Frog Street’s Advisors

Amy Geer is an Early Learning Coordinator in Guilford County Schools where she helps oversee the Title 1 / North Carolina Pre-K program.  This program serves over 1300 children each year across 75 classrooms housed in 50 different elementary schools in the third largest school district in NC.  In this role, Amy provides training and coaching to pre-kindergarten teachers and collaborates with district staff to incorporate early childhood practices into the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework as a means to school improvement. Prior to her current position, Amy was a School Psychologist for 12 years serving elementary schools by evaluating students to determine eligibly for special education services.  During those years, she also provided training to teachers in a variety of literacy assessments and curricula such as DIBELS and Fundations.  Amy merged her love for literacy and early childhood when she became a National Professional Learning Facilitator for Lexia’s Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) for Early Childhood Educators in 2021. Amy earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Education Specialist degree in School Psychology from Miami University.

James Moses has been the Regional Director for the Child Care Resource Center, serving children, families, and childcare providers in San Bernardino County since 2013. Each month, Child Care Resource Center. provides quality, support, development, and education to almost 50,000 children and families in Northern Los Angeles County, and has been in operation since 1976,

James has worked in San Bernardino County, in various roles, for more than 30 years. He served as a District Manager with the County of San Bernardino and as a Program Manager with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools prior to joining CCRC. In these roles, he administered social service and educational support programs.

James serves on several boards including: Every Child California, CAAEYC (Public Policy Chair), San Bernardino County Children’s Network Policy Council, San Bernardino County Local Planning Council Advisory Board, Inland Empire Father Involvement Coalition, Inland Empire AEYC, and the High Desert Early Childhood Mentor Advisory Board

In his spare time, he loves to spend time with his family and get outdoors, especially to play baseball and fish. James was raised in San Bernardino County and is a graduate of Cal State San Bernardino.

Dr. Elena S. Hill serves as Assistant Superintendent for Early Learning in Dallas ISD where she works to create quality learning environments for children, build capacity in PreK-2ndgrade teaching teams through high-quality coaching structures, build community stakeholder connections, and empower families to be their child’s best, first teacher.

In her previous roles, she served as executive director of a group of schools for six years, an elementary principal for four years and two years as an assistant principal.  She is a proud Dallas ISD graduate who began her career as a Prekindergarten teacher.  At the elementary level, Dr. Hill also taught kindergarten and elementary reading intervention to third through sixth graders.

Dr. Hill earned her bachelor’s degree in child development from the University of North Texas, two master’s degrees in elementary education and educational leadership from Texas A&M Commerce and University of North Texas respectively, and doctorate in educational leadership and policy from The University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Hill has 28 years of service in education.

Michelle Hoskinson is one of the Special Education Supervisors for Zanesville City Schools in Zanesville, OH. She has been in the education field for 26 years, specifically focused on special needs Preschool. Her career began as an Intervention Specialist in a center-based program part time and an Itinerant (traveling teacher) part time to children who were medically fragile and requiring services delivered in their home. Ms. Hoskinson then became a full-time center based Intervention Specialist working with a program that had a focus on children who had a diagnosis of Autism.

Michelle earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Muskingum College and then her Leadership certification from Salem University. She has served as the Special Education Supervisor for Zanesville City Schools for 3 years. In her current role she works closely with the Zanesville City students who are receiving their education in the county Developmental Disability school, as well as Preschool children in the Head Start program, Private and Public Daycares and the Preschool program that is operated by the district.

Lori Miranda is currently in her 34th year as a Florida educator, and has served as a classroom teacher, ESE coordinator, reading specialist, and regional facilitator for a state discretionary project. She owned/operated a childcare center for 10 years and enjoys teaching as an adjunct professor for Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education courses. She has worked with the Seminole Tribe of Florida preschools for 10 years offering professional development, curriculum support, and accreditation alignment of best practices with cultural fidelity. She has presented at national and international conferences to showcase community collaboration. Her favorite role is being “Mimi” to her new grandson!

Cindy Lehnhoff started her early childhood career as a Preschool Teacher for La Petite Academy (LPA) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She worked for LPA, who later became part of the Learning Care Group (LCG) until she retired in 2016.

Throughout her 36 years she served as a Center Director, a District Manager, a Division Director, and a Division Vice President. In her many roles as a multi-site manager, she had the opportunity to work in twelve different states for LPA and LCG. Along the way she developed a passion for accreditation and advocacy that would help move child care centers into high quality early care and education centers. As a result, she led multiple LPA and LCG district teams into participating in their states QRIS programs which often included nationally accrediting them. Over 100 of the centers that she supervised achieved national accreditation by the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) under her leadership.

She has also served on the NECPA and the National Child Care Association (NCCA) Board for 20+ years and has served as the Director of the NCCA and Policy Advisor to the NECPA since August of 2019.

