FLSpEC Board Members

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Educational leader and innovator, Dr. Christy Noe has been involved in the charter school movement since 1997, when she became principal of the first charter school in Collier County, Florida, one of only 33 charters in the state at that time. She went on to run the Florida Charter School Resource Center, founded to provide Exceptional Student Education (ESE) training and technical assistance to charter schools across the state.

A pioneer in the charter school movement, Christy is a nationally known expert in the areas of governance, exceptional student education, curriculum and instructional strategies, operations, and federal and state legislation. During her tenure as Executive Director of the Florida Charter School Resource Center the state experienced a rapid increase in the number of charter schools, expanding from 182 in 2002 to 334 in 2005. The first Florida Charter School Sponsors Intensive Seminar was held under her leadership in collaboration with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the Broad Education Foundation.

 For a decade, Christy served as the Project Manager for the Portal to Exceptional Education Resources (PEER), Florida's statewide electronic IEP system. In this position, Christy actively collaborated with Florida school districts to develop IDEA compliant content that also complied with Florida statutes. Through PEER, Christy provided training to over 48 school district ESE staff. She also conducted large scale ESE evaluations in Orange County and Broward County, Florida, as well as in Virginia Beach and New Hampshire. Christy was also responsible for developing and delivering training to all Polk County staff, as a part of their corrective action plan with the Office of Civil Rights.

Shannon Treece is a passionate educator focused on providing academic and behavioral support to students and staff. Through her work as a classroom teacher to her principalship at Babcock Neighborhood school, students and their success has remainder her top priority as an educator. 

In her role as the Principal at Babcock Ranch, Shannon has facilitated the implementation of the mission and vision established for Babcock Neighborhood school. She haired the inaugural staff at this new and highly innovative charter school, and facilitated professional development to effectively implement Project Based Learning.  

Shannon's achievements at Babcock Neighborhood School include facilitating the Charter School Programming Grant, applying for and implementing the National School Lunch Program, and successfully applying for and being awarded the opportunity to become the first Elementary/Middle Summit School in Florida.

Barbara J. Myrick joined the General Councils Office in August of 2007, after six years as an administrator in the Department of Exceptional Student Education and Student Support Services of the School District. 

Prior to her service as General Counsel, her practice concentrated on issues related to students with disabilities, which was a natural fit, in that Barbara spent over 25 years working in the Broward County community implementing a broad spectrum of community-based programs for children and adolescents with disabilities. 

In January 2016, Barbara was named Interim General Counsel for the School Board and in June was named to position on a permanent basis. Barbara leads an office of nine attorneys and seven support staff. She is a member of the Florida School Board Attorneys Association (FSBAA) and the Florida Bar's Education Law Committee. She is authorized to practice in all courts in the State of Florida, as well as the federal courts in the Southern District of Florida.

In her 26th year as an educator, Dr. Kimberly Steinke serves as the Assistant Superintendent for Learning Support in Polk County Schools. She provides leadership and guidance to aid school and district level administrators  in serving students with disabilities and their families. The primary function of Dr. Steinke’s role is filtering the provision of ESE and student services between the state, district and local school level requiring facilitation with administrative colleagues at all levels and with parents of ESE students.  

Dr. Steinke's responsibilities beyond ESE include behavioral and mental health services, school health services, oversight of four separate day schools for students with disabilities, district Medicaid programs, and bullying prevention. 

Prior to her transition to Polk County in early 2016, Dr. Steinke served as the Senior Director of Exceptional Student Education Services for Orange County Public Schools sharing in the leadership of districtwide ESE programs and services to nearly 24,000 students with disabilities and 11,000 gifted students in over 189 schools. She has provided oversight and monitoring of the LEA Indicators/Profile as a required component of Florida’s State Performance Plan, ESE Strategic Planning, ownership of the district’s ESE State Reporting and FTE funding processes, and districtwide ESE master scheduling policies and procedures. 

Dr. Steinke also served as the OCPS Director of ESE Procedures where she had oversight of district-wide ESE compliance, Dispute Resolution, implementation of the statewide Portal to Exceptional Education Records (PEER) on-line IEP system, Matrix training, ESE services for charter school students with disabilities, the McKay scholarship program, Non-Public services, and ESE services for Parentally Placed Private School Students with disabilities.