Academic & School

Improvement Consulting

Carvelli & Associates' operating philosophy is straightforward and simple. Our team can help your team to be successful. We help by identifying issues and growth potentials, developing reachable goals and plans and coach individuals to their success.

Each client we work with is unique and we take pride in developing relationships, personalizing plans and maintaining regular contact and support. Whether you are a single school, group of schools, or a charter school system - you will receive the same quality services.

Your Success is Our Goal.

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ABOUT US

Dr. Carvelli's career has intersected with many successful education and community leaders. While recruiting team members, Dr. Carvelli has sought professionals with successful experiences as Teachers, Principals, Curriculum Specialists, trainers, ESE Specialists, area and Central Office Administrators, and community leaders. Members of the team have experience in elementary, middle, high school, adult, and alternative education. The team is also well-versed in charter school operations. They have successfully reviewed and evaluated charter school applications, conducted annual reviews, and provided support and oversight for many charter schools during their academic improvement. In helping clients to find the right consultant match for their organization, Dr. Carvelli works closely with charter school leaders to identify their objectives or issues and to create preliminary goals. To assist clients and to allow for direct supervision, each consultant will contract directly with the charter school, charter school system or management company. This will result in financial savings for the client as it removes layers of supervision and unnecessary expenses.

school operations; academic improvement; curriculum specialists

CONSULTING TEAM

Dr. John Carvelli, Founder

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As founder of Carvelli & Associates, Dr. Carvelli brings over 35 years of quality experience as an educator and elected official to help your organization achieve success. Dr. Carvelli's background as a Teacher, Principal, Curriculum Specialist, and Area & Central Office Administrator have helped him to understand every aspect of a school system. He has served as Principal of both an 'A' rated elementary school and an inner city high school. As coordinator of a public/private partnership adult apprenticeship school, his students achieved success in winning gold in the V.I.C.A National Skill-Olympics.

From 1994-2010, Dr. Carvelli was elected to the St. Lucie County, Florida School Board. In 1997, as Chairman, he worked to bring the community together and brought resolution to the 27 year old Federal Desegregation Order, personally sitting in Federal Court at the defendant's table and testifying to the school district's unitary status. During his elected service, Dr. Carvelli was appointed to the national board of the National Vocational Honor Society. He served as Vice-Chair of the 1998 Florida Blue Ribbon Committee For Reorganization of Education, served in various capacities for three Florida Commissioners of Education and the University of Florida Education Alumni Council.

Serving as a Port St. Lucie, Florida City Councilman From 2016-2020, Dr. Carvelli worked to reduce City dept by $250 million and was part of the team that passed a half-cent sales tax for new infrastructure. Dr. Carvelli graduated from the University of Florida Educational Administration program and received his Doctorate of Education from Clemson University. He hold professional licenses in Florida and South Carolina.

Andy Binns

Andrew (Andy) Binns began a diverse education career in the early 1980’s as a School Psychologist. Throughout his career as a K-12 educator he has held numerous positions with significant responsibility which were related to the successful operation of the school district. Andy has worked in two large Florida school districts where he served as an ESE Budget Analyst and as Director of FTE Reporting. During his time in these positions, Andy was recognized as an expert on developing elementary and secondary student schedules that were efficient, academically based, statutorily compliant, and highly accurate, leading to maximized FTE funding and compliant FEFP and FTE audits.

Since 2011, Andy has operated his own business, K-12 Solutions, and over the last three years he has assisted 35 charter schools in resolving FEFP audit findings, developing school master schedules, and providing extensive guidance on developing school budgets. As an adjunct Professor for Nova, Barry, and Lynn Universities, Andy has taught coursework in school finance and budgeting, and has helped to develop school finance coursework for Pearson Publishing.

Andy holds a B.S. in Special Education from Florida State University, a M.S. in School Psychology from Florida Atlantic University, an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership from Florida Atlantic University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Nova University. Andy has also completed M.B.A. coursework in numerous business courses. Since 2017, he has served as the Governing Board Chair for Palm Beach Maritime K-5 Academy and High School, a Lantana, Florida based charter school system.

Leslie F. Bolte

Leslie F. Bolte is an educator with over 37 years of public and private K-8 school and charter school consulting experience. She spent 10 years in Broward County, Florida as a school-based curriculum and ESE specialist. During her time as a curriculum specialist, she worked to design a “School Within a School” model that significantly reduced the student mobility rate for a highly transient school. She presented this model at conferences in New York and Chicago. During 20 years in Palm Beach County, Florida, Mrs. Bolte had great success as a reading coach in a low socioeconomic, high free and reduced lunch elementary school.

After being promoted to the Palm Beach County School District Central Area Office, she coached, trained and conducted professional development for Teachers in 28 schools.

Mrs. Bolte followed up with an administrative duty assignment in the North County Area Office, working directly for the North Area Superintendent, providing administrative support to 21 elementary and middle schools. She worked directly with District Staff, School Principals, and Teachers, coordinating training, conducting site visits and data reviews, and resolving issues for a diverse range of schools. Mrs. Bolte served as the Principal of a low performing, 98% free-reduced lunch elementary school, where she led the school from a "D” to a “B” rating, with significant learning gains of over 70% in reading and math. She later served as Principal of Beacon Cove Intermediary, one of the highest performing of 109 elementary schools in Palm Beach County. Under her long-term leadership the school maintained an “A “rating and was recognized yearly for its accomplishments in Reading, Math and Science, listing the school as one of the top schools in the state of Florida.

