CAST Teach Advisory Board Members Contact Information
The CAST Teach High School Advisory Board is made up of community members and industry leaders who are passionate about the CAST Teach mission. Board leaders are distinguished in their field and committed to the role of education in transforming lives. They have worked alongside Northside's students and staff to shape the programs and experiences offered at CAST Teach High School.
David D. Anderson, Principal, HillCo Partners
David D. Anderson has managed the HillCo Partners’ education policy team since 2003. David is recognized across Texas and the country for his insights on educational policy and in the educational sales and marketing arena. He has handled client interests in the areas of curriculum policies, graduation requirements, high school completion, instructional materials, assessment & accountability, school finance, disciplinary alternative education, career & technical education, and early childhood. He is also recognized for his work with occupational regulatory issues in Texas.
From 1997 until 2003, he was the managing director of curriculum at the Texas Education Agency. He managed the TEKS implementation and worked on various statewide initiatives in curriculum, assessment, professional development, and instructional materials.
Priscilla Aquino Garza, Director of Policy, Educate Texas
Priscilla Aquino Garza serves as the Director of Policy for Educate Texas and is responsible for policy strategy and implementation related to college and career readiness, effective teaching, and higher education. Originally from New York City, she began her educational work as a middle school teacher in Boston, New York City, and Austin. She then served as a research associate for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Initiative. She worked as the Director of Educator & Student Policy Initiatives at the Texas Education Agency leading a variety of educator initiatives and programs. She then served as the Interim Executive Director and Deputy Director for Stand for Children Texas leading organizing and policy strategies related to empowering students and parents in local and state policy efforts. She has a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University, a Latin American Studies Certificate, and completed the Undergraduate Teaching Education Program (UTEP) at the Harvard School Graduate School of Education. She also received her M.A. in public affairs with a specialty in social policy from the LBJ School for Public Affairs at the University of Texas. She is currently a doctoral student in the Policy and Planning in the Department of Education Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas Austin. Education.
Abigayle Barton. Ed.D., Texas ASCD Board Advisor, Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and Administrative Services, Pampa ISD
Dr. Abigayle Barton, a 24-year veteran educator, is the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Administrative Services in Pampa Independent School District.
Barton’s career has included teaching in the elementary and special education settings, working as a mathematics specialist in a public school, working with teachers as a mathematics specialist for a targeted mathematics-science grant funded by the National Science Foundation, school principal, Coordinator of DAEP and Special Projects, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Executive Director of School Improvement, and Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for Abilene ISD.
Barton is a past President of the Texas Association of Supervisors of Curriculum Development (Texas ASCD) and is currently serving as the Board Liaison. In addition, she is currently serving a second term on the National Legislative Committee for the Association of Supervisors of Curriculum Development (ASCD) where she works to influence legislators to support national educational issues.
Kevin Brown, Ed.D., Executive Director, Texas Association of School Administrators
Dr. Kevin Brown is executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), whose mission is to promote, provide, and develop leaders who create and sustain student-centered schools and develop future-ready students.
Brown, who holds a doctorate in education administration from Texas A&M University, a master’s degree in education administration from Texas State University, and a bachelor’s degree in government with honors from The University of Texas at Austin, has a wealth of experience in public education.
Prior to joining the TASA staff he led Alamo Heights ISD as superintendent for 10 years after serving as a teacher, assistant principal and principal, and in district-level positions in human resources and communications in Southwest, Round Rock, New Braunfels and Alamo Heights ISDs.
During his career, he has held top leadership roles in TASA, the Texas School Coalition, the Texas Association of Mid-Size Schools, and the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators.
Dr. Brown is a passionate advocate for public education and believes that quality teachers and a supportive community are critical components to the success of children and to the continued success of our democratic way of life.
Pauline Dow, Ed.D., Vice President, The Holdsworth Center
Pauline Dow was named Vice President of the Holdsworth Center in September 2019. The center currently partners with 13 school districts across Texas that collectively educate a diverse population of 460,000 students and employ 60,000 staff members.
Prior to this, Pauline served as Deputy Superintendent for Academics and School Leadership for the San Antonio ISD. In this role, she led the overall academic, instruction and school leadership vision and implementation for a large, majority-minority urban district with 47,000 students in 90 learning sites. She established active learning for students that was differentiated and streamlined support to SAISD principals and teachers.
