2006 Participants & Mentors

Dr. Deborah Bradley Brown career as an educator spans almost 40 years. From 1977 - 2013, she served as a teacher, elementary school principal, Senior Director for Analytical Process Services and Executive Area Director for Orange County Public Schools. Prior to coming to Orange County, she began her career as an educator in 1974 for Portsmouth Public Schools in Portsmouth, VA. Dr. Brown was nominated by the Exceptional Education Program at the University of Central Florida and was appointed Graduate Faculty Scholar in the College of Graduate Studies. She has served as a mentor for NUSELI doctoral students for over 8 years. Having recently retired from Orange County Public Schools, Dr. Brown enjoys traveling with her husband and spending time with their three grandchildren.

Dr. Jonathan McIntire: has served as a teacher and special education administrator in both urban and rural public school systems for over thirty-five years. Currently he is working with the University of Central Florida coordinating a graduate program producing urban special education administrators. The last decade he focused on building educational services for children on the spectrum of autism as well as those with emotional and behavior disorders. He has been a strong advocate for quality education services for students with disabilities and those at risk of school failure for other reasons and built an alternative off campus and community based high school that reduced the drop out race in a former high school to 1%. He has a reputation for working respectfully and collaboratively with parents of children with disabilities as well as building administrators and their teams in problem solving complex issues to ensure the students have the specialized instruction they need and their teachers have the resources and knowledge necessary to teach them well. Dr. McIntire has one Masters in Education Degree from Boston College and a second from Teachers College, Columbia University. His PhD is in Education Policy and Administration was obtained from the University of Michigan and his internship was with a US Congressional subcommittee in Washington, DC in the area of disability policy. He has served as a special education teacher for eight years, a public school Special Education Administrator for twenty-two years in Vermont and Florida and a State Consultant in Special Education five years. Active nationally, Dr. McIntire served from 1998-2000 as the President of the International Council of Administrators of Special Education, Inc. (CASE). He also served as the president of two other national associations in previous years. Dr. McIntire has been a leader in building inclusionary services for all children with disabilities in the public school systems where he has worked, has consulted nationally throughout his career and has received numerous awards for his work over time.

No bio available.

No bio available.

Dr. Jeanethe (Ella) Thompson is currently the Principal on Assignment for Corrective Programs and AYP for Orange County Public Schools. She oversees school improvement processes for struggling schools focusing on building administrative/instructional capacity and the implementation of school-wide accountability systems for effective instruction. She has the opportunity to work with principals and leadership teams, in collaboration with district curriculum and instruction departments, to increase student achievement at targeted schools. The most rewarding part of her job is the opportunity to have courageous conversations with educators that impact and improve their practice. Dr. Thompson served as the Principal of Winegard Elementary School from July 2002 - January 2010. Winegard Elementary, a Title 1 school with a large ESOL population, earned a school grade of an "A" in 2003 and maintain the "A" grade through Dr. Thompson's tenure.

A 25-year educator, Dr. Barbara Jenkins currently serves as District Superintendent for Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida. As an executive cabinet member of a large urban district with over 21,000 staff members serving 179,000 students she serves as the Superintendent's designee, supervises five area superintendents and oversees the division of Teaching and Learning. Previously as chief of staff, she oversaw Human Resources, Public Relations, Labor Relations, Strategic Planning, and served as the chief labor negotiator for the district. While chief of staff, she also coordinated executive functions for the district and provided direct support to the school board. From 1998-2005 she was the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the 120,000 student district, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was responsible for Employee Relations, Licensure, Benefits, Information Systems, Compensation and Employment. During her time in Charlotte, she was recognized in Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego (Harvard Education Press, 2005) for innovative strategies to increase equity among schools. Dr. Jenkins previously served as Senior Director for Elementary Education in Orange County, supervising principals and schools. She has also been a classroom teacher, staff developer and principal. Her undergraduate and doctor of education degrees were received from the University of Central Florida. She is a fellow of the Broad Superintendents Academy.

For the past 38 years, Dr. Schneider has dedicated his professional career to the advancement of services to students with disabilities. He attended Tulane University for his undergraduate studies and then Florida Technological University (presently University of Central Florida) where he obtained a master's degree in Learning Disabilities. He began his teaching career in Atlanta, Georgia supporting students with significant learning disabilities and emotional disorders. In 1979, he was a recipient of a B.E.H. training grant and attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where he received his doctorate in School Administration with an emphasis in Special Education. For two years he worked as an Assistant Director for exceptional education and student services in nine school districts in Illinois for the Belleville Area Special Education District. In 1983, Dr. Schneider moved to Orlando Florida where he served until July 2011 as a special education administrator. Early in his administrative career his responsibilities spanned from school based administration in a K-12 special school for severely disabled students and hospital homebound programs, supervision of low prevalence programs and oversight for federal project budgets and grant writing. In 1991, Dr. Schneider was appointed Director of Exceptional Education and Student Services programs where he provided oversight for curriculum and instruction, transition services, Positive Behavioral Support project, the development of the RtI/MTSS process and the supervision of psychologists, social workers, compliance specialists, instructional coaches and other personnel. From 2000-2006, he received an appointment and served on the Florida Committee for Comprehensive System for Personnel Development and from 2007-2009 received an appointment and served on the Florida Department of Education/Exceptional Education Department Task force on Transition Services. Since 2006 he has served as an Advisory Board member and mentor for the National Urban Special Education Leadership Initiative at the University of Central Florida. After his retirement from Orange County Public Schools in 2011 Dr. Schneider has supervised student interns at the University of Central Florida, assisted parents and school districts as a private consultant, continued since 1999 as a review board editor for the Journal of Special Education Leadership, in 2012 was an invitee by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Special Education Research to participate in a technical working group, Improving Outcomes for Adolescents with Disabilities and has volunteered as the Program Advisor for a work training program, Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees.

