April is from Waterboro, Maine, and grew up with her mother, father, and younger brother in a small neighborhood with many children her age. April’s husband of 23 years grew up in the house next door in that small neighborhood. While they were friends growing up, they didn’t begin dating until after they both graduated from college.

April went to the University of Maine of Farmington out of high school to become a teacher.

After a few years of teaching grades one and two at Waterboro Elementary School, she went back to school to learn how to be a better literary teacher. She knew there was more to learn and wanted her students to be the best readers and writers.  April graduated from the University of Southern Maine a few years later with a master's degree in literacy. Learning how to become a better teacher tapped into a desire to share her learning with others. She began working alongside the current curriculum coordinator and helped create the position of a literacy coach for the district which she then filled as a one-year trial position.

During that first year of coaching other teachers, April researched the impact of the role of literacy coaches on others and presented the impact to the school committee. That following year, April was able to help hire and work alongside three other literacy coaches to support teachers in grades K-8 in the SAD 57 district, the same schools she attended as a child. 

During her years as a literacy coach, she continued to invest in her passion for learning and pursued an additional degree at the University of Southern Maine and earned her certificate of advanced studies in Educational Leadership. During this time in her career, April was a finalist for the Maine Teacher of the Year through the Maine Department of Education. She traveled to Florida to present at the International Reading Association sharing her research on family literacy histories and was asked to serve and train educators throughout Maine. April sought out ways to continue her learning while presenting and sharing her learning with others.

At the age of 36, she became the principal at York’s Village Elementary School serving 300 students in grades K-2. For the past 14 years, she has focused her career on being an inspirational leader in elementary schools in administrative positions. She believes strongly in best practices for teaching elementary-aged students and loves reading current research for content curriculum and social-emotional learning.

April is currently the principal at Saco’s CK Burns Elementary School, with 600+ students and over 100 staff.  She is enjoying serving on the committee to plan for opening the new community school for grades 1-5 which will house slightly more than 1,000 students.