Keynote Speaker

John Spencer
Keynote Address
The Seven Types of Creative Teachers
The Eight Stages in the Teacher Technology Journey

John Spencer is a former middle school teacher and current college professor on a quest to transform schools into bastions of creativity and wonder. He is the co-author of Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student and the founder of two ed-tech start-ups. In 2009, he spoke at the White House, sharing a vision for how to empower students to be future-ready through creativity and design thinking.

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Kelly A. Barry
Using Art to Assist with Trama Healing

Kelly Barry, M.Ed. is the Special Education Department Chair for Prince William County Juvenile Detention Center. She currently works under State Operated Programs through Prince William County Public Schools, and previously served Fairfax County Schools as a Lead Teacher for students with disabilities. She has been working in special education since 2002.

Michelle Collins
Bring Your Class Online!

Michelle has seven years of teaching experience in Family and Consumer Science, Business and Information Technology and Social Studies. She has a Master's Degree from Virginia Tech in Instructional Technology and works at the Virginia Beach Juvenile Detention Home.

Bonnie Conner-Gray
CPR, First Aid, and AED Instruction

B.S. Health and Physical Education, Longwood University M.S. Curriculum and Instruction, Longwood University

Dr. Debi Crimmins
Accelerate Literacy and Achieve Lifelong Success

As a former Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida, Debi Crimmins has supervised and coordinated the district’s secondary language arts department, blended learning models, intervention implementation, curriculum and instruction vertical mapping, state assessment analysis, school turn around reform, and professional development services for all elementary, middle, and high schools.

Debi’s passion for literacy instruction and blended learning, coupled with a rigorous commitment to improving professional development for teachers, is modeled throughout her contemporary, research-based workshops, keynotes, seminars, and institutes around the country, as she utilizes best practice from her teaching experience as well as her Ph.D. in Literacy Intervention Instruction. Her research has been published in the English Journal, Phi Delta Kappa, ASCD, and within literacy instruction books by Christopher Gordon Publishers.

Katherine L. Dec, MD, FAAPMR
Concussions and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury---Treatment is a 'Sports' Medicine Approach

Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery; VCU School of Medicine

Immediate Past President, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine

Director, Sports Medicine and Performance N.O.W. Center VCU Health

Past Chair, Frank C. McCue Sports Medicine Advisory Committee for VHSL

Head Team Physician, Longwood University

Physician lead, VCU Nutritional Performance Team, VCU Athletics

Additionally, Katherine serves as a selected member, writing group for AMSSM sports related concussion position statement (revision), Think Tank for AAPMR on concussion and treatment writing group, and was recently awarded a grant through Children’s Hospital Foundation to address concussion through severe TBI in youth, as a Co-Director with two other physicians.

Jeffry Dobrow
Room Scale Virtual Reality : Exploring the spectrum of opportunities in education

Jeff Dobrow, founder of flowlabvr.com, is a visual and technology artist, exploring and playing within the evolving relationship between technology, art, and process. For Jeff, authoring animation software to generate Z-80 code ignited an odd love affair with technology and pixels. After decades of exploration in programming, circuit design, and 3D animation, a cohesive theme emerged. The realization of room scale, wireless virtual reality technology now provides the most robust and dynamic medium yet to express and design experiences.

Jeff’s passion for this has launched flowlab: flowlab educates and inspires with room-scale Virtual Reality and Interactive and Immersive Art (VRIIA). At flowlab, VRIIA awareness continues to increase through community outreach initiatives, public art installations, and immersion events throughout the year including initiatives on a private, public, and community level.

Jeff previously served as Creative Director of Ringside Creative in Detroit where he founded and developed their motion design group. There he serviced a range of global agencies working on a variety of national TV spots and campaigns. After moving to Virginia, Jeff continues directing design and animation for a variety of clients both domestically and abroad.

Kim Doucette
Google Docs - Make and Take

Education Director, Virginia Treatment Center for Children

Chris Dovi
Computer Science 101: The Basics

Executive Director, CodeVA

Hamlet E. Hood, Jr.
Basic Gang Awareness

Lieutenant (Ret.) Hamlet E. Hood, Jr. is a retired Police Officer from the Richmond, Va. Police Department where he served for over 29 years. During his time as a lieutenant, he served in several areas within the department, such as Sector Commander in the East End and Downtown, and OIC of the Organized Crime Divisions Gang Unit.

As a Sector Commander, he collaborated with community leaders to identify their problems and work to resolve them. Working together with the communities, each community saw significant reductions in crime. As the leader of the Gang Unit and a faculty member for Gang Busters, he developed training to address all groups who are responsible for youth in the community.

He is presently a Gang Investigator and Trainer for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Juvenile Justice, Investigative Unit, where he conducts Gang Awareness Trainings across the state. He has received numerous awards during his career. Some significant awards are the Silver Medal of Valor from the Greater Richmond Retail Merchants Association, Two Recognitions from Richmond City Council for his Community/Police relationship building efforts and was recognized as the Personality of the Week by the Richmond Free Press for his community involvement.

