| Position | Member | Term Exp. |
| President | Samantha Thompson | 1/1/27 |
| President Elect | Katie Salch | 1/1/27 |
| Past President | Eric Clapeck | 1/1/27 |
| Secretary | Kellie Burns | 1/1/27 |
| Treasurer | Dr. Amy Schlessman | Appointed |
| Board Member | Sarah Arsenault | 1/1/27 |
| Board Member | Cybill Jacob | 1/1/28 |
| Board Member | Sue Durkin | 1/1/28 |
| Board Member | Carolyn Erdelji | 1/1/27 |
| Board Member | Wayne Tucker | 1/1/28 |
2026 Board Meeting Schedule
Fri. January 16, 2026 (10:00 am – 11:00 am)
President – Samantha Thompson
Samantha Thompson serves as the Administrator for Leadership and Accountability and Student Choice High School’s representative for the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools. She brings a wealth of experience spanning over 25 years in the field of education. In her current role, she provides support to principals across all Student Choice locations. Samantha holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Northern Arizona University and a master’s degree in administration and supervision from the University of Phoenix.
Samantha’s dedication to professional growth is evident through her completion of the National Principal Supervisory Academy by the Center for Educational Leadership in partnership with the School Superintendents Association, where she focused on mentorship and principal supervision. Her diverse background includes roles as a classroom teacher, ELL coordinator, instructional coach, AdvancED (Cognia) evaluator, and principal. Currently, she serves as a district administrator contributing to overall educational systems.
Samantha has been an influential figure in education, presenting at national and state conferences such as the National Alternative Education Association (NAEA) and the Arizona Charter Conference. Her expertise extends to committee involvement, curriculum development, state standards, data analysis, extracurricular programs, and college and career readiness. She has undertaken various professional development programs, including training in areas such as Principal Law, Kagan Engagement Structures, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Conscious Discipline, and AdvancED (Cognia).
Her commitment to excellence has been recognized through her leadership of an exemplary model school recognized by NAEA and her contributions to an A+ school. Additionally, she received the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year award. She also serves on the Arizona Department of Education’s Certification Advisory Committee.
Samantha’s guiding philosophy echoes Maya Angelou’s wisdom, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
President Elect -Katie Salch
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Past President – Eric Clapeck
Eric Clapeck is dedicated to empowering at-risk youths. His educational career began in 2010, where his innovative approach to teaching Civics, Economics, Logic, and Law earned him significant accolades, including recognition as a Distinguished Educator by the Flinn Foundation and the Presidential Distinguished Teacher Award in 2018. He holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Philosophy, a Master’s in Educational Leadership, and a Juris Doctorate.
Secretary – Kellie Burns
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Treasurer – Dr. Amy Schlessman
Amy Schlessman, PhD, has dedicated her professional and much of her personal life to education and human services in both the public and private sectors. Dr. Schlessman’s research and professional interests include alternative school accountability, organizational development, and the development of creative and innovative intelligence in learners of all ages from diverse cultural backgrounds and socio-economic levels. Fortune 500 companies, as well as not-for-profit organizations, including schools and community collaboratives, have benefited from her contributions to their programs. Her publications and presentations illustrate a range from theory to practice. Amy’s recent research, policy analysis, and advocacy focus on alternative education. She serves as Chief Alternative Education Officer for ThrivePoint High Schools, a network of alternative charter high schools in partnership with Learning Matters Educational Group.
Dr. Schlessman’s peers have elected her to leadership positions internationally, nationally, and at the state level. She has served as President of an international education association, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); Chair of Research and Evaluation with the American Educational Research Association; founding President, Arizona Alternative Education Consortium (AZ AEC); and then the National Alternative Education Association’s Board and subsequently Executive Board. She is honored to now return to the service of Arizona’s alternative education campuses as an AZ AEC Board member.
Board Member – Sarah Arsenault
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Board Member – Sue Durkin
E. Sue Durkin is an Arizona native and has served adult high school students for over twenty-five years as an instructor and, since 2001, an administrator at International Commerce Secondary Schools. Sue earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies and a Master of Arts in English from Northern Arizona University, a Post-baccalaureate Certification in Education from Ottawa University, and a Diploma in Humanities from Harrison Middleton University. In her capacity as administrator, she has simultaneously worked as principal, director of assessment, curriculum developer, and director of special populations. As a result of her many roles, she has become proficient in Arizona’s Academic Standards as well as state and national education policy. In the past five years, Sue has served on three different task forces with the Arizona Department of Education: Alternative Pathway to a High School Diploma; Adult Education English Standard Development; and Adult Education Social Studies Standards Development, and currently serves on the Alternative Accountability Technical Advisory Committee (AATAC). Sue is highly invested in and dedicated to helping Arizona’s underserved adult population become college and career ready through the attainment of a high school diploma.
Board Member – Cybill Jacob
Cybill Jacob, M.Ed., has been in K-12 education for 27 years and is currently serving in her 10th year as principal of Peoria Flex Academy in the Peoria Unified School District. She earned her B.A. from Arizona State University and her master’s in educational leadership from Grand Canyon University. She began her career 27 years ago in junior high and moved to a comprehensive high school, where she taught students from remedial to honors level courses. Over her tenure, her yearbook/journalism students won various national awards in photography and publishing, which led to opportunities as a speaker/presenter at various journalism workshops and conventions in Arizona and Hawaii. She also served as an instructional coach for grades K-12, CTE, and adjunct faculty in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at ASU. As a result of her move to alternative education and seeing the great need for students to self-regulate, she spearheaded a mindfulness movement in her school, leading her to become a certified yoga instructor [CYT 200, KYTT] trained in trauma-informed and adolescent yoga. She currently teaches yoga classes in the West Valley as well as facilitates professional development workshops in mindfulness and yoga for the classroom. She has been awarded Teacher of the Year and Pride of Peoria, an award presented to the top one percent for contributions to their schools and district.
Board Member – Carolyn Erdelji
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Board Member – Wayne Tucker
Wayne Tucker, M.Ed., is the Superintendent of PPEP TEC High School, a network of six alternative high school campuses stretching across Southern Arizona. The mission of PTHS is to provide innovative, high-quality educational opportunities to students whose needs have not been met by traditional schools and who are at risk of disengaging from the educational system. Wayne began his academic career as a biology student in his home state of Florida, but transferred to Bennington College in Vermont, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, concentrating in epistemology and cognitive systems. Some years later, he earned a Master of Secondary Education degree from the University of Arizona and has been devoted to the study of Alternative Education throughout his entire teaching career.
AZ-AEC 