Special Education

District Special Education Partner

Amy Geerts
[email protected]

Amy Geerts is an Assistant Director of Special Education at Jeffco, where she serves as a special education partner for 16 elementary schools, including the Governor’s Ranch school community.
Over the course of Amy’s career in education, she has served students in many different capacities including Volleyball Coach, Special Education Paraprofessional, Special Education Teacher, and now Assistant Director of Special Education. You can expect honesty, clear communication, and a child-centered approach when working with Amy.
Amy is a wife and mother of two, who loves to travel and try new recipes. She enjoys her job and making a different to both families and students. She loves to celebrate the "AH HA" moments.

Learning Specialists

Mental Health

Occupational Therapist

Physical Therapist

Speech/Language

SSN

Learning Specialist

Here's the 2021-2022 Raccoon Video

	Mary Beth Lizakowski [email protected] Mary Beth Lizakowski has been at Governor’s Ranch for two years as their Learning Specialist. This is her 10th year in education and 6th year as a teacher in Jefferson County Public Schools. Mary Beth moved to Colorado nearly 13 years ago to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Parks and Leisure Services, where she worked in a variety of capacities. It was with the Adaptive Recreation Program working as an Inclusion Specialist with the City of Fort Collins that brought her back to the education field, where she pursued her Master’s degree in special education at the University of Northern Colorado. Mary Beth worked previously in center-based programs for students with significant support needs, and she also worked previously at Sobesky Academy as their ASD center program teacher. Mary Beth and her husband Jake love spending time embarking on adventures with their girls, Quinn (5) and Madison (3). As a family. they enjoy all the outdoor adventures that Colorado has to offer: hiking, camping, backpacking, snowboarding and riding ATV’s. Mary Beth looks forward to continuing to develop collaborative partnerships with parents, staff and the community, and most importantly continuing to help students Grow, Relate and Engage at Governor’s Ranch Elementary.

	Lori Spindler [email protected] Lori Spindler is very excited to join the Governor’s Ranch Elementary community. She started her career in special education in Nebraska where she taught for 2 years before moving back to Colorado. In Colorado, she has worked with students in elementary and middle school. She also taught Severe Special Needs students for 2 years in Englewood. Her biggest goal in working with students and families is strong communication and honesty. She has a strong desire to help students succeed in school both academically and socially. Lori is a mother of 4 college students and stays busy with visiting her kids’ different colleges and enjoying time with her family, as well as adjusting to an empty nest, and a new ‘normal’ with her husband Joe.

	Angela Shamis Angela Shamis began working here at GRE in September of 2004 when her son Travis started Kindergarten. Although at the time she didn’t have experience working with kids (other than her own), she immediately learned that it was something she was passionate about and almost 14 years later she is still loving getting up and going to work every day! Her current position is the Special Education Building Support Paraprofessional, and her primary job is to work with small groups of students needing extra academic support, and at times working with students one-on-one. She has been married to her husband Mark for 22 years and when they are not working they enjoy spending time with family and friends going camping and taking beach vacations. She has two children Lindsay and Travis, both of whom attended GRE, and two furry friends Dusty and Niko.

Mental Health Providers

Here's the 2021-2022 Raccoon Video

	Michelle Myers, Social Emotional Learning Specialist (SELs) [email protected] Visit Mrs. Myer's Web site: https://sites.google.com/jeffcoschools.us/gre-sel-website/home Michelle Myers has lived in Littleton since 1999. She has previously worked for the Jeffco Schools Medicaid Program, and as a School Social Worker in Jeffco. Most recently, she has been a substitute Social Worker, and has been substitute teaching at GRE for the past year or so. She spent several years in between her experiences staying home with her three kids. She’s very excited to increase her professional role at GRE. In her free time, she loves to get outdoors with her three kids, husband, and dog. She especially enjoys mountain biking, skiing, rock climbing, hiking/walking the dog, camping, and fishing. Generally Mrs. Myers works Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

	TBD, School Psychologist [email protected] We are working diligently to hire a new school psychologist.

Occupational Therapist

Brandy Rivera
[email protected]

Brandy has been an OT for 25 years and with the school district from early 2000s! She has had the pleasure to work with PK through 12th grade in Jeffco. She also had had her own private business for a while providing OT services to infants to 3 year olds in their homes. Currently, she is focused on providing her services to solely Jeffco students. She really enjoys working in the various buildings meeting and working with such a variety of great minds! She is a native of Colorado (16th generation). She loves to camp, hike, ski, fish and all the outdoors offer. She also has a love for playing the violin and participate in the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra.

