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Cottonwood Valley Charter School is a K-8 public school. In addition to the required math, science, language arts, and social studies courses, we also offer art, music, physical education, and Spanish. Below is some information about our classes and the faculty who teach them.

Class supply lists are linked below where available.

The information in this section of the Web site is reviewed by K. Williams.

Teachers

Administrator: Ms. Karin Williams   Contact

Before joining CVCS in 2007, Karin spent 28 years as an educator, including positions in Magdalena, Socorro, and Alamo. She has taught children of all ages, and has also served as a mentor and professional trainer of other teachers.

Kindergarten: Mrs. Lilian Momanyi    Contact   Supply List

Lilian is a native Kenyan who went to South Dakota to earn her MA in Curriculum and Instruction. Prior to that she earned her BA in Kenya and taught high school for four years. She is K-12 certified and has been teaching at Cottonwood Valley Charter School since we opened in 2001. Her youngest daughter attends CVCS.

First Grade: Mrs. Kim Schaffer    Contact   Supply List

Kim grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah where she fell in love with mountains and hiking. Kim graduated with an Elementary Education degree from the University of Utah and married her husband, Steve, in 1986. They have one grown daughter and one son who attends CVCS. Kim has taught in Socorro county since 1992. She took a year-long sabbatical with her family in 1999 to Trondheim, Norway. Kim earned a Masters of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction the summer of 2008, as well as her Level III NM teaching license! She began teaching at CVCS in fall 2008.

Second Grade: Mrs. Bernadette Ulibarri    Supply List

Mrs. Ulibarri came to CVCS in fall 2008.

Third Grade: Ms. Karen Bailey-Bowman (Mrs. Bowman)    Contact   Supply List

Karen was born at the U. S. Navy's operations base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and grew up in California, earning her B.A. in Humanities with a minor in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972. She completed her teacher training at CalState Hayward in 1973 and moved to New Mexico in 1976, where she received credentials in K-12 reading and 7-9 Language Arts, Science, and Art. Karen began teaching Language Arts in NM public schools in 1977, and received her M.A. in Education (Secondary Reading) from NMSU in 1980. After a stint in Arizona teaching at college and high school levels, she moved to Socorro in 1987 and earned her Elementary Education credential in 1988 from UNM while teaching at San Miguel School. Following several years teaching freshman English classes at NM Tech, reporting for The Mountain Mail, and three years as a Reading Recovery teacher in Albuquerque, she joined CVCS in fall 2004. In 2007 she earned her NM Level III licensure in the following areas: K-12 Reading and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages); grades 7-9 Science, Art, and Language Arts; and Elementary Education (K-8).

Fourth Grade: Ms. Karen Gram    Contact   Supply List

Karen Gram grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico and graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1985. She attended the University of Colorado in Boulder where she graduated with a BA in Psychology and Sociology. Next she worked on her K-12 Counseling Certification in Alaska, where she worked as a school counselor in Mountain Village, a Yu'pik Eskimo village located on the Yukon River. After a couple of years in Alaska she returned to New Mexico and attended the University of New Mexico where she graduated from the School of Education and received a NM K-8 teaching certification. For the next nine years she taught first, third, and middle school math and science for the Jemez Valley School District. While working in the Jemez she completed a TESOL program from the University of Phoenix. Returning to school again, she has recently graduated from New Mexico Tech with a Masters in Science Teaching. In her spare time Karen enjoys bicycling, hiking, rock climbing, and camping. She started teaching at CVCS in fall 2007.

Fifth Grade: Mr. Don Gaitens    Contact   Supply List

Mr. Donald Gaitens loves learning. Born in the Canadian mining community of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Don has lived as far north as Churchill (polar bear country on Hudson Bay) and as far east as Pusan, South Korea (where he started teaching). In 2007 he migrated south and west to Socorro and joined CVCS that fall. In his travels to many different countries, he has seen amazing things that inspired him to share his passion for learning. He holds an Advanced B.A. in Psychology focusing on adolescent development, and graduated with distinction from his B.Ed. program. He has sought out new experiences, both professionally and in his wide variety of hobbies, and tries to follow this advice: "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it — twice, just in case the first time was unlucky."

Middle School  Supply Lists

• Science; Math (6th-7th): Mrs. Nancy Engler   Contact

  Nancy is a Belen, New Mexico native and earned her BS and MS in Petroleum Engineering at New Mexico Tech. Upon graduation she went to work in Oklahoma as an engineer for seven years before deciding to go back to school for her alternative certification. Nancy taught Algebra and Computer Science for three years in Oklahoma before returning to Socorro to continue teaching, joining CVCS in our first year. Her son Eric attends CVCS.

