Len, a graduate of DePaul University and holds an M.Ed. from Loyola University, was appointed as Chicago’s Deputy Mayor for Education and Chief of Policy for Chicago’s public schools by Mayor Richard M. Daley from 1991-to 2000. He served as liaison to the Chicago Public Schools, Chicago City Colleges, Chicago Universities, the Foundation community, and the Business community, and developed and recommended policies to the Board of Education. Len was interim Principal for Benito Juarez Community Academy High School where he designed and implemented an intervention strategy to turn around the troubled high school, improve the curriculum, and add new courses and programs. Currently, Len is President of Educare Associates which specializes in total school improvement processes. 

Demetria Iazzetto, Ph.D., has worked in education in Chicago for more than 40 years as a teacher and program director, teaching high school and college courses and supervising student teachers.  She has taught part-time at Columbia College Chicago, National Louis University, and Concordia University.  She directed the Urban Education Program of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, preparing new teachers to work in urban schools.  Demetria is bilingual in English and Spanish. She currently serves as the president of the Board of Directors of the Dorothy Stang Popular Education Adult Bilingual High School in Chicago.

James G Evans is an Artist, Record Executive, and co-founder of DEF ED, a hip-hop-based education program that successfully ran in the San Francisco Bay Area for eight years in schools, libraries, and juvenile detention centers, and was awarded a “G.O.L.D.I.E. Award” in 2004 for “Outstanding Performance” by the San Francisco Bay area Guardian.  James also organized over 50 successful events for the Sisterz of the Underground hip-hop collective that was chosen as “Best Hip-Hop Monthly Event” by the San Francisco Bay Area Guardian in 2001. Evans also has 16 + years of working in the music industry designing and implementing marketing and promotion plans for independent recording artists.

Annie is currently a Special Education/Learning Behavior Specialist teacher at Chicago Public Schools and has been teaching Special Education for nearly 15 years in self-contained, resource, and inclusive-based classrooms.  She graduated with a Master of Science-MS Behavior Intervention Specialist-LBS2 degree from Northeastern Illinois University, and a Bachelor of Science-BS Special Education LBS1 degree from Western Illinois University. Her goals are to teach the following: Academic skills, social etiquette, basic life skills, job skills, behavioral management, and emotional regulation to children with disabilities. “Having a child with special needs has impacted my life in a positive way. I want each child I work with to know that they are loved, smart, and can overcome obstacles.”