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Governance and Advisory Boards

Governing Board

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    Greg Child 

 

Eliza Alexander
Managing Director
AISNE, Northern New England

More About Eliza...

Riley Collins
Doctoral Student
UCSC

 
 

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Jonathan Dearman, Secretary
Realtor
Dearman Real Estate Group

Michele Godwin Staff Rep
Knowledge Manager 
SF-CESS

 

Michelle Griffith  
Director of Community Schools & Partnerships
Redwood City School District  

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Holly Hinderlie  
School Psychologist and Upper School Counselor, Holton-Arms School, Bethesda, MD

More About Holly...

 
 

Nicole Magtoto, President  
Independent Consultant/ Equity Facilitator

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Gregory Peters
Executive Director
SF-CESS

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Edgar Tenorio
Director of Programs

Sienna Youth Center

Lupe Torres-Khalil
Principal
Garfield Community School, RCSD 

Advisory Board

Kathleen Cushman
What Kids Can Do
Dave Eggers
American Writer, Editor, & Publisher

Seewan Eng
Executive Director, Mindful Schools
Deborah Meier
NYU, CES Board Member

Beth Silbergeld
High School Principal 

Eliza is the Managing Director of AISNE Northern New England and recently led a successful merger between her previous association, ISANNE, with AISNE. Eliza has worked in the independent school community for over twenty years leading a wide array of educational initiatives. Raised in mid-coast Maine, Eliza began her career as a Spanish teacher specializing in Central America and Mexico. She has facilitated race and equity seminars across a number of sectors working with leaders in higher education, government, and non-profit organizations. 

1) How does your identity influence your work? 

I am a white cisgender woman, the eldest daughter of three children born to college-educated parents. I was raised in a family that elected to live in poverty in Maine in a white, rural, working-class community. I am passionate about racial justice, and I have spent much of my adult life unpacking and trying to better understand how being white has shaped me and my life. Helping to build compassionate, resilient and justice-centered communities is life-long work, and remembering myself as a young girl playing in Maine’s woods helps me center and value children in my approach.

2) What brought you to SF-CESS?

I officially joined SF-CESS fall 2020, but first met Greg Peters about a decade ago through Camilla Greene, and was introduced to SF-CESS’s model for equity and coaching at Maret School.  Since then our paths have crossed many times, and I have loved getting to know and collaborate with other members of the organization as well.  It has been an exciting and joyful experience for me to join such a  talented and passionate group of racial justice leaders this past year.

More About Michelle...

1) How does your identity influence your work? 

I am a white woman who was raised in an immigrant Italian family.  For much of my early years I was isolated from communities of color and was surrounded by racist messaging. It was in 4th grade that I met my lifelong friend- a person of color, a Latinx girl. Spending a majority of my time at her home, I was exposed to a culture that was foreign to my own, which was a close-knit homogenous Italian one. This new Latinx culture was eye-opening for me. I realized that there was much more to my world than that to which I had been previously exposed. I embraced this new culture wholeheartedly, and from this seed that was planted in me I began to grow into a person that was hyper aware of the inequity that was all around me. From this awakening I began my search for ways in which I could make a difference, leading me into education.  As an educator and as a white woman, I constantly work to reflect on, and understand, how my implicit biases, my history, my experiences and my privilege influence my decisions/ideas/actions.

2) What brought you to SF-CESS?

Approximately 7 years ago, our leadership team at Garfield Community School searched for outside support to provide much needed equity-leveling work that our experiences and data had determined to be a massive need at our school; we decided to embark on a soul searching, voice-finding journey, a journey in which we could uncover inequities, and strive to correct them. SF-CESS provided the guidance that we sought, and I am proud to say that even after I left my position at Garfield Community School, I was able to continue this crucial work as a SF-CESS board member, where I continue my journey as an anti-racist leader and am surrounded by heroic, amazing individuals who tirelessly work to change the ‘system’ and conditions that oppress so many.

More About Holly...

Holly Hinderlie is a licensed psychologist and a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant. She works as the School Psychologist and Upper School Counselor at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Hinderlie’s passion for helping young people develop a healthy self-concept, thriving relationships, and a deeper understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion is the driving force behind her work with students and school communities.

Nicole Magtoto, served San Francisco Unified School District for 10 years, but most recently as an Educational Policy Analyst, and was the architect behind the rollout of  SFUSD’s Board of Education Resolutions supporting students dealing with parental incarceration and homelessness. Before leaving SFUSD at the end of the 2020-21 school year, she served as a member of the design and facilitation team of a division-wide Equity Audit for the Student Family Community Support Division. As a product of SFUSD, and a former SF-CESS student she is dedicated to building new realities for our young people based on her own experiences as a 3rd generation San Franciscan of Filipina, Mexican and Cape Verdean ancestry. She is currently consulting and often coaches and facilitates with SF-CESS. 

1) How does your identity influence your work? 

As a mixed-race woman of color and product of San Francisco public schools, my work is deeply connected to making sure young people who look like me are able to see themselves in the adults and systems that support them. I was fortunate to have many schooling experiences that empowered and supported my growth, and want other young folks to have similar opportunities. 

2) What brought you to SF-CESS?

I’m an SF-CESS kid. I am the leader I am today because of the work SF-CESS supported my school in doing. Because of the way my school engaged in this discourse, I was able to develop a sense of self-efficacy, and social responsibility that carried me through college and into my professional life and for that I am grateful.

Dr. Gregory Peters is school reform leader with a longstanding history working within both local and national efforts.  As Principal of San Francisco’s Leadership High School, Gregory and his teachers effectively created a National Demonstration and Mentor School that made progress in closing the racial achievement gap and was “highly commended for… graduating all their students – of every race/ ethnicity – University of California eligible.”

 

Building from his successful experiences and results, Gregory now leads The San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools, which, established in 2005, is committed “to interrupt and transform current and systemic educational inequities to ensure all students have access to personalized, equitable and high performing schools that believe and demonstrate each student can, should and will succeed.”  Towards this mission, Gregory facilitates equity-focused, educational transformation throughout the nation. 

Gregory’s instructional expertise and leadership in curriculum and school design; data based inquiry; and equity-centered professional development have resulted in a number recognitions including CESN’s “Commitment to Equity Award” and CANEC’s “Innovations in Excellence Award”.

Gregory earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership & Social Justice from California State University East Bay in 2012; his dissertation focused on Teacher Transformation.