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Dr. Joni Samples
Chief Academic Officer
Dr. Joni Samples is the new Chief Academic Officer of Family Friendly Schools. Dr. Joni comes with an impressive background combining academic credentials with practical service as a lifelong educator. She has served as a superintendent of schools, special education administrator, curriculum and instruction director, CEO for early childhood, coordinator of career and technical programs, and a teacher for regular and special education, as well as university teaching programs.
Dr. Joni is a popular keynote speaker and trainer in the area of family engagement. She has authored books about parent involvement in the education of their children. Her interest in parent involvement began with her four children-twin sons James and Christopher, and daughters Jennifer and Carolyn. The kids provided her daily learning "ahas" that she translated into a weekly newspaper column. An article about learning fractions came from measuring ingredients to make muffins with Christopher. James' science fair project about rat reproduction resulted in several articles on how to develop a scientific hypothesis and test it out.The popularity of the newspaper column led to Dr. Joni's first book, Taking the Guesswork out of School Success. This book stresses the importance of parent involvement in a child's learning, and shows schools and parents how they can help each other.
The Parent Playbook series, books with home-based activities matched to state learning standards, followed. Teachers, preschool to grade eight, have been delighted with the results when parents use the materials at home. Nikki Lleneras, a Parent Playbook fan and first grade teacher from Live Oak Unified School District, was out of her classroom for six weeks. The first thing her kids asked when she returned was, "Can we have our Parent Playbook games for home now?" Evidently, the substitute did not include the home activities in her lesson plans. Engage! Press released Dr. Joni's latest book, The Parent Connection, in the fall of 2009.
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Donald J. Converse, MA
Educational Development Director
An instructor and trainer in the education market, Don has been an entrepreneur, public speaker, and teacher. With degrees in marketing, business management and organizational leadership, Don was a Business Instructor at FCC College of San Diego, the Senior Regional Customer Service Director at IKON Office, and the past President of Signature III, Inc. Don is also Co-Chairman of Fundraising for his local Habitat for Humanity. He has edited several books and authored the white paper - The Customer Service Perspective of the Information Technology Professional.
Now in his role at FFS as Educational Development Director, Don assists schools and districts in choosing the family engagement developmental programs that will maximize the results of their efforts and minimize the learning curve for implementation. A true professional, Don nevertheless sets people at ease with his humor, quick thinking, and eye for ways to achieve improvement in learning.
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Larry Van Hoose
Director of Operations
Joining Family Friendly Schools in early 2009, Larry brings an extensive background in sales, marketing, research, and operations management in both the aerospace and industrial manufacturing sector. Larry fills the gaps in strategic marketing, creative design, technology, operations, data analysis and communications.
After 15 years of doing business in the hectic metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona, Larry packed up the family and moved to the beautiful and much more serene environs of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. He now lives with his beautiful wife and four children in Galax, Virginia, just a stone's throw from the Blue Ridge Parkway and the North Carolina border.
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Elizabeth Holiday Morgan
Certified Family Engagement Specialist
Elizabeth Morgan is a Sacramento, California native who not serves as a Family Engagement Trainer and Coach for FFS, but also as an adjunct professor for California’s largest community college district, Los Rios Community Colleges. She teaches courses in education and sociology where she pulls upon her vast knowledge and experience of the innerworkings of our nations urban schools. Prior to this, she served as a school administrator at St. HOPE Public School 7, a K-8 urban charter elementary school. She worked regularly with parents and educators to help create empowering solutions to life-impacting problems within children’s lives.
Elizabeth graduated amongst the top of her class from Harvard University with a Masters in Education. She also holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana.
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Karen Hackett-Villalobos
Certified Family Engagement Specialist
In addition to her current responsibilities as an FFS Certified Trainer and Coach, Karen has served as the Tri-County (Sutter, Colusa and Yuba Counties) BTSA Induction Program Director since 2001. In this role, Karen has worked with thousands of teachers delivering research-based professional development through an accredited licensure program. Prior to this position Karen was the Superintendent and Principal at Lake School in Glenn County for three years and has worked at the primary school level teaching since 1995.
Karen also co-authored and was awarded an Improving Teacher Quality Grant that focused on job-embedded professional development for teachers. She is currently working as adjunct faculty for Chapman University instructing future educators in early literacy skills.
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Nicholas S. D'Amico
Certified Family Engagement Specialist
Nicholas S. D'Amico is a certified trainer and distance coach with FFS. He is also an educator with classroom teaching and administrative experience at all three levels of education; elementary, secondary, and higher education. He has worked most closely with parents, teachers, and administrators to raise the level of student achievement of all students, with a particular focus on the needs of English Language Learners and their parents and teachers. From 1997-2000 he distinguished himself as a Visiting Educator with the Professional Development Unit at the California Dept. of Education in Sacramento, where he served as the state administrator and consultant for California's Bilingual Teacher Training Programs.
Nick holds a Masters Degree in Latin American Studies and a Doctorate in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles..
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