Physical Therapist

Jenna Schuetzle
[email protected]

Jenna is back for her fourth year as the physical therapist for Governor’s Ranch Elementary! She has always enjoyed working with children and held various jobs helping kids with physical movement including youth and high school sports coach, swim instructor, activity camp counselor, and a sports coordinator for a youth sporting league. This brought her to continue her education to become a pediatric physical therapist and received a Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Florida. However, being a native North Dakota girl (now you can say you know someone from ND), she melted in the extreme heat/humidity and vowed to live where there are four seasons, cold weather, and snow! She enjoys providing therapy to a wide range of students from PK to age 21 in various schools around the district and working with the teams to maximize the student’s physical abilities to access the school environment.
Outside of work, Jenna enjoys spending time with her family, travelling, going into the mountains or to a lake, skiing, petting dogs, drinking coffee, or pretending she is an amateur interior decorator!

Speech/Language Pathologist

Here's the 2021-2022 Speech & Language Pathologist Raccoon Video

Christina Brittain
[email protected]

Christina Brittain is so excited to be joining the Governor's Ranch Elementary team this school year as a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). Christina joins us from Aurora Public Schools where she spent seven years as a PK-5th grade SLP at Laredo Elementary School. Christina graduated from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas with her master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology. Christina enjoys spending time with her husband Blake, their cattle dog Hadlee, and lots of family and friends near and far. She loves to travel and adventure outdoors - hiking, snowboarding, camping. Christina loves working with children. She knows each child is very special and has a lot to share with the world!

SSN Teachers

Here's the 2020-2021 Raccoon Video

	Sarah Ladd - SSN Teacher [email protected] Sarah Ladd will be joining the team at Governors Ranch Elementary as an SSN Teacher. She is from Michigan where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in elementary and special education at Wayne State University in Detroit. She began her teaching work in Michigan as a special education teacher specializing in ASD and inclusion work with elementary age students. She moved to Colorado in 2015 and started work for Jeffco Schools at Fletcher Miller as a secondary teacher. More recently she worked at Elk Creek Elementry as a learning specialist and taught 1st grade. Besides teaching, she enjoys yoga and completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training last summer. Through this training, she also worked to complete an SEL certification designed for teachers and school communities. She has a 3-year-old son named Rex and loves living in the mountains.

	Anna Pippin SSN Teacher [email protected] Anna Pippin is joining the Governor’s Ranch Elementary team as an SSN teacher. She was born and raised in Colorado and recently graduated from MSU Denver where she earned her Bachelors in Special Education. Anna began her teaching career working as a long term substitute at Fletcher Miller as an elementary teacher for remote learners. In her free time, Anna loves DIY projects, going to concerts, and all things adventure! She enjoys exploring the outdoors and being in the sunshine but also loves a good TV show or movie. She loves to hang out with her family and friends and is always in the mood for a cup of coffee and ice cream!

	Christine Adams SSN-2 Para Educator Christine Adams is excited to join the Governor’s Ranch Elementary team as a center based Paraprofessional within the SSN Program. Chrstine graduated in 2017 from Metropolitan State University of Denver, with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Photography. This will be her second year at GRE, and fourth year within the district as a Paraprofessional Educator. Christine is working towards her Early Childhood Education certification. In her free time, she loves the outdoors, along with her passion for photography. She is a Colorado native and has grown up in the Columbine community, where her family still lives.

	Riley Dougherty Riley Dougherty is excited to be a part of the GRE family as an ISP Paraprofessional for SSN. She graduated from the University of Florida with her Bachelors in Business Administration. Riley is earning her Masters in Education and has aspirations to teach 3rd grade. In her free time she enjoys working out, spending time with friends, and traveling to new places.

	Charlotte Miller
	Traci Patino SSN-2 Para Educator (ISP) Traci Patino is very excited to join the Governor’s Ranch Elementary team as an ISP Paraprofessional within the SSN program. Traci graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Elementary Education. She has been a stay at home mom for the last 22 years and a nanny for another GRE family for almost ten years. Traci and her husband have been married for 21 years and have 3 children, Kaylee, Tanner and Brady who are her world. In her free time, she loves spending time with family, being outdoors and trying new things.

	Janna Twedell Mrs. Twedell has had children at GRE since 2015 and is excited to be joining the amazing GRE team as a Para this year. Her daughter Taelyn is in sixth grade and her boys Teagon and Titus are in fifth and third grade. She is a Colorado native, born in Denver. Her husband Jeremy and her will be celebrating 20 years being married this school year. In her spare time, Mrs. Twedell enjoys making music, sports, volunteering, cooking and eating, wellness, gardening, all things outdoors, and photography.