2013 Institute for Middle Level Leadership

Gail Heinemeyer has worked for the Ridley School District in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 41 years. She has been a classroom teacher, team leader, coach, principal, and currently serves as Director of Support Services, with a variety of responsibilities including overseeing counselors, nurses, and the student assistance program.

Juan Rodriguez is the principal of Fuller Middle School in Framingham, MA. Juan was selected the Massachusetts Middle School Principal of the Year in 2005. Fuller Middle School has been named a Spotlight School by the New England League of Middle Schools, a Compass School by the State Department of Education, and the top middle school for ELL learners. He has been an elementary and middle school principal in urban and suburban settings for 26 years and now serves his district by revising its Emergency Response Plan. He has been a mentor of principals through the Massachusetts Leadership Institute and has been part of the AMLE’s Leadership Institute Faculty since 2006.

Dru Tomlin is the Director of Middle Level Services for AMLE. In 1994, he began his career as an English teacher in Virginia, and in 1998 he started his work in middle grades in Georgia, serving as a language arts, reading, and social studies teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Dru was named the Fulton County Teacher of the Year in 2003, and he was named Georgia’s Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year for 2009.

Dr. Cedrick Gray is the Superintendent of Jackson Public Schools in Jackson, MS where he is considered an agent of educational change and reform. He has also been a teacher, assistant principal, Director of Leadership Development, and Superintendent of School Improvement. As a middle school principal, Dr. Gray is credited with the academic and cultural turnaround of two urban middle schools.

Dr. Nikki Woodson is the Superintendent of Schools for the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township. She has been a teacher, Special Education Program Manager, Assistant Principal, Principal, Director of Communications, Director of Staff Development, Director of Continuous Improvement and Assistant Superintendent. Among her many awards, Woodson was named the Graduate of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) from Ball State University and a distinguished Purdue University Fellow. She has been recognized by UNCF, was named Indy’s Best & Brightest in the field of Education and was given the 2013 Women in School Leadership Award by the American Association of School Administrators.

Video: The Power of Encouragement

Dr. Ruthie Smith Stevenson is a professor and coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. She has been a middle school teacher, assistant principal, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Executive Director of Middle School Programs, and Director of School Improvement Services. In 2010 and 2011, she was nominated by the School of Education as Distinguished Professor at Mississippi College.

Linda Hopping is the State Director of the Georgia Schools to Watch Program, the Chair of the National Forum’s Schools to Watch program, and a USDOE I3 Grant School Coach in California. She is a former middle grades teacher, assistant principal, principal, and middle grades staff development coordinator in Georgia. She was a key author of the AMLE School Improvement Assessment and remains a lead consultant with that project.

Paul Dunford proudly leads the AMLE Leadership Institute Team and makes his home in Frederick, Maryland where he works with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), directing its statewide middle school initiatives, developing principals and aspiring leaders, and guiding school turnaround efforts. In addition to working extensively with Co-Teaching and Universal Design for Learning initiatives, Paul has proudly served schools and school systems as a middle school teacher, assistant principal, principal, curriculum supervisor for Career and Technology Education, and Instructional Director of Middle Schools. His successful school improvement work has been nationally recognized, and Paul himself has been honored as a Maryland Distinguished Principal Fellow in the Baltimore City Public Schools, as Maryland’s Technology Education Teacher of the Year, the Washington Post’s Distinguished Educator, and the National PTA’s Outstanding Educator. He is an adjunct professor at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland where he teaches graduate courses in diversity, leadership, and action research.

David Hayward is the Associate Director at Instructional Technology Services of Central Ohio(ITSCO) in Westerville, Ohio. He began his career as a classroom teacher in Toledo City Schools and within a few years accepted the position of Educational Technology Trainer(ETT). As an ETT, he was part of a team of teachers who developed, taught and facilitated the integration of technology in the classroom providing individualized instruction to teachers and students as well as district level technology workshops. In 2002, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he completed his M.A. in Technologies of Instruction and Media from The Ohio State University. He has presented for over a decade at the eTech Ohio Technology conference, was the opening speaker at the 2011 Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education conference, and has presented at numerous regional conferences throughout Ohio. As the Associate Director at ITSCO, David continues to show his passion for education and technology inspiring educators to integrate educational pedagogy with 21st Century technology tools.