Jonnee Hunter
Google Docs – Make and Take

Jonnee Hunter, Ed.S. is a Lead Teacher for the Virginia Treatment Center for Children. Mrs. Hunter was born and raised in New York and is a proud graduate of Virginia State University. She has a thorough knowledge of her content area in the fields of exceptional education, curriculum and instruction and administration and supervision. In the classroom, she identified the learning styles of diverse learners and implemented instructional strategies and utilized differentiation of instruction to meet the needs of all learners. Mrs. Hunter is a leader not only in the classroom but within the education department as well.

John Kegel
Are You Ready to Retire?

John is a Member Educator and Outreach Counselor with the Virginia Retirement System. As a Member Educator and Outreach Counselor, his responsibilities include educating members and employers located primarily in the Western-Valley Region of Virginia. Prior to joining VRS, John worked in the healthcare industry. He holds a life, health and annuities license and is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance.

Dr. Shaheen E. Lakhan
The Community Impact of the Opiod Crisis

Shaheen E. Lakhan, MD, PhD, MEd, MS, FAAN, is a board-certified pain specialist and neurologist, physician scientist, and medical educator. Dr. Lakhan has an extensive research, educational, and philanthropic portfolio. With over 80 peer-reviewed journal publications, books, and book chapters, he is a scholar in pain.

Tracy Lee
Family Connections
Engaging Struggling Learners

Tracy Lee is currently the Family Engagement Specialist/Special Projects Coordinator in the Office of Specialized Education Facilities and Family Engagement at the Virginia Department of Education. She provides leadership and technical assistance to PRCs throughout the commonwealth and trains both parents and school divisions in parental rights, dispute resolution, best practices in collaboration through the special education process, and positive behavior strategies. She has also been an elementary school teacher, preschool director, and the Family Resource Coordinator for Colonial Heights Public Schools. Additionally, she has co-authored two bestselling parenting books (1-2-3 Magic for Kids and the 1-2-3 Magic Workbook) and has appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates nationwide discussing parenting and education related issues.

Leslie Magee
Pound - Rockout, Workout

Board Certified Music Therapist
CHKD Hospital School Program, 2006-present
Certified Pound Instructor, 2017-present

Dr. Victor Martin
Culturally Responsive Teaching
The Way Up and Out!

Victor Martin is currently the Director of Alternative Programs and Equity in the Office of Student Services, Alternative Programs & Equity for Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS). He earned a bachelor's degree from Oswego State University where he majored in English and a Master's degree from George Mason University in Education Leadership. In July of 2013, he was a fellow in the National Institute for Urban School Leaders at Harvard University. Victor recently graduated with his doctorate in education leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

In his current district, Dr. Martin has served as the Director of Alternative Programs and Equity, where he provided systemic leadership and articulation in the effort to eliminate the disparities in student achievement across racial, ethnic, socio-economic, and other identifiable student groups, and served as the lead administrator to the five alternative education programs for ACPS. During his career, Victor has conducted workshops at a wide range of conferences, Victor serves as a member of the Research Council for MSAN, as well as serving on numerous community boards. He was also a contributing author in Strategies in Action: A Collection of Classroom Applications, Volume 1 (2009).

Jennifer Matheny
Mental Health in the Classroom

Jennifer Matheny is the former Education Director at the Commonwealth Center for Children & Adolescents, which is the state psychiatric facility serving children ages 3-18. Currently, she is the Director of the Shenandoah Valley Regional Program for Special Education, and she has over twenty years of experience working in education and/or treatment facilities, both public and private.

Tina Mazzacane
Understanding the 2016 Mathematics Standards of Learning

Tina Mazzacane is currently the Mathematics Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Education. Ms. Mazzacane previously served as a high school mathematics teacher and Secondary Mathematics Coordinator in Virginia Beach City Public Schools, and as an adjunct mathematics professor at Tidewater Community College.

Karen McDowell
Experiential Learning Tools for Career Education
Presentation: SOP_ExperientialLearning.pdf

VA Account Manager

Donna Mixner
Sextortion

Donna Mixner, M.A. Ed, M.C.J., FBI Victim Specialist.

Donna Mixner has a B.S. in Social Work and Criminal Justice and an M.A.Ed. Counseling degree, both from East Carolina University. She also has a MCJ from Boston University. She is dually licensed as a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Marriage and Family Therapist. She has been working in direct victim services for more than 20 years. She began her career in Victim Services at Camp LeJeune’s Counseling Center as a Victim Advocate, working mostly with victim of domestic violence and sexual assault. She came to the Richmond Division of the FBI in 2004. She works with victims of any federal crime, including violent crimes against children, sextortion, homicide, human trafficking, financial crimes, bank robberies and crimes on the high seas.

Dr. Sharon Mullen
Going for the Gold!

Sharon Mullen earned her Doctor of Education degree from Nova Southeastern University in 2005, and was declared a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescence in 2003. Dr. Mullen has served as a member of the Advisory Council for the Governor's Career Readiness Certificate, and as a member of the National Career Pathways Network she received the Career Pathways Partnership Excellence Award in 2013. Dr. Mullen currently holds the position of Education Principal and Workforce Credential Specialist at the Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, VA. She has also served as the Education Director for State Operated Programs representing Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center since 2011.

