PUC Schools / About / Management Team

Our mission at PUC Schools is to develop and manage high quality charter schools serving at risk students. Create school programs and cultures that result in college graduation for all students. Focus on developing secondary schools partnered with strong feeder elementary programs. Uplift Communities through Educational Partnerships.

Shirley Aragon has been involved in the education field since 1995 when she began her career as a paraprofessional at an elementary school in Hollywood. She holds a B.A. in Child Development and minor in Spanish Literature from Cal State Northridge, a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, an Administrative Credential, and a Master's Degree in Collaborative Educational Leadership: Charter School Leadership from Fielding University. Shirley found her passion through unfortunate experiences with the local schools where the desire to make a change was lacking. Shortly after being introduced to Community Charter Middle School, she found a group of educators who share the same philosophy as she; which is that every child will succeed. Shirley began her journey with PUC in a self contained class of 7th graders. The following year she joined Lakeview Charter Academy hosting its first class in 2003. For three years she taught English to the same group of students. During the three years she built relationships with parents through "The Bread and Coffee Night" and through constant communication with the families. Now as the Principal of Lakeview Charter Academy, she continues to host Coffee with the Principal, Fund Raising Night, and monthly Family Meetings to ensure that all 125 students are successful.

Leslie Chang was born in Nicaragua, and raised in Los Angeles by a Nicaraguan immigrant mother and Chinese father. She is the youngest of three and is a first generation college student in her family. She attended Catholic schools in the Northeast Los Angeles area. After graduating from Sacred Heart of Jesus High School, Leslie attended Mount St. Mary's College where she received her Bachelors in Sociology with certification in Criminology. A year later, Leslie returned to Mount St. Mary's and completed the credentialing program and received a Master of Science in Education. Immediately after receiving her Bachelors, Leslie began teaching at a parochial school, Divine Saviour, in Cypress Park, building her teaching foundation. Four years later, began teaching at CALS Charter Middle School as the 8th grade Humanities and Reading teacher. Soon after, she became the assistant principal, and now, the Principal. Throughout her years of work in Cypress Park, Leslie has developed a strong commitment to the students, parents, and teachers, and hopes to help create future leaders. In her job as principal, she works with parents, assists teachers in teaching, designing curriculum, and most importantly, supports the students' learning. She is happily married, raising her son, and hopes to continue her work in Education by returning to school to receive an Educational Doctorate in the very near future.

Sharon Mamane is a founding member of California Academy for Liberal Studies (CALS) Charter Middle School in Los Angeles, California, where she taught visual arts since the school's opening in 2000. Prior to her experience at CALS, she worked at an after-school enrichment program, where she provided courses in visual arts and photography to numerous elementary and middle schools throughout Los Angeles Unified School District. She has worked with six schools in the PUC Schools network to design and implement arts curriculum for the organization, and to foster arts integration across various content areas, including the co-creation of the PUC Schools Arts Integration Model. In addition, she has worked closely with PUC Schools' Director of Professional Development on facilitating a number of in-house professional development workshops ranging in topic from arts integration, arts curriculum development, and literacy. She received an Associate of Arts Degree in Speech Communications from Los Angeles Valley College, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art from California State University, Northridge, and a Master of Arts in Collaborative Educational Leadership from Fielding Graduate University.

Patricia Mora's educational background includes work in a one-room school house, in both the California and Virginia public school systems and at Foxcroft School (an all-girls boarding school). Before joining PUC, she spent six years teaching and mentoring in East Los Angeles. At her former school, Patricia's responsibilities included running the Student Council with a colleague, serving as the school's Gifted Coordinator and Science Chair, fundraising, and grant writing. She has consistently pursued professional development opportunities throughout her career as a teacher, including a 20-week course on math education, GEMS and FOSS Institutes for hands-on science education, and several conferences on Reading, Social Studies, English Language Development, and Gifted Education. She has also led professional development on the use of criteria charts in writing instruction. In 2002, she received a fellowship to participate in an Earthwatch expedition, Grizzlies of the Yukon, in which she helped to conduct scientific research on the grizzly population of Kluane National Park in Canada's Yukon Territory. She has mentored student teachers and district interns, and taught the Portfolio and Social Studies courses for the Los Angeles Unified School District Intern Program. Patricia attended Stanford University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Fidel Ramirez is son of immigrant parents from Guadalajara, Jalisco. He has lived in the San Fernando Valley since the age of six. After graduating from Van Nuys High School he attended CSU, Northridge where he completed his B.A. in Liberal Studies and his Masters Degree in Educational Administration. He is a member of a family of scholars having a total of 7 out of 9 siblings select education as their professional field of study. Fidel most recently served as Associate Director of Student Outreach and Recruitment services at CSU, Northridge for more then 10 years. He served 2 years as the principal at Community Charter Middle School and now is the principal at Community Charter Early College High School. He is happily married and is the proud father of three beautiful kids.

