About Us
These certified and well trained teachers are experienced, child oriented Professionals committed to growing expertise. All are highly qualified whose Instructional expertise focuses on reading and writing instruction, Mathematics instruction, special education, and early childhood expertise.
*Please contact Susan Hall, Administrative Assistant, to view the resumes of the professional staff. They are on file for your convenience in the reception office.
Click Here to read the NCLB Right to Know letter to parents
The instructional staff reflects an emphasis on quality instruction:
Richard Valentine - Principal/Director
Gretchen Taeza - Special Education Specialist
Bill Glazerman - grades second and third
Sandra Cornejo - grades fourth and fifth
Windy Parman - grades kindergarten and first
Cary Jensen- grades six, seven and eight
Joy Yakovlev - Special Education Teacher
Terri Nelson Valentine - Accountant and Compliance Officer
Susan J. Hall - Administrative assistant & Receptionist
Richard Valentine - Principal/Director
 Visions Unlimited Academy Director, Richard Valentine is well known throughout Arizona and New Mexico as a school leader, school quality specialist, team builder and advocate for families and children. He believes it his mission to support personal and academic growth, achievement and fulfillment as people determine it for themselves and seeks to give students and their parents a boost in this direction. He has been involved with Visions Unlimited Academy since its inception and works to bring the humanity, precision and achievement he came to value as child in a close knit community to the life of the school.
Richard is the parent of one adult child, Meaghan Davenport, the step parent of four lively and entertaining younger children and remains close to his siblings and to multiple Valentine nieces and nephews scattered in Missouri, Texas and Kentucky. He likes to read, garden, travel, cook and write. He is the author of The Washday Special, a Culinary Memoir and is still the aspiring author of that fabled great American novel. Click Here to e-mail Richard.
back to top
Gretchen Taeza - Special Education Specialist
Gretchen-Taeza has been teaching at Visions Unlimited Academy for 5 years. Ms. Liebe-Taeza has done extensive learning and implementation in the areas of Word Study, Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s Workshop and is a graduate of Lucy Caulkins’ Writers Workshop at Columbia University. She has implemented these approaches to teaching and learning for the past 10 years and continues to study and investigate the newest forms of instruction that works with the children of today. She is the co author of Word Work to Go (please email with questions, or orders) a resourse for teachers implementing word study apporaches to phonics and spelling instruction.
Gretchen works as a consultant in other school districts training their teachers as well. She loves the fact that here at Visions we get to do what the newest research proves is good for kids and to keep them in our hearts as we work with the Arizona State Standards… to meet the needs of the state and the needs of the students in our classrooms on a daily basis. Ms. Liebe-Taeza has 3 children and lives nearby with three cats, one dog, three birds and three horses.
back to top
Bill Glazerman - 2nd and 3rd Grades
Bill Glazerman teaches second and third grade at Visions Unlimited Academy. Mr.Glazerman is a reading specialist and has been teaching elementary children for 38 years ; he has served as a classroom teacher of every elementary grade, a reading specialist, and a teacher of the gifted and talented. He received his B.S. in Elementary Education from East Stroudsburg State College ( Pennsylvania) and a Masters in Reading from Temple University in Philadelphia. Most of his career has been in the state of Delaware, but he has also worked in elementary schools in Arizona, New Jersey and Florida.
Mr. Glazerman is a highly accomplished reading teacher;one of his career highlights was serving as president of the Delaware State Reading Association and program coordinator for their state conferences. Bill also taught elementary reading and language arts courses at Wilmington College in New Castle, Delaware and has given numerous presentations at state conferences in teaching of poetry and vocabulary.
Bill’s greatest pleasures come from listening to his vast classical music CD collection, playing tournament Scrabble, and playing with his two brilliant poodles, Rudy and Gilbert. He is pleased to add the students and teaching at Visions to this list of most favored things.
back to top
Sandra Cornejo - 4th and 5th Grades
Ms. Sandra Cornejo teaches fourth and fifth grade. Ms. Cornejo is a graduate of Pima College and is Visions Unlimited Academy’s ‘oldest’ employee. She has worked at the school since she was 18 years of age as a paraprofessional, art and physical education teacher and now is as a regular classroom teacher. Ms. Cornejo has benefited from the continuation education program at the school and offers students well developed expertise in Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop and in art and use of technology in the classroom. She is continuing her professional training in elementary education at the University of Arizona, South.
Ms. Conejo is well respected (loved) by her students and noted for her encouraging, quiet but relentless demeanor. She has a 3 year old daughter of her own and enjoys working with children, supporting their growth and relishes in living the demanding teacher’s life she’s wanted since high school. Ms. Cornejo serves as a living model for our older students—one that suggests that dedication, perseverance and consistent contribution leads to success. Ms. Cornejo is a graduate of the local high school and her parents –who are very proud of her—also live nearby.
back to top
Mrs. Windy Parman - Kindergarten and 1st Grades
A person might think that Windy Parman had no choice but to become a teacher; she’s learned so much from university, family and life experience that her work with children looks natural. There are six teachers in her extended family and after taking a break from her own college training to be a stay at home mom and learning what her heart was saying, Mrs. Parman returned for teacher training. She is energetic, child centered, caring and skilled as she continues studies in Elementary Education/ Special Education at Prescott College (Tucson). Windy began working at Visions Unlimited Academy in 2007 and soon learned that her heart and mind were attuned to “Visions way of schooling”--- meaning focused instruction, family environment, and individualization of care and workshop approaches to teaching.
