Staff Directory
LEP High Staff List 2011-2012
Administration
Lorna Fast Buffalo Horse
Director/Principal
lorna.fbh@lephigh.org
Lorna Fast Buffalo Horse has been the Director and Principal of LEP High School since 2007. Before coming to LEP High, Lorna co-founded and was Principal of Spanish English International School (SEIS). Her 23-year career in education has included teaching and administrative work at grades K-12, adult education, and teacher education, including work as a District Coordinator of ESL, Bilingual, Migrant, and Indian Education, Director of a high school Multicultural Center, Title VII Coordinator, VISTA Volunteer, and Adjunct Professor in the graduate Teacher Education programs at Lewis and Clark College and Portland State University. She has taught classes at Portland Community College, Mt. Hood Community College, and Northwest Indian College. She holds a Master’s in Teaching from Willamette University and has completed additional course work in Educational Administration. She and her husband, Sam, have three sons and live in Portland.
Adam Reid
Co-founder, Development Director
adam.reid@lephigh.org
Adam helps coordinate outreach and community relationships, and provides general input regarding the direction of the school. Prior to the school’s opening date in August 06, as one of the Co-Founders, Adam spent two years developing the charter proposal and conducting outreach efforts within the community.
Adam gained most of the ideas featured in LEP while helping to develop Ethos, Inc., a nonprofit multicultural music center in North Portland, where he started and managed multiple programs that brought music education to underserved youth and communities. Through this experience, he saw that many schools throughout the Portland area were not interesting, engaging, and teaching materials that relate to student’s lives. After his time at Ethos, Adam enrolled in a specialized program to earn his Masters Degree in Education at Stanford University. At Stanford, Adam specialized in education reform, policy, and management by taking classes in both the Graduate School of Business and the Graduate School of Education.
Shannon Schrecengost
Enrollment & Internship Coordinator
shannon.schrecengost@lephigh.org
(503) 960- 9177
Shannon Schrecengost is proud to join the LEP staff after serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA during the 2010-2011 school year. Shannon graduated from Pacific Lutheran University where she received a BA in Communications with an emphasis in print journalism. During her time at PLU, she gained experience through a variety of internships with organizations such as The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington Women’s Employment & Education, World Vision, and many more. Shannon now coordinates internships for LEP, helping students gain real-world learning experience by serving at sites that align with their career interests. When Shannon is not working, she enjoys biking, playing Scrabble, daydreaming about pugs, gobblin’ up ghosts in Pac-Man, and attempting to sew.
Jan Phillips
Office Manager,
jan.phillips@lephigh.org
Jan Phillips is the Office Manager at LEP High and is the Principal Administrative Assistant. Before coming to LEP, Jan spent 30 years with the Kaiser Foundation. She had eight different positions in her tenure and her favorite’s being the Hospital Photographer in the Education Department and in the Quality Development Department. She retired from Kaiser in 2000 and sought out to pursue her dream of working with High School Students. She had such rewarding experiences with her own two children and enjoyed the school atmosphere and sense of community. She was the Office Manager at Oregon City High School and then on to De La Salle North Catholic for 4 ½ years as the Principals Administrative Assistant and Development Administrative Assistant.
She has a love of the ocean and you can find her scouring for rocks and sea glass on the beach of Arch Cape with the beloved family lab “Rebel”. She volunteers as a Whale Watcher Volunteer and at the Haystack Awareness Program and special events at East Side Athletic Club. She is an avid sea glass collector, walker, photographer and loves arranging flowers. Jan has two children who both graduated from OSU and she is really proud of them and their accomplishments.
Theresa Smallwood, School Secretary, theresa.smallwood@lephigh.org
Dee Dee Elsey, Business Manager, business@lephigh.org
Anna Finklestein, VISTA Coordinator, anna.finklestein@lephigh.org
Nick Fenger, Tech Guru, nick.fenger@lephigh.org
Student Support
Amy White, Grades 11-12 Counselor, amy.white@lephigh.org
Rekha Krishnan, ESL Specialist, Evening School Teacher, rekha.krishnan@lephigh.org
Woodley Polynice, School Climate Coordinator, woodley.polynice@lephigh.org
Special Education
Dvora Mencher, Special Education Teacher, dvora.mencher@lephigh.org (PPS Staff)
Sharon Ford, Special Education Teacher, sharon.ford@lephigh.org (PPS Staff)
Classroom Teachers
Angela “Judy” Schauffler
AP English and College Counseling
angela.schauffler@lephigh.org
Ms. Judy joined the LEP High team in 2009 and has been teaching for 6 years. Previously, she has taught 9th-12th grade English at LEP, Hillsboro High School, and at the Roosevelt High School Campus in the Bronx, where she is originally from, as a NYC Teaching Fellow. Ms. Judy moved to Portland in 2008. She has been going to school forever and has her MSED. (She plans on going back to school soon because it is that awesome.) Ms. Judy enjoys dancing, listening to music, and playing video games.