Michael Reardon posses over 8 years of experience in charter school education and over 12 years experience in child development. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Management and Business from San Jose State University and followed this up by earning his Master of Arts in Collaborative Educational Leadership, with an emphasis in charter school leadership and design, from Fielding Graduate University. Michael has been a teacher at Community Charter Middle (CCMS) school since its second year of operation joining the team as a science and language arts instructor. He helped build the academic & cultural programs at CCMS and then moved into the assistant principal position 4 years ago and is now the school principal. He has had a variety of occupations that involve working with children and in general education. He was the career development instructor for the Computer Learning Centers which has 16 campuses across the United States. Every summer for 8 years he worked as a camp counselor in Portland, Maine where he taught swimming and diving. He was the robotic exhibits director for Apple Computer's Children Discovery Museum in San Jose, California. His family experiences have taught him much about being an educator and mentor to young children. He strongly believes every student can succeed at a high level and if given the chance that all students can graduate from college prepared to be a successful person in the 21st century. He is the parent of three beautiful daughters.

Connie Rivas received a Bachelor or Arts degree in history from California State University, Northridge and later received a Master of Science in Special Education from National University. She entered the classroom as a paraprofessional working with disabled students. Through this experience she worked closely with students, parents, teachers and administrators to create optimal learning environments for all students. Her experience as a special educator allowed her to gain a solid understanding of student dynamics, school culture, instruction, and the importance of parent engagement. After several years of working in a traditional public school she was introduced to the charter school movement, which greatly appealed to her teaching philosophy and her deep rooted commitment to uplifting students, families, and communities through education. Her charter school experience began in Pacoima where she served as a lead teacher and special education coordinator. Connie is currently fulfilling a life-long dream of serving students from North East Los Angeles as the principal of CALS Early College High School and is a testament to her students that hard work, commitment, and passion make dreams come true.

Sascha Robinett is the founding principal of Milagro Charter School, providing students with both a bilingual and arts integrated education. Prior to starting the school she worked for a national arts-integrated school reform initiative, Different Ways of Knowing, designing and facilitating professional development workshops and creating school programs in arts integration, literacy, teacher leadership, standards-based instruction, and data-driven decision making and receiving intense training from professional artists and arts educators in visual arts, drama, dance, and music. During her classroom teaching experience - in grades three through twelve - she worked with the Amory Center for the Arts in Pasadena to create and implement an arts-integrated sixth grade curriculum program and wrote a school-wide grant (Arts In The Schools) to bring music education from kindergarten through sixth grade to her school. She holds both a clear multiple subject/CLAD credential and a preliminary administration credential. She received her B.A. in Sociology from University of California, Santa Barbara and her M.A. in Educational Leadership from California State University, Los Angeles.

Pete Cordero comes to PUC Schools with over 13 years of business experience and an extensive background in sales, marketing, business strategy, and people management. Before coming to PUC, Pete served as Director of Sales and Marketing for DKN Hotels Inc., a growing hotel management company with a portfolio of hotels in California and Arizona. In this role he was responsible for designing and building a sales organization, and he also led the effort to formulate and execute a strategy which resulted in a structured and effective sales and marketing business unit. Pete started his career with Automatic Data Processing (ADP) where he spent nine years and moved from an entry level sales and marketing position to Regional Director of Sales in the Long Beach Region, responsible for the management and performance of the sales team. Pete holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Southern California, and a Masters of Business Administration from The Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University. As Director of Special Projects, Pete oversees vital strategic initiatives of the PUC Organization.

