Dell Perry

As the petitioner of Unidos Dual Language Charter School, Dell Perry is a highly trained educator with experience, both in the U.S. and abroad, teaching at all levels, from primary to university level classes.
Currently, she is a full-time doctoral student at the University of Georgia in Athens working to complete her degree in Language and Literacy Education with a concentration on Bilingual Education. In addition to working on her Ph.D., she teaches undergraduate classes in the College of Education at the University of Georgia and teaches the Georgia ESOL Endorsement courses for various entities, including Fulton County.

Prior to attending the University of Georgia, Ms. Perry taught ESOL and was Department Chair at Woodland Middle School in Fulton County. She also taught Spanish in Cobb County while she was working on her Master’s degree at Georgia State University. She began her career in education as an ESOL teaching assistant at Sandy Springs Middle School in 1994.

Ms. Perry has always had an interest in languages and language acquisition. She is a fluent speaker of Spanish, as well as English, and she has spent extended periods of time living and working in places where Spanish is spoken, including two years in Barcelona, Spain working for the American British College, and one year in Laredo, Texas working at Texas A&M International University on the Texas-Mexico border.
Ms. Perry is also active in her community. She served as secretary for two years for the Capital View Neighborhood Association and for three years on the Vestry of Holy Comforter Episcopal Church.

Lani L. Ray

After a childhood of living in various places both inside and outside the United States with her military family, Ms. Ray settled into completing her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education at Auburn University in Alabama. Upon graduation she began teaching in the city schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota and attending graduate school at the University of Minnesota. After completion of her Master of Arts Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a Specialist Degree in Reading, Ms. Ray moved to Miami, Florida and taught in the Dade County Public Schools until she married and moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area where she currently resides. Before retiring recently from the Fulton County Public Schools, Ms. Ray earned her Master of Science and Educational Specialist Degrees at Georgia State University. She has spent the past twenty-five (25) years in Fulton County as a teacher, school principal, and Office of Student Discipline Coordinator. In 1985, Ms. Ray graduated from law school and became a member of the Georgia Bar. She currently is a sole-practitioner in Fulton County and a member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit corporation, Unidos Dual Language Schools, Inc.

Donzella J. James

Donzella James is a native Atlantan who attended Morris Brown college. She is a retired federal employee having served as a member of the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees. In 1994 she was elected to represent Atlanta’s 35th District in the Georgia State Senate. She is a political consultant and has taught in the Atlanta Public Schools’ community schools program. Dr James received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Macon’s Emmanuel Bible College. She is currently working with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD).

Judith A. Moline

Although Judy Moline’s education and training was structured to prepare her for a career in education, she found her true voice and expertise in the culinary field. Judy created, owned and operated a catering company based at a municipal country club. She also developed a cooking school and wrote a food column for the local newspaper as well as served as judge for culinary events. She also led culinary based tours for students in her cooking school.
In 1986, she was hired by a large multi-national company as Director of Operations to coordinate catering and sales for a conference center. While working for the company, her career evolved to include general manager at a regional airport responsible for all the day-to-day operations for a restaurant, cafeteria, snack bars and inflight food service.

During her career she has opened 10 new operations – San Jose Arena, Coors Field, Gund Arena, Olympic Stadium, Turner Field, Seahawk Stadium, Edison Field, Heinz Field, Paul Brown Stadium and the Meadowlands. Judy’s expertise is in analyzing the operations and determining solutions to problems that occur during start-up.

Judy will bring a wealth of business acumen and professionalism to Unidos Dual Language Charter School. She will be invaluable in accessing budgetary issues and will provide direction necessary to stabilizing the business plan. For the past 20 years, she has had total responsibility for budgets ranging from 1.5 million to over 30 million. Additionally, Judy understands food service issues, and that knowledge will assist Unidos Dual Language School conform to all pertinent food safety and environmental standards.

Judy has been involved with numerous community groups including Hosea Williams’ Feed the Hungry, SHARE House (home for battered women) and Diocese of Atlanta outreach. She has also served on boards for Public Radio, Symphony Board and Young Life.

William J. Nichols

Dr. William J. Nichols and his wife, Silvia, recently relocated to East Point, Georgia from Laredo, Texas where Dr. Nichols was a professor of Spanish at Texas A&M International University for five years. Here in Atlanta, Dr. Nichols teaches in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Georgia State University. Dr. Nichols’ experiences living in Latino communities, his bilingualism in Spanish and English, and his heightened awareness of issues related to language and language acquisition give him a deep understanding of the needs of students in a bilingual education program.

Elida Perez-Knapp

Elida Perez-Knapp, the Community Liaison Specialist with CLASE (Center for Latino Achievement and Success), brings numerous years of experience working in family and community involvement and family literacy with both Regional and Migrant Head Start programs across the United States. She has created multifaceted literacy projects promoting family literacy with community and private business support and has presented at conferences and conducted numerous trainings in the areas of Family and Community Partnerships, Parental Involvement and Family Literacy throughout the nation.

Elida has also established women’s support groups for young Latina moms; recruited and organized ESL volunteers to provide tutoring, and has developed lending resource libraries at numerous Head Start centers with materials in several languages.

She is originally from San Antonio, Texas, where her extended family resides. Elida’s wealth of migrant, family and community experience, coupled with her bilingual/bicultural roots are a positive addition to the UDLCS team.