Mrs. Bolte earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Masters in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. She resides in Jupiter, Florida.

Lisa C. Helfrich

Lisa C. Helfrich is an educator and consultant with over 37 years of experience which includes teaching grades K-12, ESE, ESOL and Adult Education. Her experience as the Manager of Professional Development for the School District of Palm Beach County is where she earned her reputation as the ‘Teacher Whisperer’. Her passion for working with all levels of educators continues as she provides support to the Charter Schools in Palm Beach County, Florida. As an adjunct professor for over 15 years Lisa has taught Effective Teaching Practices to practicum students at Florida Atlantic University, and preservice students at Lynn University through both online and live classes.

She earned her B.S. in Elementary Education at Florida State University and her Ed. Specialist in Curriculum and Instruction Management and Administration from Nova Southeastern University. She has presented nationally in various conferences throughout her career. She currently provides consultation for educational organizations which includes designing online or live professional development for effective professional learning communities, new teacher development, learning walks for school wide improvement, and mentor training and support. She resides in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Jim Pegg

James “Jim” Pegg is an experienced educator and consultant with over 38 years of experience in the field of education. Starting a career as a Pennsylvania classroom teacher, Jim moved to Palm Beach County, Florida where he began a distinguished career in the School District of Palm Beach County as a Teacher, Principal, and central office Director. Jim has a firm understanding of both K-12 public school and charter school operations. While serving as the School District of Palm Beach County’s Director of Charter Schools, Jim had led a district department responsible for 50 charter schools with 21,000 students. During his time as charter school director, Jim had responsibility for oversight and monitoring of new charter school applications, application approval review meetings, charter school

improvement, annual reviews, and new charter school openings and terminations. Jim interacted with all of the charter schools on a regular basis building strong relationships with Teachers, Principals, and Governing Board Members. In 2019 his leadership led to significant charter school improvement, which was the catalyst for moving the School District of Palm Beach County, Fl. from a “B” rating to a state rated “A” school district. During his tenure in the School District of Palm Beach County, Jim held numerous appointed and elected leadership positions. He was an officer and board of director of the Palm Beach County CTA, served on the Florida Teacher Profession (FTP) state board of directors, served on bargaining teams as both a Teacher representative and Principal representative. Later Jim was elected as chair of the 109 elementary Principals Association. Always dedicated, Jim was especially recognized for his 12 years organizing and leading 400 plus students and their advisors on the annual Safety Patrol train trip to Washington, D.C. Jim received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) from California University of Pennsylvania, a Masters (M.S.) from Barry University, and he completed graduate coursework at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. He and his family reside in North Palm Beach, Florida.

Douglas W. 'Doug' Ransom

Douglas W. 'Doug' Ransom is a consultant available to tutor Florida Teachers on the Florida Teacher Certification Exam (FTCE) – Math subject area test. He has been studying the FTCE Math section sample questions and format to develop effective adult learning strategies to help Florida Teachers pass the rigorous test. He has experience with K-12 student and adult level tutoring. Mr. Ransom is Principal and Managing Member at Ransom Solutions, LLC, a consulting company started in 2012. The objectives of Ransom Solutions, LLC include providing optimal analytical, business development, and reporting solutions and advice to businesses and philanthropic organizations. Mr. Ransom consults independently with clients on analytics and reporting while also partnering

with small to medium-sized firms doing business development and contract work. Mr. Ransom received his MS in Statistics from The Florida State University. He is a member of the College of Arts & Sciences Leadership Council through the FSU Foundation since 2010, and he received the Osceola Award in 1999 for his outstanding contributions to FSU alumni programs and initiatives. Mr. Ransom graduated from Clemson University Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Mathematical Sciences with an emphasis in Operations Research and Statistics. Mr. Ransom and his wife, Wendy, live in Loveland, Ohio, a Northeast suburb of Cincinnati.

Herbert P. Ricardo

Dr. Herbert P. Ricardo has worked 10 years in healthcare administration and 25 years as a professor teaching organizational behavior, culture and management in The School of Business at Indian River State College and global trade and commerce in Faculty of Economics at Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. He teaches the practice of international entrepreneurship, organizational culture and management through a social psychology lens which bridges the gap between employee engagement and organizational productivity. This is to ensure a result, based achievement for the organizations while ensuring an increase in social stratification and community advancement, for employee and employer. He has consulted with many organizations and has a passion working with government, non-profit and for-profit corporations.

Services

SERVICES

K-12 CHARTER SCHOOL SERVICES

Carvelli & Associates prides itself on its extensive knowledge of both public and charter school operations. As a full service consulting company, Carvelli & Associates can assist Charter Schools to achieve their goals and be successful. Our services include:

Assisting with job searches for Charter School Principals.
Working with charter school leaders on school improvement by identifying critical needs and developing a plan for success.
Reviewing charter school applications, making recommendations for programs, and preparing the application team for a successful interview.
Providing ongoing Charter School Principal and Assistant Principal coaching and leadership development.
Identifying Teacher and Support Staff professional development needs and matching relevant training that will enable growth and improvement.
Working directly with Charter School Governing Boards on board development, annual goal setting and strategic planning over three to five years.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY SERVICES

Carvelli & Associates can provide valuable and targeted consulting services to local municipal (non-FRS) government and business leaders who interface with government staff. Our services include:

Coaching business leaders and professionals on how to build effective working relationships with local elected official and government staffs.
Providing message development for local municipal government during states of emergency, periods of crisis and in times of high need.