Meet the Team

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Dr. Nicholas Aquino
Director
noaquino@cps.edu

Nick is a transformative education leader with more than 15 years of experience including school administration, instructional coaching, teacher leadership, and classroom teaching focused on cultivating learning organizations where staff, students, and families feel included, empowered, and supported in working collaboratively towards a shared equity-centered vision. Nick earned his doctorate in Urban Education Leadership at the University of Illinois Chicago.

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Isil Cinar
Operations Coordinator
icinar1@cps.edu

Isil holds a Bachelor’s from Carleton College in International Relations. She spent most of her career in customer and client service, and events industry. Passionate about delivering tools, processes and technology that enable seamless workflow, Isil aims to achieve operational excellence for the DSVE team and its district-wide stakeholders.

Inclusive and Responsive Education Team

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Priscilla Lizasuain-Vazquez
Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist
plizasuain@cps.edu

Priscilla has been a part of CPS as a student and educator. She was a history, English, and ELL teacher at the Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice for twelve years. Her passions are teaching for social justice, creating space for student voice and choice, and developing interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students.

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Sabrina Chen
Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist
schin2@cps.edu

Sabrina is a CPS educator for over a decade as a middle school mathematics teacher and a school-wide social emotional learning (SEL) specialist. She was a community organizer prior to joining CPS. Sabrina is passionate about elevating student & community voices, reimagining student data, and advocating for the holistic & humanizing learning spaces for all CPS students.

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Margie Smagacz
Project Based Learning Manager
mdsmagacz@cps.edu

Margie has a BA in Secondary Education with specifications in English and Social Science and a MA in School Leadership. She has 25 years of experience in education as a teacher, school administrator, and now with the district. Margie's legacy will be that she has supported hundreds of teachers and thousands of students to feel fulfilled in their learning experiences and ready to take on the world!

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Dustin Voss
Financial Education Specialist
dkvoss@cps.edu

Dustin (or Dusty) believes our schools and communities are powerful, become more powerful, and use that power for what they decide is good. He developed this belief during his 13 years as a classroom educator, 11 of those years at Fenger High School teaching Civics and Finance. He seeks to live this belief out in his work supporting Chicago’s students, teachers, and communities.

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Now Hiring
Inclusive and Responsive Education Manager

Inclusive and Responsive Education Manager

CPS Careers Job Number: 240000CD

Student Voice and Leadership Team

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Mildred Garcia Gomez
Student Voice and Leadership Specialist
mlgarciagomez@cps.edu

Mildred has a BA in Social Work and Minor in Ethnic Studies from California State University, Sacramento and a MA in Social Work from Loyola University, Chicago. She is a 2020 Surge Institute Alum, where she further defined her identity as a bold Latinx leader. Mildred is passionate about creating spaces for youth where they are supported in finding the power of their existence.

Herminia Sanchez-Gonzalez
Herminia Sanchez-Gonzalez
Student Voice Support
hasanchezgonzalez1@cps.edu

Herminia has a Bachelors in Social Work from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Herminia is an alum of Farragut Career Academy, where she gained her passion for advocacy. She was involved in multiple Student Voice initiatives which shaped her understanding of issues students face at school. Herminia believes students can create change in their school communities and as adults we are responsible for creating spaces that nature student agency.