education. Bruce graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a Driver Education certificate from the University of Minnesota, and a MA in Special Education and special education administration certificate from the University of St. Thomas. He has over 20 years experience as a teacher of English, Driver Education, and special education– emotional and behavioral disabilities. Since 1998 Bruce has been working in school administration, first as a principal of an Area Learning Center, and then as an administrator of special education. He worked as an Assistant Director and Director of Special Education for the Minnesota Charter Schools Special Education Project for three years. He has been a Special Services Director for an independent school district where he supervised programs in special education, English Language Learning (ELL), and health services.

Bruce received a certificate from the Conflict Resolution Institute for completing Level I Mediator Training. He is a certified by Crisis Prevention Institute as a CPI trainer, and has been a certified trainer for crisis prevention since 1990 with over 225 hours of training school staff in crisis prevention/CPI techniques.

 

George Ward, Accounting Specialist

George brings over 20 years of accounting and bookkeeping knowledge to his work at Designs for Learning. He has worked in several industries for companies such as Cargill, Tonka Corporation and LandAmerica. He also was owner and manager of his own company, The Outdoorsman of Pine City.

George has an accounting degree from Duluth Technical College. He assists Designs for Learning schools with accounting, payroll, and audit preparation services.

 

Pam Young, Director of Finance

Pam has over 10 years experience in charter school business management and accounting. Pam’s work with charter schools has extended into other areas including capacity building with boards and staff and developing best practices for school finance functions. Her background also includes 25 years experience in administrative, operations and personnel management in nonprofit organizations and the University of Minnesota.

She received a Master of Business Administration from the College of St. Thomas, an Accounting II Certificate from the University of Minnesota and a BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado.

Pam provides clients with financial and business management services and capacity building.

 

Sue Zabilla, Senior Accountant

Sue is responsible for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and account reconciliations for the charter schools which contract with Designs for Learning. She is also responsible for all payroll processing and quarterly reporting for our clients.

Sue has a B.S. in accounting from the University of Illinois and 25 years of accounting experience in a manufacturing environment as well as in the construction business. Most recently, she worked as an accounting assistant in an urban charter high school in St. Paul.