Sean Kavanaugh has been in education for 20 years as an educator and school leader. As an Assistant Principal at Morey Middle School, he developed and implemented an innovative and effective Model for Collaboration that won national attention from the New Leaders‘ Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC). This collaboration model allowed him to provide daily, differentiated professional development to every teacher in the school. As an Assistant Principal at MLK Jr. Early College, Sean developed a compelling alternative to the way Mathematics is taught called 360o Math. This approach gained global attention when it was featured on the CBS Special TEACH. For the past three years he has served as the Principal of an urban middle school in Denver. As a school leader in Denver, he is on the cutting edge of education and works in relentless pursuit of equity.
Sean grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, attending urban public schools. Upon graduation, Sean felt a strong desire to improve the quality of education in schools and graduated with a BS in Elementary Education from Palm Beach Atlantic University. Sean began his career teaching middle school Science in public, independent and private schools in Florida. He earned the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award, Belin & Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development Award, and has been recognized by Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers on multiple occasions.
Sean later earned his MEd in Educational Leadership from Lynn University and relocated to Denver, CO to pursue school leadership. Sean has worked in Denver Public Schools for the past 8 years as a teacher and school leader. Sean married his high school sweetheart in 1995, and has two wonderful kids, Cali and Ethan. His wife is a teacher in the Cherry Creek School District.
Tiffany Almon has been an educator for over ten years and has served the students of Denver Public Schools for nine years. Prior to joining the Hill Campus of Arts and Sciences community, Tiffany was the Math Fellow Coordinator for West Leadership Academy and West Early College. During her three years as a Coordinator, Tiffany hired, trained, coached, developed and led twenty Math Fellows as the team made a substantial impact on the middle school students’ confidence and math skills as evidenced by their outstanding growth. Additionally, Tiffany also wrote assessments for the Math Fellow curriculum and contributed to the creation and revision of the Math Fellow training program. Tiffany attributes the success of the Math Fellow program at West to building rock-solid relationships with students and their families, creating powerful learning environments in which students feel safe to take academic risks, and delivering exemplary math instruction that requires students to take ownership of their learning.
Tiffany is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, and has been living in Colorado since 2003. In 2002, Tiffany graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science. She had aspirations of becoming a Forest Ranger or a Wildlife Biologist, but after taking a life-changing position as a Backcountry Field Instructor for Alternative Youth Adventures, a wilderness therapy program for adjudicated youth, she was inspired to earn her secondary science teaching credential from Western State Colorado University. Tiffany taught science at Morey Middle School for six years. During this time, Tiffany was recognized as a Mile High Teacher and earned her Principal’s Licensure and Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership from American College of Education.
Tiffany and her husband, Jonathan, live in Golden with their dog, cat, and chickens. They are fortunate to be surrounded by a dense network of extremely supportive and loving family and friends. Jonathan works as the librarian and technology teacher at Steck Elementary. They enjoy hiking, skiing, and spending time with loved ones.
