There are some new faces roaming the halls of John F. Kennedy Elementary and Superior Jr./Sr. High School (and we’re not talking kids).
There are six new teachers who join the ranks of the educators.
Leonard Cestaro will be teaching 6th Grade at John F. Kennedy Elementary.
Cestaro was born in New York City. He received his undergraduate degrees at Palm Beach Atlantic University and at University of South Florida. He received his graduate degree at the University of Oregon. Cestaro has taught elementary school at Klamath Falls School District and in a Yupik Eskimo village in Alaska for three years. He retired from the Anchorage School District in Alaska. He is married with three children and two grandchildren.
“I love working in Superior, the area is beautiful and so are the people who live here,” he said.
Tiffany Denogean is the new Instructional Improvement Paraprofessional at Superior Jr./Sr. High School.
Denogean is resident of Superior, Arizona. She is 29 years old and enjoys hunting and being in the outdoors. She is married to Brandon Denogean and they have two children: Gunner, who is the oldest at 6, and Kaylee, who is 4. Both are enrolled at John F. Kennedy Elementary.
Denogean has been with the Superior School District for a few years working as both a CVIT Relief Driver and a Substitute Teacher.
Bruce McClelland will be teaching 5th Grade at John F. Kennedy Elementary School.
McClelland was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from ASU in 1995 with honors, where he earned his BS in Finance/Business.
McClelland is a returning teacher to Superior Unified School District, having taught High School Math and Business from 2004-2005.
Robert Meeks is the new JH Math/Algebra I teacher at Superior Jr./Sr. High School.
Meeks is married with four adult children and 10 grandchildren. He worked for 35 years in the aerospace sector, as a research mechanic.
He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and more than 45 credits in education. Meeks left aerospace and has been teaching math for five years.
Susan Thiem will be teaching Special Education at John F. Kennedy Elementary.
Thiem was raised in Michigan in a farming family, in a small town with lots of family around. She went to Western Michigan University for her BA and MA. She lived in San Francisco Bay Area, CA for 25 years, then Las Cruces, NM for four years before landing in Arizona in May, 2013. She has some family and high school friends in this area.
Thiem has two Australian Cattle dogs, a son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
“I like working in Superior and feel like I found a family here,” she said.
Jacqueline Tiedens will be teaching JH English/English 9 at Superior Jr./Sr. High School.
Tiedens grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey. She went to school at Ohio State, where she received her Bachelors and certification. She lived in Ohio for 10 years. Tiedens has also taught in Daegu, South Korea.
She loves art, reading, hiking, and travelling anywhere. She also has a dog named Butterscotch.