Jessica Newsome
Explore Using Green Screens in the Classroom

Jessica has been in education for 8 years. She started her career in the NYC public school system as a teacher, and prior to relocating she served as a dean. She is currently teaching at Virginia Treatment Center for Children and is always seeking creative ways to implement technology into the classroom.

Paige Nolt
Sexualized Behaviors in Children & Adolescents

Paige Nolt, LCSW is a practicing therapist with a focus on trauma. She utilizes concepts of AEDP and EMOR. Paige believes that all people are capable of healing from trauma.

Cecilia Oakley
Explore Using Green Screens in the Classroom

Cecilia Oakley has been in education for 12 years. She started her career in the Fredericksburg City school system working as a first grade teacher, third grade inclusion teacher, and spending three years as the Gifted intellectual teacher. Currently, she is the elementary teacher for the Virginia Treatment Center for children.

Kevin O’Keefe
Creating Interactive Worksheets with Wizer

Kelly Page
How to Host a Book Tasting

Kelly Page has worked in the SOP program at the New River Valley Juvenile Detention Home (NRVJDH) for four years. Additionally, she taught for nine years. The five years prior to her work at the NRVJDH were spent in two schools that both had 85+% of free and reduced lunch. She received her Bachelor's Degree in special education from Old Dominion University in 2008 and her Master's in Reading from Regent University in 2013 the same year that she became certified as a reading specialist. She is currently working on her Education Specialist degree from Virginia Tech.

Virginia Passaris
Bring Your Class Online!

Virginia is a Virginia Beach Schools Business Teacher, ISAEP Home Coordinator CIS Certified, and Post D Teacher. Ms. Passaris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management, and she has her Virginia Teaching Certificate. She has been teaching in detention for 14 years.

Amanda Rawlins, M.Ed., M.T.
Dyslexia: Navigating Collaborative Assessment and Intervention as a Parent or Consultant
Dyslexia in the Classroom: The teacher’s role in dyslexia assessment and intervention

Amanda Rawlins is a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia studying Reading Education. Prior to her doctoral studies, Amanda spent time in Virginia public schools as a Reading Specialist, first grade teacher, and Kindergarten teacher. Her interests include dyslexia, assessment for reading disabilities, and the neuroscience of reading. She works in the McGuffey Reading Center as a doctoral clinician and with professors in the Curry School of Education Neuropsychology Department. Amanda hopes to continue serving families seeking diagnosis and remediation in school and clinical settings after completing her degree.

Ruth Reynolds
Computer Science 101: The basics
Computer Science: Gadgets, Gizmos and other Resources

Ruth Reynolds is a Special Education Teacher at Virginia Beach Juvenile Detention Center. She has been teaching for 11 years. Over the last three years, their STEM program has been designed to include computer science and a maker space with 3D printing and design.

Alisa Shreve
Creating Interactive Worksheets with Wizer
Engaging Students with Videos

Alisa Shreve has been the School Based Technology Specialist at the Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center school program for ten years. Alisa strongly believes that instructional technology is a powerful tool to reinforce the academic and social skills of students. She has provided Apple iPad trainings to various school programs within State Operated Programs. In addition, as a Certified Trainer for SMART Notebook software and SMART Response, Alisa is ready to provide training to administrators and teachers on these technologies.

Dr. Patrick Tolan
How should I consider poverty as a factor in understanding youth risk and intervention?

Patrick Tolan Ph.D. is the Charles S. Robb Professor in the School of Education and the in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Science in the College of Medicine at the University of Virginia and the founding director of the Youth-Nex Center. Previously, he was director of the Institute for Juvenile Research and Professor at the University of Illinois Medical School. He is an internationally renowned authority on sound scientific evaluation on youth development and prevention of health problems, promotion of health youth development, and pathways to success for at-risk youth. Dr. Tolan has published 8 books and over 200 scientific articles, and his contributions have been recognized with several awards including the American Psychological Association Nicholas Hobbs Award for Contributions to Child and Family Research and Policy.

Joseph Wharff
Profile of a Virginia Graduate and Best Practices for Implementation

Joe is the School Counseling Specialist at the Virginia Department of Education. His duties in the Office of Student Services include the Academic and Career Plan Initiative, student assistance programs, school safety, and technical support for school counselors in Virginia. Previously, he was the Career Connections Specialist in the Office of Career and Technical Education and School Counseling Specialist in the Office of Instruction at the Department. Joe has worked as a school counselor and director at Hermitage High School in Henrico County. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Ohio University and his Masters and Post-Masters degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he currently is an adjunct faculty member. He is the father of three sons, Jack 14, Luke, 12, and Connor, 9.

Stephanie Zampino
Using Art to Assist with Trauma Healing

Stephanie Zampino, LCSW School Social Worker will be presenting with Kelly Barry, Med. Special Education Coordinator.