Kristin Dietz, CPA brings to PUC over twelve years of experience in charter school accounting and an extensive background in the training and management of accounting systems and procedures. After receiving her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge in 1992, Kristin spent 10 years in public accounting. As a partner of a local accounting firm, she spent much of her time planning and performing audits as well as providing financial reporting and planning services for small businesses, charter schools and nonprofit organizations in the San Fernando Valley and neighboring areas. Her accounting firm was the first to participate in the audits of charter schools in the Los Angeles area. In 2003, seeing an increased need to assist her clients more directly, Kristin started a consulting practice that focused on providing accounting services for charter schools. Her services consisted primarily of training office staff on sound internal controls and accounting practices, designing and implementing accounting procedures for start-up schools, preparation and review of monthly financial reports, budgets and forecasts, preparation of tax returns, and correspondence with auditors. Kristin joined the PUC Team in June 2005 as Chief Financial Officer and her responsibilities include the oversight of the Home Office's financial department and managing the day-to-day business operations for PUC's schools.

Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo recently joined PUC Schools as the Director of Business and Development Services and will be working closely with its CEOs and the team to build an efficient and effective delivery of operational services to its own network of schools and others externally as well. Formally the Director of Educational Partnerships at the National Council of La Raza's Los Angeles, California office, she coordinated all regional education endeavors including the Charter School Development Initiative (CSDI), the Early College Project (ECP), and training and technical assistance for schools, affiliates, and nonprofit organizations in California that work with NCLR. She has an extensive background studying and working in education and administration in North, Central, and South America. She has taught over 10 years in preschool, elementary, and middle school both in and outside of the U.S., and has served in administrative leadership posts both in and out of the education field. As a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, Jacqueline holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American Economics and Spanish Language as well as a Master of Science in Educational Administration and Curriculum Development from the College of New Rochelle in New York. She is the daughter of immigrants and is happily married with twin daughters who attend a PUC school.

Jacqueline Elliot has been dedicated to public school reform since 1986 when she first became a teacher in Pacoima. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology, a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential, an Administrative Credential and a Master's degree in Educational Administration. She is currently completing her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Change at Fielding Graduate University. As a former LAUSD employee, Jacqueline was driven by an intense desire to improve the state of public education. She first became acquainted with the charter school movement in 1994 while serving as a teacher leader at Montague Elementary when she co-authored the school’s petition that converted Montague to charter status. Dedicated to creating high quality charter schools for the students in Pacoima, she founded Community Charter Middle School (CCMS) in 1999. The school was the first charter middle school to serve students in Los Angeles and was so successful and well received by the community, that she subsequently founded two more schools to serve the same geographic area. Jacqueline began collaborating with Dr. Ref Rodriguez in 1998. Together they have collaborated and supported each other's efforts while co-founding and operating Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC) and a total of eight schools. She currently serves as an elected representative to the California Charter Schools Association Membership Council.

Kelly Montes De Oca brings a wealth of academic and curriculum development experience to PUC. Prior to joining the PUC team, Kelly worked as an instructional coach and curriculum designer with the Galef Institute in Los Angeles. Her work there included designing and implementing an ongoing school reform program for elementary and middle schools based on The Galef Institute model. This work included designing and delivering professional development workshops, mentoring teachers, modeling lessons, and tracking the progress of school improvement. Kelly received her BA in General Studies of Education as well as California Preliminary Credential from the School of Education at the University of Southern California. She got her MA in Educational Technology as well as California Clear Credential from the Graduate School of Education at Azusa Pacifica University. She leads a team of professionals at PUC that collaboratively develop and deliver professional development to school leaders, teachers and all staff in the network.

Prior to his experience as a middle school principal, Nik Orlando has had extensive experience connecting the art community to the school community with city murals created by students at a Garden Park, as well as city art shows with student work included at Long Beach Art Walks and various performances. His experience also includes personal community based art experiences with stage and installation work with TEEN Magazine Cover, Long Beach City Halloween Event, California State University, Long Beach and the Festival of the Five Senses, The Perfect Circus, sponsoring foster children with musical instruments and grass roots community art collectives creating art/performance shows for the city. His teaching experience includes history, English, and journalism instruction for grades six through eight at CALS Charter Middle School, as well as history, English, and art instruction for grades six through eight at Constellation Community Middle School in Long Beach. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Multiple Subject CLAD Clear Teaching Credential from California State University, Long Beach and a Master of Arts in Collaborative Educational Leadership from Fielding Graduate University.

Malena Orozco-Otero is the Director of Human Resources for PUC Schools and is responsible for assuring that the network is compliant with Federal and State labor laws, for the staff and faculty recruiting process, for development and implementation of new programs, and employee retention. Prior to joining PUC Schools, Malena worked for several divisions of the Walt Disney Company in the Human Resources department. The industries ranged from gaming, toy design and retail. During the last ten months of her tenure Malena worked with the Disney Stores as they were acquired by The Children's Place, Inc. In that capacity she was the Human Resources Manager for 350 stores in 18 states. Her experience includes recruiting human resources generalist for various companies such Olsten Staffing Service and McKesson Water Products (Sparkletts). Malena has a BA degree in Spanish from California State University Los Angeles and completed several certificate programs in the Human Resources field.

