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Administration
Cherise Cupidore, Principal
ccupidore@charterschoolpartners.com
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.
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Steven Lett, Dean of Students
slett@charterschoolpartners.com
Steven W. Lett earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. After returning to Michigan to continue his teaching career, Mr. Lett enrolled in Marygrove College where he earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. Mr. Lett has devoted incalculable hours and resources to every school he has had the opportunity to serve. His work ethic is unstinting and he understands the need to put customer service back into education. He brings to the Crescent Academy Leadership team added creativity and lateral ideas coupled with a no nonsense, protect instruction time, comprehensive approach to discipline.
Mr. Lett spent seven highly productive years in the classroom before thrusting into administration. When it comes to education, Mr. Lett employs the five key educational philosophies, essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, existentialism, and behaviorism. Separate, these educational point of views could leave gaps in learners’ overall development, but used in conjunction with one another he believes that you can reach every child you encounter. All learning is built upon concepts, ideals, and hands-on experiences, which students receive in their schools and out-of-school environments.
“What we do internally, ultimately reflects externally.” ----Steven W. Lett
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Sara Thiesmeyer, Athletic Director
sthiesmeyer@charterschoolpartners.com
This is Ms. Thiesmeyer’s sixth year teaching physical education and her third year at Crescent Academy. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelors of Science with a major in physical education and a minor in health. She is continuing her education currently working towards a Masters of Science Education focusing on Teacher Leadership. Before coming to Crescent Academy, Ms. Thiesmeyer worked for a program which allowed her to travel around to different Catholic schools teaching physical education. She has taught at St. Scholastica, St. Mary’s of Redford, and Holy Redeemer. She also coached girl’s freshman and varsity softball at Ladywood High School.
Ms. Thiesmeyer’s role here at Crescent Academy reaches far beyond teaching. She has coached both Girl’s Basketball and Girl’s Volleyball for the past three years. This year she has taken on a new role as the Athletic Director. With her passion for physical education, she is excited to continue to be a part of the team sports and extra curricular activities program for the students.
Ms. Thiesmeyer’s mission as a physical education teacher is to get students up and moving. She wants them to understand that physical activity is an important part of a healthy body and mind. Her job is to get her students active regardless of their level of athleticism. Each child has the ability to be good at some physical activity. Ms. Thiesmeyer wants to open up their minds to all forms of physical activity so that they can expand and use it long into their adult life. Also, a part of physical activity that is very important and often goes unnoticed is sportsmanship. She wants each student to understand that no matter what they are doing they need to learn how to win and lose regardless of the situation in order to prepare for the future. This goes well beyond learning just the concept. It centers on knowing how to be a winner and how to be a loser. Students need to experience each situation in order to understand how they would feel and how they would and should react.
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Matthew Rautio, Saturday School Coordinator
mrautio@charterschoolpartners.com
Matthew Rautio is the music teacher at Crescent Academy. He attended Wayne State University where he graduated Suma cum Laude with a BA in Instrumental Music Education. His concentration of study was in brass instruments and ensemble directing. Matthew currently plays French horn in Penta Brass, a brass quintet that he co-founded while at Wayne State.
This will be Mr. Rautio’s third year of teaching music at Crescent Academy. Prior to his hiring, he worked with the instrumental programs at L’Anse Creuse High School in Harrison Township, Brenda Scott Middle School in Detroit, and the marching band at Catholic Powers in Flint. His earliest teaching experience was in Junior High, where he taught himself to play the guitar.
Mr. Rautio believes that music is a skill that is born within us all. Although some students discover an aptitude at an early age, many need proper training and encouragement to release the musician inside of them. Any student has the ability to be a brilliant musician with the right amount of training, diligence, and focus. He also believes that music is among the most important subjects that a child can study, especially in the early years. Research has shown that students involved in music are generally more successful in the classroom than are students who are not involved with music. In addition, music creates an instant bond between classmates, and forces cooperation and teamwork. Most importantly, music is fun, and it is Mr. Rautio’s greatest desire to share such a fun activity with his students.
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Adrienne Chadwick, Director of Pre-K
achadwick@charterschoolpartners.com
Adrienne Chadwick has taught at Crescent Academy for four years. Previously she has taught kindergarten and this year, pending State funding, will serve as the Early childhood Director and preschool teacher. Otherwise she will teach second grade. Prior to her employment at Crescent Academy she worked for the YWCA Downriver outreach program. In this position she was employed as a preschool teacher in Grosse Ile where she began to develop a curriculum based on the State of Michigan Standards of Quality for Early Childhood and presented at monthly parent meetings, on the growth and progress of the students based on this curriculum. In combination with the preschool position she ran a weekly after school enrichment program at Taft Elementary School in Wyandotte for students in grades first-fifth. After graduation from college, Ms. Chadwick worked as a substitute teacher for Woodhaven-Brownstown School District.
Ms. Chadwick graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and earned her Master’s in Early Childhood Education this past December from Eastern Michigan University.
Ms. Chadwick believes that all students can learn and it is up to the educator to utilize different methods of teaching to reach the various learning modalities of the students. Most importantly Ms. Chadwick has very high expectations of her students academically, behaviorally and in their social interactions regardless of age or grade level. Ms. Chadwick’s students know that her expectations of them are as the expectations that she has for her own children.
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