Roxanna Bautista Villaseñor is a distinguished educational leader with an extensive 23-year journey in the realm of public education. Her career has been marked by her commitment to systemic change, equity-driven practices, and the pursuit of excellence for all students. With a deep understanding of diverse communities’ needs, Ms. Villaseñor has left an indelible mark on educational institutions throughout Sacramento, Yolo, and San Joaquin counties.
Ms. Villaseñor’s path to leadership began as a dedicated high school and middle school Science and Math teacher. Her passion for individualized learning experiences ignited a spark, motivating her to ensure relevance in the education for every student. Progressing through her career, she adeptly took on roles as a site administrator at the elementary, middle, high, and adult school levels, consistently achieving improved student data benchmarks across her sites.
Her visionary leadership extended to founding a California Public Charter School, a testament to her ability to build strategic systems and structures from the ground up. This tenacity for excellence led her to pivotal positions as a director of student services, executive director of secondary education, and Assistant Superintendent of Educational services. In these roles she fostered staff growth and student achievement through a systems-thinking approach, leaving a legacy of success.
Ms. Villaseñor recognizes the crucial role of leadership. Her systems-thinking approach and passion for education contribute to her ability to ensure a strong focus on prioritizing the needs of students she is assigned to support.
Peter joined River Charter Schools in 2012 as its Chief Business Officer. He spent most of the two previous decades in educational publishing finance as well as co-founding and growing the Electronic Education division of Pearson taking the new K-2 Waterford Early Reading Program to market in schools across the U.S. and making a significant difference in the reading achievement for the most needy children. Peter earned his Business Administration Accounting degree at UC Berkeley and is a CPA. He has lived in the Clarksburg area for the last 20 years on a working Delta farm, has four children, eight grandchildren, is very involved in his church and enjoys hiking.
Sara joined River Charter Schools in 2023 as the new Director of Student Services and Special Education. She has over five years experience in the charter schools, three in the Director role, and over 15 in education. Sara has taught all grade levels from pre school to adults, in special education, general education to AP classes.
She has a Bachelors in English from UC Irvine, a dual credential in multiple subjects, and education specialist, and a Master’s in Education from CSU Chico. Sara is a lifelong learner and is still pursuing her law degree and other graduate studies.
Sara has three children, all active in sports, and is the President of a Non- profit in Butte County that has many national champions, and are still training for national teams.
She spends most of her time with family and has a strong belief in community and service to the surrounding areas. She hopes to stay active in bettering the educational journeys for all and advocating for community outreach. She strives to follow in her fathers footsteps in life long travel and work ethic to serve.
I am humbled and enthusiastic to serve as the principal of DECS. I am excited to continue to work collaboratively with our dedicated teachers and staff on a daily basis, while also having more opportunities to connect with our brilliant scholars as they learn and grow in and out of the classroom.
I have taught grades K through 6, as well as, Reading Intervention and as an Adjunct Instructor to Pre-teacher candidates. I began my journey as an educator 15 years ago while working for the Lodi Unified School District. I joined the DECS community in 2015 and have taught sixth grade and fourth grade, and the instructional coach.
Although I did not grow up in California, I have lived here for the last 20 years. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at UC San Diego, a Multiple-Subject Teaching Credential at Sacramento State, and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis in Elementary Reading, from Grand Canyon University. This past November, I earned an Administrative Credential.
Mrs. Schene has been an inspiring educational leader for over eighteen years. Our Lighthouse Charter core values of demonstrating unconditional positive regard, continuous self-reflection, and high quality collaborative efforts are aspects she values and embraces as our Principal of LCS. Mrs. Schene received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from University of Nevada Reno, and earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from University of Phoenix. Mrs. Schene holds a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with an authorization in English and an Administrative Services Credential. She is excited to bring her extensive experiences of mentoring/coaching, building effective systems for positive school outcomes and implementing comprehensive models of inclusive practices for all students at LCS. When not spending time with the school family at LCS, she enjoys camping with her husband and three sons, gardening, and snowmobiling with her family in Graeagle, CA.
Cody has 18 years of experience working with small businesses including several local Non-Profits in the areas of bookkeeping, accounting, and internal controls. Cody has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Business Administration with a focus in Accounting. Her learning opportunities from working with a wide array of businesses and people have given her the knowledge to not only understand accounting detail, and the day to day issues that many organizations face, but also to take a step back and create solutions for broken or inefficient systems. Cody is forever grateful for the many mentors she had a long the way who have taught her invaluable skills. She hopes to return that to others, always striving to help others make things better for the entire organization.
I was lucky enough to be born into a large, loud, loving Italian family. My grandparents set roots down here in the Sacramento valley because it reminded them of Sicily. While growing up our family had a cabin in Lake Tahoe and I consider this my second home. Graduated from Sacramento High School and Consumes River College and then entered the business world until I started my family. That’s when I became the CFO/CEO of our family, toughest and best job ever. During this time I worked 9 years for a company processing accounts payable and payroll. I have 3 smart, beautiful and strongly independent adult daughters who are out in the world helping make it better. As lucky as I was before with my family I now have a new family here at River Charter Schools.