Mary has been in education for 30 plus years and walks in two worlds. She walks in the educational world and as the mother of a son with the medical diagnosis of Down’s Syndromeshe understands the complexity of raising and educating children who require individual support at home and in the educational setting. She has worked with the Paradise Valley Unified School District, Sedona-Oak Creek Unified School District, Whiteriver Unified SchoolDistrict and Lexington Life Academy. She has a master’s degree in Speech/Language Pathology and holds Arizona Department of Education certificates as Superintendent, Principal, Supervisor and Speech Pathologist. Mary has worked as an Assistant Superintendent, Principal, Curriculum Developer, Inclusion Specialist and Speech/Language Pathologist.

Mary has served on the First Things First Council and currently is a member of the White Mountain Autism Foundation Board. She is a previous member of the Arizona School Administrators Association and American Association of School Administrators.

Mary approaches students with a can-do attitude and sees students for what they can do, not what they can’t. Her approach is saturated with respect and patience as she uses methodical and pragmatic interactions with students to find the root cause of behaviors to redirect them, she believes there are no limits to what each individual student can learn or accomplish in their lives.