201920 campus leaders

2019-20 CAMPUS LEADERS
Posted on 05/14/2019
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At the May 13 workshop, the DeSoto ISD Board of Trustees approved the appointment of the following campus and department leaders for the 2019-20 school year.


Angela Batiste - 2019-2020 Principal at Katherine Johnson

Angela Batiste is a proud graduate of Prairie View A&M University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Masters of Arts in Counseling, which lead to certifications in Secondary Biology, K-12 Counseling, and K-12 Principal.


Before DeSoto ISD, Batiste served as a Lead Counselor for Fort Worth ISD and Mansfield ISD. During this time, she served thousands of students by leading the Guidance and Counseling program, fighting for instructional technology enhancements in college and career readiness, and overseeing all counseling department activities and initiatives.


In 2013, Batiste joined DeSoto ISD as a counselor and was later selected for her first administrative role as Coordinator for the Collegiate Magnet Program. In 2015, Batiste was named Principal of Early College High School, where she restructured both programs by initiating effective and efficient operations that led to students completing high school with up to 60 college credit hours and or an associate degree.



Kieshla Wylie - 2019-2020 Principal at The Meadows Elementary School

Kieshla Wylie brings 18 years of educational experience to her role as a principal in DeSoto ISD. Having served as a teacher, instructional coach, and administrator, Wylie has track record of demonstrated success and achievement as evidenced in her recognition as a Campus Teacher of the Year, DR-National Association of Black School Educators Teacher of the Year Finalist and, most recently, as a Dallas Independent School District Principal of the Year Principal’s Choice Award recipient.


Through her work as an educator, Wylie has provided educational leadership by clarifying objectives, identifying problems and establishing priorities while developing strategies and evaluating progress. In her roles as an educator and leader, Wylie prides herself on her ability to strengthen the academic and social-emotional lives of her students. Whereas Wylie’s goal as an educator is to enable students to achieve an intrinsic sense of self-worth and become productive citizens of society; her goal as an administrator is to build teachers’ instructional capacity and develop a campus culture that brings to life the vision, mission, goals, and objectives of a well-rounded educational experience for students and their families.


Wylie has a bachelor of arts in sociology and a master of education in administration. She is a resident of DeSoto, Texas.



Shana Hawthorne - 2019-2020 Principal at West Middle School

Shana Hawthorne received a Bachelors of Science degree in Speech Communications from the University of Southern Mississippi. Recognizing a growing passion for students and learning, Mrs. Hawthorne decided to further her studies at the University of North Texas at Denton earning a Masters Degree in Educational Administration with honors where she was appointed membership to Tau Sigma National Honor Society.

Mrs. Hawthorne earned state certifications in education as an English and Language Arts teacher and as a principal where she has worked as an education practitioner since 2003.


She has been a servant leader in the DeSoto ISD family for more than 16 years. Mrs. Hawthorne has worked at Amber Terrace Intermediate and West Middle School as a sixth-grade reading teacher. During her career in the district, she has served as an assistant principal at the DeSoto Freshman campus, and most recently serving as a transformational leader and principal at The Meadows Elementary. Under her five year leadership, the school has earned state distinctions in reading and comparative growth.


Currently, Mrs. Hawthorne is pursuing her Superintendent certification focusing on creating equitable educational access for at-risk populations.



Tarsha Lunkin - 2019-2020 Principal at Woodridge Elementary School

Tarsha Lunkin received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1996 and Masters in Educational Administration from the University of North Texas in 2009. Her educational experience has allowed her the opportunity to work collaboratively with many educators, community members, and parents while serving on various campus and district level committees throughout her tenure in DeSoto ISD.


Currently, Mrs. Lunkin serves as the Interim Principal at Frank D. Moates Blended Learning Academy. This year marks Mrs. Lunkin’s ninth year at Moates. Previously she served as the Assistant Principal before being named the Interim Principal in March. Mrs. Lunkin began her educational career 17 years ago in 2002 as a Special Education teacher at West Middle School in DeSoto ISD. She was instrumental in developing the first Special Education Inclusion Program at West. For five of those seven years she served as the Special Education department leader before accepting her first administrative assignment as an Assistant Principal at West Middle School.


It is Mrs. Lunkin’s deepest desire to positively impact the lives of young people in a way which sustains their growth and development socially, emotionally, and academically. She believes it is imperative to offer diverse superior educational opportunities for all students by delivering an engaging, rigorous, and well-balanced, academic and social program. Understanding that student success is also fostered by parental and community involvement in the learning community, Mrs. Lunkin works to encourage, equip, and empower teachers to deliver high-quality instruction.



Deidre Hannible - 2019-2020 Principal at DeSoto East Middle School

Deidre Hannible is a natural leader. In her educational career, she has demonstrated the ability to develop, train, and implement curriculum and researched-based best practices to enhance student and teacher achievement. She currently serves as the principal for Woodridge Elementary in DeSoto ISD.


During her tenure, she led the campus from nearly an improvement required campus to a campus with state distinctions every year. She has also served as a classroom teacher, an assistant principal, an instructional coach for several organizations, and she is a national presenter for elementary mathematics and leadership.


Her “pay it forward” leadership style has grown educators, students, and families across the nation. However, her most important work is the work spent being a wife and mom. She has been married to her wonderful and patient husband for 13 years, and they have two beautiful daughters. In addition, she is an alumnus of the University of North Texas and Prairie View A&M University.



Kelli McWashington - 2019-2020 Principal at McCowan Middle School

Kelli McWashington is a veteran educator who has 20 years of educational experience. Mrs. McWashington had served various roles consisting of classroom teacher in elementary and middle school, Department Chair, Instructional Coordinator, Assistant Principal and currently as Interim Principal at McCowan Middle School. Her diverse background has afforded her the opportunity to excel as an educator by providing best practices that benefited student success at various levels.


Mrs. McWashington joined the Desoto ISD family in 2015 as an Instructional Coordinator at DeSoto High School. With her dedication to student success and the support for teacher growth, Mrs. McWashington advanced in her career to become an Assistant Principal at Desoto High School. During her tenure at DeSoto High School, Mrs. McWashington was the senior House Principal. Through her continued passion to serve the students of DeSoto ISD, Mrs. McWashington was selected to become the Interim Principal at McCowan Middle school.


As Mrs. McWashington continues to strive to ensure DeSoto ISD students are strong competitors in their academic success her desire is to build and support teachers who will indeed build and support students.



Alexandra Barton - 2019-2020 Principal at Frank Moates Elementary School

Alexandra Barton was born in Puerto Rico and made the journey to Houston, Texas 31 years ago. She received a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from the University of Houston and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Lamar University. She currently is in her 15th year in education and has spent her career serving Title I schools with a high needs population as well as a large bilingual population.


She began her career teaching bilingual education in Pre-K and continued teaching all grades through third grade. After leaving the classroom, she served as a Math Interventionist, Coach, Curriculum Writer, Multi Classroom  Leader and Assistant Principal.


She is married, has five precious children, and a four legged sixth child.


Jereese Johnson - 2019-2020 Next Gen GEAR UP Project Director

Jereese Johnson has been an employee of the DeSoto ISD since 2017. A native of Houston, TX, Ms. Johnson’s career in education spans more than 20 years and she has degrees in psychology and counseling.


In her 10 years of experience as a high school Professional School Counselor, she has helped children better understand themselves, and evaluated their abilities, interests, and talents in order to develop realistic academic and future career goals. She has helped students seek the necessary resources available to them for life after high school, whether it was college applications and/or scholarships for college.


Ms. Johnson received her undergraduate degree from Texas Woman’s University, and she is the proud mother of a 16-year old son.