K-12 Tuition Free Public School
Amber Golden Raskin, Executive Director of Business Development & Operations
Amber has worked tirelessly for the past several years to launch Santa Clarita Valley International (SCVi) Charter School. Seeking an alternative to traditional public school for her 2 children, she has traveled throughout the state of California, touring public charter, private, and traditional public schools looking for the successful and appropriate K-12 models to bring to the Santa Clarita Valley. Intending to prepare SCVi's students for the twenty-first century, she and the SCVi interim board of directors created this internationally focused, project-based charter school. Before founding SCVi, Amber's background in education was primarily as a parent actively involved with her children's school and passionate about making a difference in her community. To fully understand the world of charter schools, Amber attended countless workshops and conferences and had intensive training in starting a charter school.
When Amber is not taking care of her 2 school-aged children or working at the charter school, she can usually be found working as a community activist. She founded the Santa Clarita Chapter of the Million Mom March in an effort to protect children from gun violence. She has lobbied in both Sacramento and Washington for safety issues on behalf of our community. A graduate of Cal State University at Long Beach, she has traveled the world, usually with kids in tow, and has worked hard to bring an international perspective to her family. Before staying home with her children full-time, she worked as a television producer creating hundreds of hours of network television. As a producer, she was responsible for multimillion-dollar budgets, hiring staff, and the start-up of new companies, including work in payables, receivables, and a host of other management activities. She managed several different staffs of 100-plus, including some especially difficult talent relations. These experiences prepared her for the most difficult of all producing jobs: being a mom. She can be reached at amber.raskin@svcharterschool.org.
Dawn M. Evenson, Executive Director of Education
Dawn comes to us with 23 years of experience in education. She has been a school administrator for 10 years in both primary and secondary schools. As a teacher, Dawn used project-based learning in her classroom. She is passionate about doing whatever it takes to make a difference in the lives of children. She has successfully set up small learning communities with a focus on building relationships, which encourages students to make good choices.
While a student at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, Dawn earned a liberal arts degree with an emphasis on special needs students and English. She received her master’s in educational administration from California State University, Northridge. Dawn has been a curriculum resource teacher, a mentor teacher, and a BTSA program director.
Dawn is active in the Association of California School Administrators. She has held several positions on the Region XV Executive Board and currently serves as the Region XV president. She was awarded the 2006 Middle School Principal of the Year Award by ACSA Region XV.
Dawn is excited to be a part of the SCVi team and looks forward to creating an innovative, engaging, and supportive learning environment! She resides in Lancaster, California, with her husband and 3 daughters. On weekends she is busy driving all over southern California taking her daughters to their various sporting events. She can be reached at dawn.evenson@scvcharterschool.org.
Mary Rockwell, Principal
Mary comes to SCVi this year with a solid background in education and leadership, including helping to build high schools from the ground up. She most recently served as an assistant principal in the Antelope Valley Union High School District, where she managed the details of a strong instructional program. This included overseeing testing and the master schedule, as well as supervising instruction and curriculum.
Prior to that, Mary served in the role of professional development coordinator, where she coordinated professional development for classified, certificated, and administrative staff; facilitated training in the Classroom Organization and Management Program; managed the district's Career Advancement Program to encourage all teachers and para-educators to meet NCLB highly qualified requirements; led the Professional Development Advisory Committee; coordinated and facilitated training for instructional coaches; managed and coordinated the district's technology program; and more. During her years with the district, Mary also held the roles of professional development consultant, BTSA coordinator, and English teacher. Mary launched her career as an English teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Additionally, she is a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Staff Development Council, and National Council of Teachers of English Kappan.
Mary will be working closely with SCVi’s current leadership team to further develop what they have started and to be a support to facilitators and parents. Also, Mary will coordinate the International Baccalaureate program. Ultimately, she is here to help make SCVi an even greater place to gain a passion for learning and the skills to thrive in the twenty-first century.
