SCHS District Leadership Team

Amy's educational philosophy is based on her uncompromising belief that all students can learn given a positive learning environment, strong and knowledgeable leadership, and a committed, student-focused team. Prior to working as the administrator for quality programs, Amy joined Student Choice High School as the principal of the Glendale Campus in 2019 following 20 years of experience in school administration, instructional coaching, classroom teaching, and curriculum writing for school districts, state organizations, and national publishers. In addition to her work at Student Choice, she is an adjunct faculty member at Rio Salado College in the Teacher Certification Department supporting post-baccalaureate adult learners in their quest to become impactful, certified teachers. She has been the recipient of awards in many areas including the National Great Books, Great Teacher award by The Great Books Foundation, elementary teacher honoree by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and several all-star recognitions for her work at Rio Salado College.

Amy received her bachelor’s degree in education from the State University of New York College at Cortland. Over the years, she has earned additional credentials including an Arizona reading endorsement, her master's degree from Northern Arizona University with a specialization in educational counseling, an Arizona k–12 principal certificate, and a k–12 CTE teaching certificate in business and marketing.

Her educational experiences have provided her with opportunities to collaborate with diverse groups of people and to increase student achievement and well being. She is thrilled to bring her experiences to the Student Choice High School District where supporting students in powering through challenges, removing obstacles, and finding pathways to success is her passion.

Lauren Diesner – Administrator for Exceptional Students at Student Choice High School

Lauren Diesner enters her second full year with Student Choice High School and just completed her first full school year as the administrator for exceptional students. Since taking over the administrator for exceptional students role, Diesner has accomplished the establishment of special ed policies and procedures, created a tracking system for incoming students, established compliance of all IEPs, evaluations, and 504 plans, increased the members of the special education department, ensured specially designed instruction for all students, and individualized each learning experience by providing students with the accommodations and modifications necessary for their success.

Lauren also currently works weekends as an inpatient therapist at Copper Springs Behavioral Health Hospital in Avondale.

Prior to her arrival with Student Choice High School, Diesner has spent over a decade working in both public schools and mental health.

In the spring of 2018, Diesner graduated from Grand Canyon University with a double master’s in psychology and professional counseling.

Prior to that, she graduated from Arizona State University in 2012 with a bachelor of arts in a dual program of general and special education.

Diesner currently resides in Litchfield Park with her husband Derek and their four adorable fur-babies: Pippen (German Shepherd), Admiral (Golden Retriever), and their two cats Milly and Oliver.

John Sands currently serves as administrator for innovation and technology at Student Choice High School. John has over 35 years’ experience in the information technology field. Johns obtained his training in information technology while serving in the United States Air Force. He served for ten years where he was involved in programming and setting up inventory control within the commissary system. For the past 25 years he has served as an I.T. administrator, with over-site of exchanges server, Office 365, Active Directory, Cisco Phones, Smooth wall content filter, Schoolmaster Data base administrator, Over site and set up of district SharePoint site, Networking. John hold certificates in Microsoft, Cisco. John is excited to be part of the growing team!

Samantha Thompson is the administrator for leadership and accountability. She has been in education for over 20 years and supports principals at all Student Choice locations. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University in elementary education and her master’s degree in administration and supervision from the University of Phoenix. Samantha has completed a National Principal Supervisory Academy from the Center For Educational Leadership with the School Superintendents Association focused on principal supervision as a mentor. Samantha has an abundance of educational experience as a classroom teacher, an ELL coordinator, an instructional coach, an AdvancED evaluator, a principal, and currently as a district administrator.

She has contributed her talents towards developing and leading professional development as a national conference presenter at the National Alternative Education Association (NAEA) and as a state conference presenter at the Arizona Charter Conference speaking to administrators and educators. She has been involved in a variety of committees working with curriculum, state standards, data, extracurricular clubs, and college and career readiness programs. She has completed various training for Kagan Engagement Structures, Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), Gifted and Talented, Conscious Discipline, and AdvancED. She has attended conferences such as the Arizona School Administrators Summer Session and the PLC Summit Conference both focused on collaboration within a Professional Learning Community utilizing the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Among her greatest achievements is being a principal to an NAEA exemplary model school, contributions to an A+ awarded school, and receiving the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year in 2012.

Mrs. Thompson’s most admired quote is by Maya Angelo, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Kim Powers has served as the executive secretary at the district office for two years here at Student Choice High School. Since establishing her role as executive secretary, Kim has provided administrative and executive support-related tasks to all employees throughout the district. While working alongside the chief financial officer, Kim has successfully embedded the processes for onboarding, the benefits of human resources, and managing the district finances.

Prior to her arrival at Student Choice High School, Powers spent 12 years managing the office of a preschool through fifth-grade elementary school. Kim brings years of experience and a level of expertise with her organizational skills, attention to detail, and efficiency within our office operations.

Kim is a native of Arizona where she lives with her husband of 29 years and their two fur babies, Dakoda and Frankie. Both Kim and her husband enjoy their time watching their twins' continued success at Grand Canyon University.

Lisa Kemper-Martin joined the Student Choice family in 2019 as a district instructional specialist. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and continued her graduate-level education through Grand Canyon University and Northern Arizona University. After graduation, she accepted a teaching position in the Peoria Unified School District. After seven years in PUSD, she accepted a teaching position closer to home in the Litchfield Elementary School District and remained in the Litchfield District until joining Student Choice. Lisa’s 27 years of service in education include teaching 8th grade ELA, serving as the Litchfield Elementary middle school writing instructional coach and Verrado Heritage Elementary 5–8 site instructional coach, and currently, leading as the SCHS district instructional specialist. She has contributed her talents towards developing and leading professional development to district leaders, parents, community, and staff. Among Lisa’s greatest achievements are co-authoring Western Sky Middle School’s A+ School of Excellence, which was awarded to Western Sky; authoring and facilitating multiple district-level professional development training; and earning the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year award in 2009. Mrs. Kemper-Martin has a passion for students and is dedicated to excellence in education.

Karen Williams is the principal at our Student Choice High School (SCHS) Glendale location and has been in education for 29 years. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education from Northern Arizona University along with her principal certification from Brandman University. She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education at Arizona State University. Over the course of her career, Karen has been a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and assistant principal. Prior to joining the SCHS team, Karen served as the principal of a west valley middle school for seven years.

Among Karen's accomplishments are receiving the A+ Exemplary School Award during her tenure as principal. She also served on the Association of School Administrators during which time she planned and attended several leadership conferences. Karen is a certified trainer for Kagan Cooperative Learning, Thinking Maps, Write from the Beginning, and Conscious Discipline. She has also been trained on Building Trauma Sensitive Classrooms, Suicide and Self Harm Prevention, Professional Learning Communities, and Response to Intervention (RTI).

Karen is a servant leader who is dedicated to supporting students in their educational pursuits and preparing them for a successful future.

Coming soon.