She and her husband and daughter love “the small town life” ; they have lived in nearby St. David, AZ for six years. She is an amateur photographer and enjoys capturing the beauty of the local dessert. Mrs. Parman finds enjoyment in young children of all abilities and appreciates the team atmosphere that exists with the early childhood teachers and paraprofessionals at Visions Unlimited Academy.
back to top
Cary Jensen - 6th, 7th and 8th Grades
Cary Jensen teaches six, seventh and eighth grand at Visions Unlimited Academy and is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in Communication and a Masters of Education from the University of Phoenix . He has spent many years working in the business environment as a professional developer/ trainer, computer technician, software developer, and call center manager. His primary areas of interest include teaching middle school Social Studies and Computer and Internet technology. In addition to years of experience in the business world. Mr. Jensen has worked as a substitute teacher for Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson teaching primarily middle school social studies, language arts and Internet technology classes and Tucson Unified School District as the technology instruction liaison for Lynn/Urquides elementary school, the largest elementary school in southern Arizona. Mr. Jenson brings his love of learning, mastery of upper grade content and fascination with technology to Visions Unlimited Academy to the benefit and enjoyment of our students.
Mr. Jensen considers himself an Air Force brat; his father is a retired Air Force officer. His mother's family is originally from Tucson and there fore Mr. Jensen is a part of a rare few that has family ties to Tucson and southern Arizona for more than six generations. Mr. Jensen attended Santa Rita High School and Pima Community College.
Mr. Jensen decided to leave the chaos of city living and bought a home in Vail, Arizona located about halfway between Tucson and Benson. Mr. Jensen and his wife, Ellen purchased some acreage and built a home in Vail bordering the Cienega Creek Preserve and prefer the more relaxed atmosphere and seclusion of the small town lifestyle. The Jensens have lived in Vail for nearly five years and spend much free time exploring and hiking some of the many interesting sites in the area.
Mr. Cary Jensen joined our staff during the summer of 08 and at this point is looking forward to the opportunity to get to know the parents and the students of the Visions Unlimited Academy and becoming actively involved in the learning community. His other interests include playing racquetball, tennis and occasionally golf. Cary is an avid sports fan and collector of sports memorabilia. Cary has been an Arizona Wildcat men's basketball season ticket holder since 1988 and also enjoys working with computers. He is a self-proclaimed science fiction geek and has a complete collection of Star Trek Christmas ornaments dating back to 1991.
back to top
Ms. Joy Yakovlev - Special Education Teacher
Ms. Joy Yakovlev is our Special Education Teacher. She is a graduate of Western New Mexico University with degrees in Elementary and Special Education with a minor in Language Arts. She is an experienced special education teacher having taught in Clifton, AZ and has taught English as a Second Language in South Korea. She is a resident of the Benson area and is excited to start her first year teaching with Visions Unlimited Academy.
Joy is married and has four children who keep her life lively. She loves to read and write and to help children read and write. She is especially suited to the Special Education role in that she possesses great empathy as well as skill in helping others find a path to academic or interpersonal success. She is heavily involved with church activities and enjoys serving and being helpful to others.
back to top
Terri Nelson Valentine - Accountant and Compliance Officer
 Terri Nelson Valentine is our accountant and compliance officer. Her duties require her to work with the director and staff to keep us current and active in terms of budget, finance, attendance and student data uploads to Arizona Department of Education. She has become expert in bridging the classroom focus on teaching and learning and the needs of students to the requirements and goals of ADE and various funding agencies. She presides over the annual audit perpetration and all accountability processes.
Terri is continuing her education by taking courses in accounting and business and applying that learning to her role here at Visions Unlimited Academy. When not "doing numbers", as she calls it, Terri is a busy mom of four great kids, three boys and a girl--12, 10, 8 and 6 and enjoys making a home for them. She enjoys family activities, reading, outings and is currently obsessed with making sure she has the most useful self help and relaxation audio books and the most invigorating music available on Earth on her IPOD and is becoming an “I snob” as she is thrilled with the many possibilities presented by her Iphone. Terri frequently is available to greet visitors and callers on the telephone and enjoys talking and helping others. She consistently demonstrates deep compassion for and to special needs students and parents and serves as a sounding board, advocate and valued friend to the community.
back to top
Susan J. Hall - Administrative Assistant & Receptionist
 Ms. Susan J Hall presides over the front desk and reception area as administrative assistant. Her duties are varied and important; she works the phones ,of course, and greets parents and students, enrolls new students and supports communications and all activities. She is Student Council sponsor and school representative to the PTO. Ms. Hall will greet you with concern, efficiency and a friendly can-do attitude. In addition, Ms. Hall assists the director and accountant with communication, board meeting preparation, grant writing, purchasing, attendance and the audit process.
Susan was born in sunny southern California but has spent much of her life raising four boys and developing her business-- Sunrise Children Center in Cody, Wyoming. She served as a preschool teacher and as owner and director in an operation that cared for school age children, infants and toddlers. She also was office manager for her family business for several years while in Wyoming. In these positions she learned valuable bookkeeping, task management and public relations that add to her current position. Ms. Hall joined our staff in 2007 as a paraprofessional and has excelled working and interacting with students, parents and the public.
She is attending university classes, studying business management and accounting and sees this quest toward a degree as a step toward proficiency in the work environment and one that will bring her the depth and insights of a well rounded and informed person. In addition to an incisive mind, Ms. Hall has a lively personality and likes people, laughing, cookies, and karaoke.
back to top
|