Dow has more than 30 years of experience in public education. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and education and a doctoral degree from The University of Texas at El Paso. She is a recipient of the Gold Nugget Award for the College of Education and Dissertation of the Year Award also from The University of Texas at El Paso.
Michèle Foster, Ph.D., Henry Heuser Endowed Chair for Urban Education Partnerships & Professor, University of Louisville, KY
Before serving as Professor and Henry Heuser Endowed Chair in Urban Education Partnerships at the University of Louisville, Michèle Foster was Professor and Sherman Family Endowed Chair in Urban Education Research the Executive Director of the Urban Education Research Center at UMKC.
Bilingual in French and fluent in Haitian, she has taught at several universities and colleges throughout the country, including Roxbury Community College, University of Massachusetts-Boston, The University of Pennsylvania, the University of California-Davis, and Claremont Graduate University. She worked in K-12 as a teacher and program administrator in both urban and suburban communities and served on a county board of education in California.
She has held leadership positions in several professional organizations, reviewed grants for IES, the Department of Health and Human Services, and as a member of the Major Grant Committee for the Spencer Foundation. She was the book review editor and Features Editor for Educational Researcher, the premier journal of the American Educational Research Association, has been widely cited (5000+) by numerous researchers in varied fields—sociolinguistics, education, history, anthropology, women’s studies, African American Studies-- and received numerous awards for her scholarly work including the American Anthropological Association-Council on Anthropology and Education Spindler Distinguished Scholar Award.
Patricia J. Martin, Independent Consultant, Former Assistant Vice President, College Board, NOSCA, and Guest Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University
Patricia J. Martin is a nationally recognized leader in the reform of school counseling and efforts to design training opportunities to help practicing counselors become an integral part of the primary mission for schools. Pat has over 30 years of experience as a public school educator, having worked as a teacher, school counselor, supervisor of counselors, high school principal, chief educational administrator and assistant superintendent of schools in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Pat has an extensive and productive history of involvement in national and state efforts working on issues related to large urban school districts, leadership, school counseling and academic equity for students for whom school systems have not served well in the past. She has been the developer and the manager of many institutional programs and system policies that directly impact the education and career options for these students in school districts. Pat has a documented record of being an expert change agent in multiple venues during her career in public education and beyond.
Patricia has served as a national consultant on educational issues for The White House, US Department of Education, The College Board, the National Equity 2000 Initiative, numerous state departments of education, national educational organizations, school districts, superintendents of schools, higher education institutions, principals, teachers, parents and community leaders.
Ricardo Martinez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Math Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dr. Ricardo Martinez’s lifework with youth participatory action research (YPAR) works to create mathematical learning experiences that returns the legitimacy of mathematical knowledge creation back to the people. His research seeks to discover and dismantle root causes that lead people to believe that they are not “math people” by investigating how mathematics can in turn be a source of empowerment for students and teachers. Dr. Martinez runs a summer mathematics and science YPAR program for Black and Latinx youth that allows for the exploration of relationships formed with mathematics.
Dominique McCain, Director of Early Matters Dallas, The Commit Partnership
Dominique McCain is the Director of Early Matters Dallas, the historical early childhood coalition of the Commit Partnership. With nearly 20 years of diverse, educational experience, including classroom teacher, campus and district level leadership, her work is focused on quality early childhood education specifically in the Kindergarten through 3rd grade space. She has brought her natural ability to connect with people and her knowledge and expertise of literacy and literacy instruction to Commit and has had a positive impact of the organization’s overall approach to their work. Her core value of students first has led to her playing a critical role in supporting the advocacy efforts for the landmark 2019 legislative session. She works very closely with school districts to identify solutions to problems of practice in the areas of Kindergarten readiness and 3rd grade reading proficiency. She is dedicated to continually increasing her impact and influence to serve as many children as possible especially those who are members of the most vulnerable communities across Dallas County and the State of Texas.
Daniel Menelly, CEO, DoSeum
A former science teacher for 20 years in public, independent and international schools in the U.S. and in France, Dan Menelly is presently Chief Executive Officer of The DoSeum, a museum of hands-on and experiential learning in San Antonio, Texas.