Gris Ibarra, Executive Assistant/Office Manager and Registrar
Gris is responsible for Powerschool, CALPADS, student and staff attendance, calling substitute teachers, and other various state reporting. She assists the executive director of education, executive director of business development and operations, principal, and facilitators, and she maintains the calendar for Student Support meetings. Gris also makes it a priority to be available to students, parents, and anyone who might have a question.
When Gris joined the SCVi team in October of 2009, she brought with her a diverse background as an administrative assistant, office manager, research unit specialist, mammography liaison, and homeschool mom of 10 years.
Gris has been married to Ray Ibarra for 22 years and has 4 children, a son-in-law, and a wonderful grandson. Her 2 youngest children attend SCVi. Gris loves to read, swim, sing, and spend time with family and friends.
Gris is so proud to be a part of the SCVi team. She truly enjoys seeing the students every day. “Our school is a happy place, a place to learn, inspire and grow, for these are the leaders of tomorrow,” she says. Gris’ favorite quote is “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” She can be reached at gris.ibarra@scvcharterschool.org.
Danijela was first introduced to SCVi as a parent of two students and is now thrilled to be serving as a receptionist/administrative assistant. After she and her husband first heard about SCVi, they added their boys’ names to the wait list, and as luck would have it, the school added one more class and both were accepted. She says SCVi gave her kids the ability to learn at their own pace and to be recognized as the unique individuals that we all are.
Danijela was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. When she was 18, she traveled to Germany to visit her aunt. While there, the war in former Yugoslavia escalated, making it impossible to return home. She remained in Germany for 6 years with a temporary refugee visa until the German government began sending refugees back to Bosnia. She and her husband applied for a resettlement program offered by the U.S. government.
After moving to the U.S., Danijela worked in accounting for 4 years. When her first son was born, however, she decided to stay at home with him. Six years later and now a mom of 2 boys, Danijela returned to work at a grocery store as a cashier and accountant. Today, she enjoys being part of the great team at SCVi that makes a difference for so many students.
Danijela enjoys reading and traveling. The next destination for her and her family will hopefully be Jamaica. She can be reached at danijela.kuric@scvcharterschool.org.
Melissa Brimigion, Administrative Assistant, Health Clerk
Melissa is responsible for SCVi’s Health Office, Student Records, and Attendance: Absence and Late Learner reporting. When she joined the SCVi team, she brought with her a diverse background as an administrative assistant, accounts manager, and claims adjuster. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies (elementary education).
A native Californian, Melissa is married to Scott Brimigion, who works at Valencia Acura. She is the mother of two—SCVi students, of course! In her spare time, she loves doing crafts, going to the beach, riding roller coasters, and spending time with her large extended family.
Melissa is truly honored to be a part of the SCVi family as a parent and staff member. She loves seeing all the children’s faces when they're engaged in the learning process, as well as taking care of the skinned knees and elbows of learners who are so happy to be running and playing like children should. Their sweet smiles after she fixes their boo-boos or bruises make her day! She can be reached at melissa.brimigion@scvcharterschool.org.
Alex Toval, Facilities Manager/Director
Alex is responsible for keeping SCVi’s building/facility safe, clean, and up to all codes for our students and staff. He also ensures a steady work flow by handling minor IT issues and repairs, ranging from simple electrical faceplate outlet replacements to more complex projects. Additionally, he purchases all equipment and supplies needed for janitorial and maintenance-related jobs.
Alex brings to this role a background in general warehouse, residential, and commercial maintenance. While this is definitely his expertise, he’s also quite tech savvy. He graduated from The Los Angeles Recording School as a studio/recording engineer.
Alex is a proud young father of a beautiful little girl. She is the reason he wakes up every morning and works his tail off. Outside of work, you might find him at the gym or making music.
He enjoys working with kids and especially at SCVi because he wishes he could have been a student here. He had many influences as a child that taught him so much and thinks it's amazing that he can play a role in students’ lives by helping them out so that maybe one day they can do the same for others. He can be reached at alex.toval@scvcharterschool.org.
