Company

Advisory Board

The SchoolMessenger Advisory Board serves to provide critical feedback on key company initiatives, corporate direction, and product and service strategy. Board members share ideas and experience with the SchoolMessenger team to help ensure that SchoolMessenger maintains and grows its position as the recognized leader in parent notification. The SchoolMessenger Advisory Board brings together experts with diverse backgrounds and experience from all regions of the country, and includes members from education technology, curriculum, assessment, administration, and the classroom. This diversity helps ensure that SchoolMessenger is best able to address the full spectrum needs of its educational community.

David Akridge

Chief Information Officer, Mobile Public Schools

David Akridge has been with Mobile County Public Schools for seventeen years. Over this time he gained comprehensive technology experience working his way up through the school system. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of South Alabama with a Minor in Business Management and Accounting. In January of 2007, he became Chief Information Officer for the district and immediately began a strategy to move Mobile Public Schools forward in the area of technology.

In September of 2007, as part of that strategy, David and his team implemented SchoolMessenger. Upon realizing what a powerful tool SchoolMessenger was, David had the foresight to utilize the Reliance Communications Leadership Institute in order to make the most effective use of this key communication tool. Through his innovation and insight David has changed the face of communications for Mobile Public Schools and has become a key leader in assuring that the district can communicate effectively.

Janelle Albertson

Chief Communications Officer, Adams 12 Five Star School District

Janelle Albertson is the Chief Communications Officer for the Adams 12 Five Star School District, a suburban school district north of Denver, Colorado. As a 21-year veteran as a school public relations chief she is accredited in public relations by the Universal Accreditation Board. She is a graduate of Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, where she earned her degree in communications. Janelle has done extensive work in public relations in Kansas and Colorado. She has worked to promote public education and strategic public relations at the state and local level. She has spoken at conferences across the nation and is a member of numerous professional organizations such as Association of Business Communicators, and the Colorado School Public Relations Association. She is also one of the authors of School Public Relations: Building Confidence in Education.

Joe Curran

Director of Implementation, Achieve 3000

Joseph Curran is an experienced manager in educational marketing, sales and training for K-12 curriculum programs. Mr. Curran holds a Bachelor's in Sociology from Villanova University, and a Masters in Social Psychology from Lehigh University. In years past Mr. Curran served as a consultant to various educational organizations including Random House Publishers, Douglas College, Rutgers University, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He has been a college professor and has experience developing curriculum. From 1998 to 2003 he worked with NewsBank, Inc. where he implemented and customized staff development for new curriculum. In 2002 he was appointed to the board of directors for World Savvy Education Foundation. He has represented the technology committee for the Collier County Education Foundation, Florida, and has served on the board of directors for Eisenhower Math & Science Consortium (SERVE). He is responsible for authoring books which include Stories in Time, Staff Development for Multiple Media Mathematics, and Sociology: An Introduction.

Patti Goeppinger

Teacher, Mount Vernon City Schools

Ms. Goeppinger attended Wilmington College in Ohio on a Leadership Scholarship and graduated with her BA in Human Services and Social Work. At the encouragement of her high school Guidance Counselor, also her father, Goeppinger attended Ohio State University where she earned her MA in Early Childhood Education. Goeppinger began her first teaching experience in the town she grew up and taught there for 7 years. She currently works for the Mount Vernon City School system in which she continues to teach fifth grade. Her lifelong goal is to work directly with educators to professionally develop their teaching skills.

Barbara Hunter

Assistant Superintendent of Communications and Community Outreach, Fairfax County Public Schools

Barbara M. Hunter is the assistant superintendent of communications and community outreach for the Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools, the nation's 12th largest school system with approximately 168,000 students. In that capacity, Hunter oversees the school system's strategic communications initiatives, media relations, business relations, and family involvement programs, and supports the Fairfax County School Board in their community engagement efforts.

She most recently served as director of communications for the National School Boards Association in Alexandria, Va., where she oversaw the organization's strategic communications efforts, web site, and media relations, and trained school board members in media relations, community engagement, and group facilitation. Since 1984, she has held public relations and communications positions in both non-profit and corporate settings. She has served as the Executive Director of Information and Outreach for the Alexandria City Public Schools in Alexandria, Va. Prior to that, she was president of her company, which served education clients in both the private and public sectors. In addition, she was editor of The School Administrator magazine published by the American Association of School Administrators.

Hunter has a bachelor's degree in communications and management from Hood College in Frederick, Md., and a master's degree in public relations management from The American University in Washington, D.C. She also holds accreditation in public relations from the Public Relations Society of America. She is a past president of the Chesapeake Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association and a member of the inaugural class of Leadership Alexandria.

Bruce Middleton

District Coordinator, Orange County Schools

Bruce Middleton currently serves as the Math & Science Coordinator for Orange County Schools in North Carolina. Mr. Middleton holds a Bachelor's in Science Teaching, and a Masters of Arts in Teaching Science, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 2000 to 2004, Bruce was influential in creating and managing a summer technology academy for teachers. In 2000 he received the Apple Distinguished Educator Award for service in the areas of instructional technology. Mr. Middleton prides himself on being able to see opportunities for assisting teachers with organizing and sharing best practices while reaching toward new solutions for exceptional needs. He combines his experiences as a classroom teacher, computer systems engineer, and district administrator with his love for children, and is prepared to meet the challenge of educating students for the 21st century. His desire is to assist others in meeting that same challenge

Dr. James Monk

Retired Superintendent

Having completed a twenty three year career in public education, the last seventeen as a Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Monk has a rich and varying background to share with his audience. A Fulbright Scholar, at age 45 he left the Superintendency and joined Apple Computer Corporation as a technology consultant for eight years providing cutting edge advice to schools throughout New England. Later he worked with several leading educational software companies fostering improved usage of technology to enhance instructional programs in classrooms nationwide. More recently Dr. Monk spent two years at Dell Computer Corporation again providing technical expertise to schools in the northeast. In 2000 he assumed the role of Senior Director of Security Consulting for SafeSchoolSolutions, a nationwide school security firm providing expertise to schools nationwide in the areas of safety and security. Dr. Monk also speaks at seminars nationwide about safe schools.

Dr. Gary Stebbins

Professor, San Jose State University

Dr. Gary Stebbins has over 34 years experience as an educator and administrator in a variety of traditional and nontraditional settings. Dr. Stebbins received his doctorate from the Fielding Institute where his research was focused on school leadership and the important skills needed by principals. He also holds masters degrees from San Jose State University in School Administration and the College of Notre Dame in Outdoor Education. Gary received his Bachelor's of Science from Humboldt State, where three of his grown children are also graduates. Dr. Stebbins has served as a teacher, a principal, and a university professor. Throughout his career, "ecosystem support" has been one of his core themes - "You have to connect before you can correct."

Linda Wilkerson

CEO, Minds Matter LLC

Linda Wilkerson, MSEd, worked in the field of education for 25 years. She received her Master's Degree in Special Education from the University of Kansas and began her career as a classroom teacher. Linda later served in the special education department of the Shawnee Mission School District as a classroom teacher and behavior consultant for K-12 programs

Through a grant from the Kansas Department of Education, Linda speaks at state and national conferences on the topics of behavior management and traumatic brain injury. These speaking opportunities have led to collaborations with several state departments of education, and she has worked as a consultant or trainer with programs in Tennessee, Arizona, Oregon, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri and Hawaii. Linda is currently the CEO of Minds Matter LLC, located in Prairie Village, Kansas.