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About

Who we are.

Founded in 2010, SOAR is built on the premise that we should “expect more” from our public schools. SOAR is a public charter school committed to providing exceptional educational opportunities to students in Far Northeast Denver.

OurTeam

Administrators & School Operations

Instructional Staff & Student Support

School Administration

Kate Bergles

Principal

Sonia Sisneros

Senior Director

Christi Goetz

Director of Academic Programming & Multilingual Education

Office/Operations Staff

Araceli Quezada-Rodriguez

Office Manager

Derek Begun

Operations Manager & Health Clerk

Andrea Macias

Recepcionist & Attendance Clerk

Christopher Landis

Technology Support Coordinator

Download our family handbook.

SOAR encourages parents and students to consult the SOAR Family Handbook for guidance regarding school policies, procedures, and expectations. Parents and students should keep in mind, however, that the school is a constantly changing entity, evolving as circumstances require. The school may modify its procedures and expectations from time to time.

OurBoard

Rona
Wilensky

Board President

Marisela Toscano

Board Vice President

Jamita Horton

Board Secretary

Liane
Morrison

Treasurer

Michelle Tyrus

Board Member

Board Meeting Information

The SOAR Board of Directors meetings are held at the school, Building 4 on the Evie Dennis Campus, and via Zoom Conference Call. Please check specific meeting date for details.

Meetings are open to the public and agendas are posted at SOAR in the vestibule of the entrance. Members of the public who want to address the Board by do so by emailing the SOAR Board of Directors at soar.board.of.directors@gmail.com by noon the previous day, giving their name and indicating the topic.

August 18th,Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person.

September 8th, Board Meeting from 8:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person.

October 6th,Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person.

November 10th,Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person.

December 8th, Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom Conference Call

January 12th, Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person.

February 2nd, Board Executive Session from 2:00 PM to 2:45 PM; This meeting will be held in virtually.

February 3rd, Board Executive Session, from 1:00 PM to 1:45 PM; This meeting will be held virtually.

February 9th, Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person and Executive Session, Personnel after Board Meeting.

 

March 8th,Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person and then there will be an Executive Session after the Board Meeting, regarding personnel; This meeting will be held in virtually.

March 14th, Board Exeutive Session from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM; Regardng personnel issues; This meeting will be held virtually.

May 10th, Board Meeting from 9:45 AM to 12:00 PM; This meeting will be held in person.

May 31st, Board work session 

SOAR is a Kindergarten through 5th grade elementary school in far northeast Denver, serving students from the Green Valley Ranch and Montbello subdivisions in addition to Aurora . The school has one school building, and anticipates an enrollment of 454 students each year. SOAR currently rents 41,990 square feet of building space from Denver Public Schools. The school employs close to 50 staff as well as provides community resources for the families that we serve.

Contact information for SOAR: Sonia Sisneros, Director of Operations, (303) 895-5305

Contact information for the Colorado Department of Education: https://www.cde.state.co.us

Contact information for Financial Transparency for Colorado Schools: https://coloradok12financialtransparency.com

Rona Wilensky

Board Vice President
Rona was principal and founder of New Vista High School in Boulder, Colorado from 1992-2009. Previously, she worked as an education policy analyst for the Governor of Colorado, the Education Commission of the States, and various education reform initiatives in Colorado. From 2014 – 2020 Rona was Director of Mindfulness Programs at Passageworks Institute and a member of the Equity faculty. Currently she is coordinating and teaching a variety of live online mindfulness and equity offerings for PassageWorks. Rona holds a B.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University and taught that subject at Williams College and the University of Denver in the early 1980’s. She has been a member of the SOAR Board of Directors since 2012.

Marisela Toscano

Board Member

Marisela Toscano, came to the United States at the age of 4 from Chihuahua, Mexico. She first moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and a year after that she moved to Denver, Colorado.

Marisela is happily married. She has 3 kids, an 8th grader, 5th and 1st grader. She also has 2 Sphynx cats named Puma and Chloe. She loves spending time with her family, and always making sure she lets them know that she will always support and cheer for them in every step of the way.

She is a former Early Childhood Educator, and has been an active parent volunteer for the past 10 years in 3 different schools in DPS. Her passion has always been working with children and families in the community. Marisela is looking to pursue a B.A. in Special Education, which will give her an opportunity to be able to work closely with children and families and to be able to impact those children’s lives at an early age.

Jamita Horton

Board Secretary
For the last 10 years, Jamita has worked as an educator, advocate, and leader. Most recently, she worked as an assistant principal in Southwest Denver. Prior to that, she taught third grade and kindergarten. Jamita holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Women studies with an Education Policy Certificate from the University of Wisconsin. After graduating, she worked as a Teach for America corp member, while she earned her masters degree at Cardinal Stritch University. Currently, she’s a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Denver. She also works for Public Education & Business Coalition. She became a member of the SOAR Board of Directors in 2023.

Liane Morrison

Treasurer

Liane Morrison is a nonprofit entrepreneur, economist and advocacy expert. She co-founded the grassroots nonprofit organization – Great Education Colorado (greateducation.org) 11 years ago, to harness the power of grassroots activism to advocate for permanent change in how our state invests in its schools and children. She left the Executive Director role in 2015 and now works on a new initiative at Mile High United Way called United Neighborhoods, currently focused on the Globeville, Elyria-Swansea communities of north Denver.

Liane is a graduate of Colorado College and has a Master’s Degree in economics from George Washington University. Her focus on the public sector has included developing new international markets for environmental technology, serving as an international economist at the U.S. Department of Treasury, and working as a bank analyst for the Federal Reserve. Liane’s concerns about Colorado public education and its impact on the economy and local communities resulted in her co-founding Great Education Colorado. She lives in central Denver and enjoys Colorado’s outdoor treasures on a bicycle or skies.

Michelle Tyrus

Board Member

Michelle is the proud mother of two wonderful boys aged 9 and 19. The family has two pets, a cat named Lucky and a bearded dragon named Butterscotch.

Michelle was born and raised in Kansas and moved to Colorado after undergraduate school. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology, a Master’s degree in Organizational Management and a Doctorate in Philosophy with a specialization in Clinical Psychology. Michelle also holds a Post Master’s Certification for online teaching in psychology. Michelle has worked in the mental health field for over 10 years.

Michelle worked as a diagnostic assessor for youth with mental health issues. Additionally, she worked in a crisis stabilization facility for adults with serious mental health issues. Michelle also worked for the Department of Corrections as a crisis assessor and therapist for the mentally ill incarcerated population. Currently Michelle has a private practice and is a Life Coach and Certified Hypnotherapist. Michelle facilitates workshops and seminars designed to assist clients with finding their
true-life purposes by identifying thinking errors.