Cynthia Kiffer, Ed. D. has successfully served students for more than 35 years. During her career in Orange County Public Schools, Orlando, Florida she served as a Curriculum Resource Teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, Executive Area Director, Area Superintendent as well as Senior Director for Curriculum. Currently, Dr. Kiffer trains district/school leaders and leadership teams in the use of "Thinking Maps, A Language for LEADERSHIP" in order to create a positive culture critical to a learning community and ensure the fidelity of a Thinking Maps Implementation in order to impact student learning.

For over forty years, Dr. Patricia Booth has devoted her professional career to education. She has worked in the public, private, and charter school domains with experience in all levels: Elementary School through Senior High School, including Higher Education. Most of Dr. Booth's teaching years were dedicated to working with exceptional students: special needs as well as the gifted. As an Assistant Professor in the School of Education, Barry University (Miami Shores, FL), Dr. Booth was the Exceptional Student Education Program/Outreach Coordinator for three locales: Miami, Ft. Myers, and Key West. Her responsibilities included a) Hiring qualified teachers to instruct ESE courses, b) Arranging schedules, c) Advising students, d) Consulting with teachers, and, e) Preparing fieldwork experiences. Selected by the School of Education as its representative, Dr. Booth served with other community leaders on the Early Childhood Readiness Coalition, chaired by Mr. David Lawrence, a program dedicated to making pre-school programs available for all children in Florida. Attracted to the concept of the charter school movement, Dr. Booth began her involvement by assisting charter teams interested in the application process. In time, she accepted the position of Education Consultant for a charter school in need of an academic improvement plan for at-risk students. With administration, faculty and staff collaboration, a successful plan was put in place for the students and parents. Soon thereafter, Dr. Booth was asked to join a team in which she not only became a founding charter member, but also stayed on as the Principal. Six years later, Dr. Booth was appointed as Executive Director, Charter School Operations, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS). Working closely with the School Quality Improvement office and the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), Dr. Booth monitored 63 charter schools for accountability and compliance with State and Federal mandates. As the liaison for charter schools, she worked with the district's Office of School Quality Improvement and the FLDOE School Improvement Policy Center regarding legislative requirements , such as class size. Dr. Booth's most recent accomplishment was organizing a (private) school for a South Miami, FL family. The master plan she created encompassed all components of a school's operation (programs, policies, hiring certified teachers, and so forth). Included in this master plan were procedures for assisting and supporting students with special needs, and establishing creative and critical thinking classroom environments for all children. She served as the school's Director for three years. Dr. Booth has a Masters in Education from the University of Miami and received her doctorate at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. Currently, she continues to serve education in the capacity of a consultant by: a) Supporting children and parents with school-related concerns; b) Designing and writing a curriculum with a global perspective; and, c) Formulating a plan for administrators that can better serve the professional development needs of teachers.

No bio available.

No bio available.

Dr. Carmen B. Marinelli is a Program Professor in Educational Leadership at Nova Southeastern University with over 35 years in K-12 education. Prior to joining Nova Southeastern University full time, Dr. Marinelli was also an Adjunct Professor in Educational Leadership. She has been a teacher, assistant principal, middle and high school principal, as well as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and Leadership Development in Miami Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS), the fourth largest school district in the country. She completed her career in K-12 as a Region Superintendent for MDCPS with over 70 schools in her region. Her undergraduate degree was in English with a minor in Drama and Secondary Education from Barry University, Miami, FL in 1976. She continued her education at the University of Miami with a Masters of Arts in English. Carmen then attended Nova Southeastern University to receive her certification in Administration and Supervision and continued on at Nova to receive her Doctorate in Educational Leadership. In 2000 Dr. Marinelli was named the Miami- Dade County Public Schools Principal of the Year. Throughout her career in education she has worked with mentoring programs, professional development, dual language programs and community partnerships. Dr. Marinelli's work with mentoring of educational leaders has assisted many in furthering their career goals. She is on the School Board for Christopher Columbus High School in Miami on the Academic Committee, the Board of Trustees at Chaminade- Madonna Preparatory School, the Hispanic Advisory Board at Nova, and is the Scholarship Chair of the Alumni Board at Barry University and a member of St. Timothy Catholic Church, Miami.

Winston A. Whyte M.B.A., Ed., D. is a 30 year educator who has made commendable contributions to the Jamaican and American communities. A graduate of the University of the West Indies with a degree in Zoology and Chemistry. He has published in Analytical Biochemistry on his cancer research findings in the field of DNA Polymerases while working at the University of Miami, prior to becoming an educator. Dr. Whyte's career path includes serving as a teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Administrative Director supervising principals and schools. His graduate degrees have been in the area of Leadership and his diverse areas of expertise includes Special Education where he has a passion and has been an international presenter. As a Founding Member/Past President of the Jamaican Association of Miami Dade Educators for the past 21 years, Dr. Whyte has contributed through resources, materials, scholarships and workshops. He serves as a member of many boards and in 2007, as Principal of Howard D. McMillian Middle School, he led his school to become the first secondary school in the State of Florida to receive the prestigious Governor's Sterling Award. Dr. Whyte has been given numerous accolades and awards, including the Consulate General of Jamaica Community Service Award, Principal of the Year for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and State of Florida Middle School Principal of the Year for 2008.