CS Partners

School Leaders

Jim Perry, Director of Kensington Woods High School

Jim Perry earned his Bachelor´s of Arts in Psychology and Master´s of Arts in Education from the University of Michigan. He has over twelve years of experience in education with particular interest incorporating experiential education into the small high school model. Most recently, Mr. Perry has developed a comprehensive model to use the community as an educational resource for high school students to earn credits through internships, community based courses and dual enrollment with a local university. He has been a member of the Kensington Woods High School faculty since the first year in 1995/96. Jim served as a Social Studies instructor and assistant principal at the Academy before beginning as principal in July 1999.

Shelley Stockwell, Executive Director of Charyl Stockwell Academy

Shelley Stockwell has over 29 years experience in education, serving the last 15 years as an elementary school principal. She holds a MA in Guidance and Counseling from Eastern Michigan University, was awarded elementary and secondary administration certification from the state of Michigan in 1988, and is certified in Crisis Intervention Training and Special Education Administration. Ms. Stockwell currently is the principal of Charyl Stockwell Academy. Ms. Stockwell was the principal of Webster School in Livonia for ten years. Webster School served as Livonia´s magnet school for academically gifted and talented children and as the regional center program for elementary aged students with moderate cognitive impairments. She brings to CS Partners extensive experience implementing innovative programming at the elementary school level. She has written and published curriculum endorsed at the district, university and state levels. Ms. Stockwell also has experience in facility renovation and design to insure floor plan reflected the educational model required to serve the needs of the student population.

Cherise Cupidore, Principal of Crescent Academy

Cherise Cupidore obtained a Masters Degree in K-12 Educational Administration from Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from DePaul University. She holds an Associate Degree with a concentration in Management from Robert Morris College. She is currently a PhD. student at Walden University seeking a Ph.D. in K-12 Educational Leadership. Ms. Cupidore´s educational career began as a classroom teacher, teaching at risk inter city students. This profound experience further lead to other lateral positions in education: Dean of Students, Assistant Principal, Founding Principal, Regional Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Regional Vice President of Michigan Operations. Her career experience and training also provided her with the opportunity to work in a college setting as the Director of the Yes for PREP program at Marygrove College. The various positions provided her with the opportunity to work with diverse groups of students, parents, teachers and professional faculty both in traditional school settings, schools of choice and higher education environments. Further, her work experience has given her many challenging opportunities to work on school namely No Child Left Behind subcommittee for the state of Michigan in helping to establish the benchmarks in closing the achievement gaps. Moreover, she has developed professional development works and teacher training programs for the benefit of helping teachers with less than three years of experience become master teachers. She has planned, developed and implemented professional development plans based on student test data results; in an effort to help close achievement gaps. Her experience has allowed her to guide teachers and principals on effective techniques for analyzing student work and monitoring student progress. Additionally, she has implemented computer assisted instructional programs for at risk students in the core content areas of Reading, Math and English.

Amy Pogorzelski, Director of American Montessori Academy

Amy Pogorzelski received her Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education at West Georgia College/ Carrollton, Georgia. She also received her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from West Georgia College. She is certified in Early Childhood Education K-5 (K-8 Self Contained Class). She began her career by teaching for 9 years, 8 of those years teaching 3rd grade. Ms. Pogorzelski was born in North Carolina and grew up in the south. Since coming to Michigan she has been the director of two charter schools. She has been the Director at American Montessori Academy for four years. She has been married for 8 years. She has one daughter who is 5 and just started kindergarten at a private Montessori.

Heidi Cate, Principal of Lighthouse Academy

Heidi Cate is the Principal of Lighthouse Academy (LA), a Strict Discipline Academy Charter authorized by Ferris State University. Her first career began twenty years ago as a psychologist. Her philosophy of treatment is greater biological, psychological and social health best achieved by focusing on one’s assets and identifying and developing these while trying to reduce emotional distress caused by life stress. Her goals for counseling are for clients to achieve health by building their strengths while learning new ways to address life problems. She has worked with clients of a variety of ages, from toddlers to the elderly. Her specific areas of specialty are working with adolescents and their families, particularly those who are struggling with substance abuse and/or delinquency problems and assessments and treatment of attention and/or learning problems in children and adults. She began to pursue her second Masters Degree one year ago and will soon have a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Central Michigan University. Her goal is to build her skills as an administrator of LA and to continue to assist the school in its growth in numbers as well as excellence.

Richard Kroll Jr., Principal of Huron Academy

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