Bryant Royal, Evening School Coordinator, bryant.royal@lephigh.org
Heathrina Stanfield, Math Teacher, heathrina.stanfield@lephigh.org
James Jeffrey-West
Humanities Teacher, Learning Facilitator
james.jw@lephigh.org
(On Leave, Returning December 1, 2011)
James Jeffrey-West was born and raised in Portland, OR, where he attended University of Portland and then went on to receive his Master’s in Teaching at Lewis & Clark College. He loves to travel, and was actually living abroad in Nottingham, England when he heard about LEP High School in 2006. James lives in NE Portland with his lovely wife Kevia and beautiful baby, Elington, as well as their orange tabby, Violet. When he is not teaching he loves to garden, cook, read, spend time at the coast, and play live music around Portland. If he could teach at any school in the world, it would be LEP.
Jason Gershuny, Leadership and Entrepreneurship jason.gershuny@lephigh.org
Jennifer Stone, Humanities Teacher, jen.stone@lephigh.org
Jessica Mallare, Humanities Teacher, jessica.mallare@lephigh.org
Kati Pfleeger, Humanities, kati.pfleeger@lephigh.org
Kim Street, Health and PE Teacher, kim.street@lephigh.org
Laurie Thurston
Humanities Teacher
laurie.thurston@lephigh.org
Laurie Thurston taught English Language Arts within a Rochester, New York program for disengaged high school students that she developed and directed. In addition to her 17 years in the classroom, she spent two years as an Instructional Leadership Coach for the Oregon Small School Initiative, working to sustain the development of small schools across the state. She’s presented at several conferences sharing best practices and strategies for reaching the reluctant reader and writer, including the New York State Alternative Network Association, the National Council for Teacher Educators, the Oregon Association of Teacher Educators and the National Association for Multicultural Education. She penned a regular column regarding teaching in the Alternative Network Journal, as well as several other published articles about teaching and writing including her most recent an essay in Lewis & Clark’s Democracy & Education. In addition to teaching Humanities and Language Arts at LEP Charter School in Portland, she’s been an adjunct for the MAT program at Marylhurst University since 2008 teaching pre-service teachers about writing and literacy across content areas.
Luna Le Duc
Biology Teacher
luna.leduc@lephigh.org
Luna was born in St. Charles, Missouri, in 1959 and grew up a country girl, fascinated with science and nature. Luna attended the University of Oklahoma where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Laboratory Technology and Microbiology. After graduation, Luna got a job with a veterinarian as a laboratory technician and animal care assistant for 25 years. After realizing her passion for teaching, Luna earned her Master’s degree in Education from Portland State University. When not teaching, Luna enjoys being outdoors. She loves bicycling, walkabouts around Portland, camping, fishing, hiking, and sleeping in a tent.
Nathan Schlingmann, Math Teacher, nathan.schlingmann@lephigh.org
Richard Acuna, Spanish Teacher, richard.acuna@lephigh.org
Casey Baker
Math Teacher
casey.baker@lephigh.org
Casey grew up in a small town just outside of Portland, and spent much of his formative years exploring the various rivers in the area. When college called, he left for the Midwest, spending time in Iowa (Grinnell College) and Missouri (Covenant Seminary in St. Louis). During that time, Casey found a passion for teaching in non-traditional settings, which inspired him to return to the Portland area and become a teacher here. When not teaching, Casey spends time gardening and collecting board games with his wife and four children, along with several chickens, two ducks, a cockatiel, and a disabled poodle.
Joe Ferguson
Science Teacher
joe.ferguson@lephigh.org
Mr. Joe recently relocated to Portland from Reno, Nevada to join Team LEP. He has been teaching all types of science classes, organic agriculture, and many interdisciplinary courses at Rainshadow Community Charter High School for the past 5 years. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation Biology & Mathematics, his Master’s degree in Environmental Science, and completed a teacher’s education program at the University of Nevada, Reno. In his free time, Mr Joe loves to spend time with his family, learn new things, listen to records, practice yoga, garden, travel, hike, bike and enjoy nature.
Michael Irikawa
English Teacher, Evening School Teacher
michael.irikawa@lephigh.org
Ryan Murphey
Evening School Teacher
ryan.murphey@lephigh.org
Peter Finn
Evening School Teacher
peter.finn@lephigh.org