Dr. Deidre D. Jones is the Deputy General Manager of Education, Instruction, and Operations and the Vice President of Early Childhood Development at Neighborhood House Association (NHA) in San Diego, CA. She is responsible for the oversight and operation of Early Head Start and Head Start programs that are dually funded by CDSS and CDE. NHA also has partnerships with other organizations that provide Head Start programs to reach more children in the County. She has worked for private, non-profit, and school district settings serving young children in tuition-based, state-funded, and federally funded programs. Dr. Jones has served as a classroom teacher, consultant, assessor, adjunct professor, and administrator as well as presented at conferences locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. She’s also published scholarly research articles and was recently awarded Outstanding African American Educator by National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., Delta Upsilon Chapter (San Diego).

Lyndsey J. Jackson, MSDE is a native of New Orleans, LA. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Education of the Deaf from the University of Southern Mississippi (2007). She went on to receive her Master of Science in Deaf Education from Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine (2009). Educating young children with hearing loss is truly her passion and life’s work. For 12 years, Lyndsey was a preschool teacher of the deaf in the birth to 5 populations in the greater New Orleans area. Lyndsey currently serves as the Coordinator of Pre-K Instruction for Jefferson Parish Schools, where she can share her passion for early childhood education with over 170 Pre-K classrooms across the largest school district in Louisiana. In addition, Lyndsey is a teacher representative on the Louisiana Special Education Advisory Panel and serves on the Frog Street Press External Advisory Council. Lyndsey lives in New Orleans with her husband, Jedidiah.

David L. Brown is a professor of Early Childhood Education at Texas A&M University – Commerce. Dr. Brown teaches graduate courses in Research Methodology, Leadership, Curriculum Design, Early Literacy Development, and other relevant topics in Early Childhood Education. His research and writings have focused on Print Awareness, Classroom Quality, Language and Literacy Development in Young Children, Early Numeracy with Preschool Children, Mixed-Age Classrooms, Family Involvement in Children’s Learning and Emergent Literacy

In addition to teaching, Dr. Brown has s erved in many roles throughout the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He is considered a leader in the preschool movement and a recognized researcher in the areas of Emergent Literacy and Early Childhood Education. He is a frequent presenter at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA), National Head Start Research Conference and many other professional organizations.

Dr. Brown has been the recipient of many institutional awards, including the William L. Mayo Professorship Award in 2010, the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (TAEYC) Teacher Educator of the Year Award in 2011, and the Texas Association of Black Professors of Higher Education (TABPHE) Award in 2016. Dr. Brown was also inducted into the African American Educator’s Hall of Fame in 2012. Most recently, he received the Dr. Harry Wade Senior Faculty Award, Faculty Eminent Scholar Award, Texas A&M System Chancellor’s Academy of Teacher Educators Award and was awarded Professor of the Year by the Hunt/Hopkins African American Leadership Conference, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. of Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Lydia Canova is the Early Childhood Supervisor for Iberville Parish School District in Plaquemine, Louisiana. She has served as the Early Childhood Supervisor for 11 years but has been in the education field for over 29 years. Her career began as a classroom teacher and then as a reading coach. Lydia earned her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Louisiana State University and has nearly completed her Specialist Degree in Early Childhood Education.

Lydia is the President of the Iberville Parish Ready Start Network, which is a community partnership committed to creating and implementing a local vision for early childhood. She is also the leader of the Iberville Parish Community Network which serves as the lead agency for local care providers and as the liaison with the state education department.

Bob joined LSF in 2019 after retiring as a Captain from the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). Bob served in many different capacities throughout his 26+ years with the USPHS.  As the Executive Vice President of Children and Head Start Services, Bob is responsible for overseeing Head Start services for approximately 5,000 children and families, with over 600 employees throughout Florida.

Prior to joining LSF, Bob was assigned to the Office of Head Start (OHS) as the Regional Program Manager (RPM) for Region IV.  He was responsible for the largest OHS region in the Country. He oversaw over 320 grants, totaling over $1.5 billion with 65 staff (federal, contractors and T/TA). As with any assignment, Bob ensured to the best of his ability, that each of the 175,000 children and families that he served received the highest quality of service.

Prior to being the RPM for Region IV, Bob served as the RPM for Region XI, American Indian & Alaska Native which he oversaw services to Tribal Nations across 26 states.  For his first 20 years, Bob was detailed to the Indian Health Service, where he served as an Environmental Health Specialists.  During his tenure with the Indian Health Service, Bob was assigned in the Southwest, Northwest and Washington DC.  The last 12 years with the Indian Health Service, Bob served as the Early Childhood Health and Safety Specialist.

As a Captain in the USPHS, Bob received many awards, but not more important than his extreme desire to serve all with dignity and respect.  He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Health from Illinois State University and a Certificate of Public Health from the University of Washington.