Jason Roberts serves as the Director of Operations at PUC Schools where he supports the network in the areas of facilities development and maintenance, general school operation tasks and compliance. Prior to joining the PUC team, Jason served as the Assistant Director of Student Outreach and Recruitment Services at California State University, Northridge. His work there included developing programs to attract and yield a diverse student population to the Northridge campus. Jason has a strong commitment to access and instilling a college ready culture in our communities. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a Business minor and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from California State University Northridge.

Ref Rodriguez is the founder and co-chief executive officer of Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC Schools), a charter school management organization serving communities in the Northeast San Fernando Valley and Northeast Los Angeles. Ref's original inspiration for starting a charter school was to offer high quality learning experiences for middle school students residing in Cypress Park, the working class community northeast of downtown Los Angeles where he grew up. Prior to venturing into the charter school movement, Ref worked in the business sector and as a teacher and administrator in parochial schools. He is one of five children of Mexican immigrants. He is the first (but not the last) in his family to graduate from college and is a native Angelino. Ref is the Vice Chair of the Board of the California Charter Schools Association and serves on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles and the Small School Alliance. In 2005, he was appointed, by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, as a City Commissioner in the area of affordable housing. Ref holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. He recently began studies on a second doctoral degree as a student in the inaugural class of the Executive Work-Based Learning Program offered jointly by the Wharton School of Business and Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include teacher leadership and charter schools that are closing the achievement gap for Latino students.

Catalina Saenz began her career as a math teacher in Los Angeles, California. She later became a math teacher and Numeracy Coach at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School, currently the top urban middle school in the state of Massachusetts. With six years of teaching experience, a National Board Certificate in Early Adolescence Mathematics, and proven results teaching mathematics she joined CALS Early College High School (a PUC school). The student achievement results in her classroom grew from 0% to 53% proficient and advance. After completing her M.A. at Harvard Graduate School of Education in School Development she returned to PUC schools as Director of Math Instruction. Her work includes mentoring teachers to use data analysis to improve standard-based instruction, supporting teachers to improve lesson design, and model lessons to improve lesson delivery and student achievement. She graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Mathematics from Wellesley College.

Christine Sartiaguda is co-founder of the Clinical Counseling Program at PUC Schools. This program serves as a clinical training site for graduate students obtaining a degree in clinical counseling, marital and family therapy, art therapy and/or school counseling. The Clinical Counseling Program provides full mental health services to all PUC students and families. Christine is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist and Registered Art Therapist who clinically supervises Marital and Family Therapy Trainees/Interns as well as Art Therapy Interns. She brings over 12 years of clinical experience, having obtained a B.A. in Psychology, followed by her M.A. in Marital and Family Therapy specializing in Art Therapy, both degrees from Loyola Marymount University. Prior to coming to PUC, Christine was Director of Training, Program Director of a Day Program, Senior Therapist and Group Home Therapist at G.L.A.S.S. In addition to having worked in residential care, Christine has worked at hospitals, out-patient clinics, schools and has been a guest speaker at various clinical conferences. Christine has also been a part of academia while being invited to speak at Loyola Marymount University and CSUN as well as being an associate professor at Phillips Graduate Institute. As Director of Clinical Services, Christine oversees the Clinical Counseling Program and all other clinical services within PUC as well as provides individual and group supervision to the clinical counseling trainees/interns.

Edward Vandenberg was the founding principal of Lakeview Charter Academy and has been with PUC Schools since 2001. Prior to his work in education, he earned his MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA in Painting from the University of the Arts. Edward also attended and excelled in the arts at the prestigious Central High School in Philadelphia, PA. Upon his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania he embarked on a career as a muralist and traveled the world designing, creating, and managing large private projects. Seeking a return to education he began to teach art part time at Community Charter Middle School. Due to his dedication to students, commitment to learning, and rich life experience, in a very short period of time Edward ascended to the role of principal. After graduating the first class of students from Lakeview Edward took on the challenge of coaching the leaders in the PUC Valley Schools. During the past seven years he has had the pleasure of working with and learning from top notch educators, charter school developers, committed parents and most importantly, the wonderful PUC students.