Administration

Salome Thomas-EL

Salome Thomas-EL is the Principal.
"I have always believed that every child can and will learn. It is our duty as educators to create a new generation of young people who will live a life of service and respect for humanity. The role of the excellent teacher is to move ordinary people to do extraordinary things. At Russell Byers Charter School we have excellent teachers who will do just that and more. We are committed to celebrating our diversity and establishing unity in our school. As a community, we have high expectations for every student and believe that failure is not an option. We expect success and will work very hard to help our students achieve at the highest level. Every child needs someone to be crazy about them. At the Russell Byers Charter School every student will feel loved and supported. We are crazy about them all!" -- Salome Thomas-EL, Principal

Mr. Thomas-EL is the author of I Choose to Stay and The Immortality of Influence. To learn more about him, please visit www.ichoosetostay.com

Read Philadelphia Magazine's profile [PDF, 561K] of Mr. EL. He was selected "Best Philadelphian" for 2006.

Vanessa Gelbaugh

Vanessa Gelbaugh is the Executive Assistant to Laurada Byers at the Byerschool Foundation. She has been a member of the RBCS family for three years and works closely with the school administrators. Prior to joining the Byerschool Foundation, Vanessa worked as an Executive Assistant/Office Manager in the finance and banking industries.

Anna Hadgis

Anna Hadgis is the Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction. Anna earned her BA and Masters of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania where she became a Classical Archaeologist. While living in Connecticut and teaching in The Greenwich School System, she earned a Master's in Science from the University of Bridgeport. After returning to the Philadelphia area with her husband and three children, Anna received her principal certifications in both elementary and secondary education at Widener University where she is pursuing an EdD in administration.

Anna was Head of the Lower School at The Episcopal Academy and at The Shipley School. Before coming to Russell Byers in 2006, she was a Reading First Coach in the Philadelphia School District. Her years in independent education have infused her with a keen desire to make sure that all children have the opportunity to obtain the best education possible and be exposed to all the benefits of experiential learning.

"I want our children to have the same academic opportunities and experiences that children at Episcopal and Shipley have. My experience at those schools was fabulous, and I feel like I'm going to be able to bring a lot of what I was exposed to there to the children of the Russell Byers Charter School."

Akosua Achana Watts

Akosua Achana Watts is in her fourth year at Russell Byers and her second year as Instructional Guide. She works with the School Leadership Team and the Expeditionary Learning School Designer to create and implement a professional development work plan that is supportive of new and current teachers and tightly aligned to the school goals and the Expeditionary Learning Schools Core Practice Benchmarks. Akosua collaborates with teacher teams to ensure effective assessment of learning practices, the development of standards- based expedition plans that are aligned with the school curriculum, explicit integration of literacy instruction into all content studies, and high quality active pedagogy. By co-teaching and demonstrating instructional practices, Akosua mentors new teachers and encourages continual development of returning teachers. Akosua believes that within a collaborative, collegial community teachers will do their best work and all students will meet success. It is her goal to encourage such an environment.

Mrs. Watts has a Bachelor's degree from George Washington University. She was the Helena Rubenstein Foundation Scholar at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she earned a Master's degree in elementary education. Upon graduation, she taught fourth and fifth graders for four years at Hugo Newman College Preparatory School-P.S. 180 in New York City. While serving as an Adjunct Professor at Mercy College and Fellow Advisor to the New York City Teaching Fellow Program, she helped to prepare 35 prospective teachers to enter high need schools in the New York area.

"In addition to supporting our staff with collaboration and in the delivery of high quality instruction, I also hope to help families learn more about the Expeditionary Learning Schools design model so that they may be empowered partners in the education of their children here at Russell Byers."

Roberto Carrizales

Roberto Carrizales is our facilities manager, and this is his fourth year at Russell Byers. Roberto was a goal keeper on a city-league soccer team in Mexico before coming to Philadelphia.

Pamela Jones-Knapper

Pamela Jones-Knapper is the Office Manager, and she has been with Russell Byers for seven years. Pam was a supervisor for TWA for fifteen years before joining the school.

Rafael Santiago

Rafael Santiago is our Security Officer. He was in the Marine Corps for 10 years, and he spent 17 years working as a police officer for the Philadelphia Gas Works. Rafael worked for the School District of Philadelphia Police Department before joining Russell Byers last year. He has been involved with Chinese martial arts for over 25 years.

Debbie Sperbeck

Debbie Sperbeck has been with Russell Byers for seven years. She worked with Laurada Byers as her Executive Assistant for the first four years and moved to the school building in 2005. She is now the Director of Enrollment Services, responsible for new and current enrollment. Debbie is also the Executive Assistant to Mr. EL. Prior to joining Laurada in 2001, Debbie was the Executive Assistant for the General Counsel at Safeguard Scientifics for 10 years.