Formerly, Mr. Menelly led the strategic direction of program and exhibition content as President & Chief Science Officer at The Rochester Museum & Science Center, The Strasenburgh Planetarium and the 900-acre Cumming Nature Center and preserve in Western New York from 2015 to 2018. Between 2012 and 2015, Mr. Menelly served as Vice President for STEM education at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he oversaw education program content for all audiences onsite, offsite and online. At Liberty, Mr. Menelly co-created hybrid formal/informal learning models in partnership with school systems and researchers, and he integrated emerging tools for learning (engineering and programming of microcontrollers, mobile learning with geospatial informatics, humanoid and social robotics) into the Science Center’s education portfolio.
Mr. Menelly is currently an expert adviser for science and learning to the European Commission Research Executive Agency, and has advised STEM media content produced for PBS, Nickelodeon Television, The Sundance Channel and several other outlets. He lives in San Antonio, Texas and in New York City.
Tim Miller, Ed.D., Superintendent in Residence, Raise Your Hand Texas
Dr. Tim Miller graduated from Winston Churchill High School in San Antonio and attended Trinity University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities in 1993 and a Master of Arts in Teaching in 1994. He began his educational career in 1994 as an elementary special education teacher in San Antonio ISD. In 1996, he was hired as a special education teacher in Judson ISD and earned a Masters in School Administration from Trinity in 1998.
Dr. Miller was hired by North East ISD in 1998 and served as an Instructional Technology Coordinator for one year, the Assistant Director for one year, and the Director of Educational Technology for seven years, where he was recognized as the 2006 Technology Administrator of the Year by the Texas Computer Educator Association. After earning a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, he served as the Principal of Eisenhower Middle School in North East ISD for two years. He has taught graduate and undergraduate classes for Concordia University of Texas and the University of the Incarnate Word.
In 2009, Dr. Miller was hired by Cleburne ISD to serve as the Assistant Superintendent and in 2010 he was named Superintendent of Cleburne ISD. In June of 2014, Dr. Miller was hired by the Texas Education Agency to serve as the Director of Educator Preparation and Program Accountability. In June of 2018, Dr. Miller joined the staff of the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation. In his role as Superintendent in Residence, Dr. Miller supports Raise Your Hand’s programming, research, and advocacy efforts with a concerted focus on Raising Texas Teachers, a $50 million program initiative that includes a scholarship program and partnerships with Texas universities to improve teacher preparation across the state.
Alma Dolores Rodríguez, Ed.D., Dean, College of Education and P-16 Integration, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Dr. Alma Dolores Rodríguez is Dean of the College of Education and P-16 Integration at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her research and scholarship focus on bilingual and ESL teacher preparation from three interconnected dimensions: 1) issues of language and how those impact teaching and learning; 2) the use of culturally and linguistically responsive approaches to teacher preparation with the goal of impacting teacher candidates’ practice; and 3) the improvement of teacher preparation programs with an emphasis on meeting the needs of Latina/o emergent bilingual students, teachers, and communities.
Dr. Rodríguez received her Doctor of Education degree from The University of Houston. She has been president of the Texas Association of Teacher Educators and served on the board of the Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education. She has also been a member of the Council of Unit Presidents of the Association of Teacher Educators. Dr. Rodríguez is a member dean of Deans for Impact and serves as a member of the RGV FOCUS leadership team. In the summer of 2020, Dr. Rodríguez was appointed to serve on the State Board of Educator Certification.
Nathanael Tarwasokono, President/CEO, Firstmark Credit Union
Nathanael Tarwasokono is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) for Firstmark Credit Union, a billion dollar organization committed to helping people build savings, own a home, and achieve financial wellness.
Nathanael was born in Singapore and at an early age moved to the United States where he grew up in rural North Carolina. He is a licensed CPA and Chartered Global Management Accountant. Growing up in a low-income, immigrant family, Nathanael is passionate about education and empowering people of modest means.
In addition to his role as CEO of Firstmark Credit Union, Nathanael actively serves on boards for the San Antonio Children’s Hospital Foundation, San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Texas Business Lending Group, Northside Education Foundation, Credit Union Coalition of Texas, UP Partnership (Treasurer), and Payment Systems for Credit Unions. Nathanael also serves on two committees for the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions: The Cybersecurity Committee and Share Insurance Fund Committee.