• Math (8th); Social Studies (7th/8th): Mr. Omar Qureshi

  Omar Qureshi taught secondary Math and Native American History at Alamo Navajo Community School in Socorro County, New Mexico for 19 years. Omar is a certified consultant for the Strategic Literacy Initiative's Reading Apprenticeship Program and has extensive experience training secondary subject area teachers in supporting student literacy. Last year Mr. Qureshi began a small business in Magdalena, New Mexico doing Native Plant Landscaping with Navajo crews, and contracting with local schools as an Outdoor Education specialist, taking students into Wilderness Areas where he facilitates academic lessons involving both reading and writing. Mr. Qureshi holds a NM Level 2 Secondary Teaching Certificate with endorsements in Social Studies and Math, and came to CVCS in fall 2008.

• Language Arts (7th/8th), Social Studies (6th): Mr. Nick Smallridge III   Contact

  Mr. Smallridge graduated from Socorro High School in 1998. He attended Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, earning a BA in English and Writing and an MA in Education. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2003-2005 where he was a TEFL teacher in Uzbekistan. He joined CVCS in fall 2006.

• Language Arts (6th): Ms. Kim Berlat (see below)

Special Education: Ms. Candy Lindquist   Contact

Ms. Lindquist is certified as a K-12 special-education teacher and as a secondary teacher in English/language arts, science, psychology and social science (including history). She has a Bachelor of General Studies from New Mexico Tech and an M.S. in Education from Walden University, focused on Content Literacy in Grades 6-12. She has substantial additional graduate training in special education and in history. Ms. Lindquist has 20 years of teaching experience and an additional 10 years in middle-school curriculum development for major publishers. She is in her 7th year at CVCS, where she has taught 5th grade; middle-school language arts, history, and speech/drama; and special ed and gifted. Her most unusual teaching job was working in California with Koko, the sign-language-using gorilla!

Special Education: Ms. Kim Berlat

Kim grew up in Tucson, Arizona and Fort Collins, Colorado. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Renewable Natural Resources and worked briefly for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department. While working at Bosque del Apache NWR, she fell in love with the area and later decided to make Socorro her home. She began teaching 18 years ago in Magdalena. After 2 years in Magdalena, she was offered a position with the Socorro Consolidated School District. She has a degree in elementary education from The College of Santa Fe and has a Level II license. In July, 2008 she fulfilled the requirements for a pre-K–12 license in Language Arts. She is currently working on her MST degree at New Mexico Tech. Kim has been teaching middle school (6th-8th grade) Language Arts for 15 years. She has also been a Gifted Education teacher/coordinator for 15 years and has worked with both elementary and middle school gifted students. Ms. Berlat works in our Gifted Program and will also teach 6th-grade Language Arts. She joined CVCS in fall 2008.

Spanish: Ms. Sheri Armijo

All students will receive Spanish instruction 1-2 hours per week. Ms. Armijo began teaching at CVCS in fall 2008. She is originally from Las Cruces, NM and has lived in Phoenix and Chicago. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from UNM in 1992, began teaching in 1994, and currently holds a New Mexico Level II license with endorsements in ESL (English as a Second Language) and Bilingual education. After teaching K-5 Spanish at Albuquerque and Moriarty public schools for 10 years, she and her husband, Ricardo, moved to Socorro in 2004. They love walking everywhere they can in Socorro, and if you pass by the Plaza some evening, you might catch them dancing in the gazebo!

Physical Education: Mr. Jack Hibbs   Contact

Jack has been active in athletics and fitness his whole life. He graduated from The College of New Jersey where he majored in Political Science and Elementary Ed. He divides his time between Socorro and the Manzano Mountains, where he lives. He came to CVCS in fall 2005 and, in addition to PE, also teaches Elementary Reading.

Art: Ms. Liz Alvarez   Contact

Since 1991, Liz has taught art to students throughout the United States. A native of Brunswick, Maine, she began private art lessons at age eight. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), studying illustration with RISD faculty such as Chris van Allsburg, and graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Illustration and a minor in Graphic Design. After graduation, she was employed at RISD in the Admissions office where, in addition to visiting more than 100 high schools nationally, she reviewed more than 200 portfolios each season. With many lesson plan ideas, she continued her education at the University of California at Santa Barbara, graduating with Honors in 1990 from the Graduate School of Education with a teaching credential in Art. In North Carolina she taught Fine Arts to more than 600 sixth-graders each week, and quickly learned the meaning of "classroom management"! Back in California in 1992, she taught art to more than 300 students in grades K-8 in the Bay area. Since 1998, she and her family have lived in Socorro, where she has taught with the high school, the homeschoolers of Socorro and, most recently, at New Mexico Tech. She holds a valid teaching credential in Art for California and New Mexico. Throughout her teaching career, she has maintained her freelance art business, painting just about anything from architectural renderings, portraits, magazine illustrations, greeting cards, painting on tile, and landscape painting using a variety of media. Liz is a current member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Rio Grande Art Association, a juried member of the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA), and Socorro County Arts. She came to CVCS in fall 2008, and is thrilled to be involved with our school, coordinating the art program and creating with the kids!

Music: Ms. Rheda Brown

Teacher Aides/Instructional Assistants: Ms. Eva Greenwood, Ms. Laurie Ware, and Ms. Patti Chavez

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