District Leadership
Dr. Heidi Cate;
Superintendent
Dr. Heidi Cate is currently Superintendent of the Lighthouse Academy district. These schools provide educational and wraparound counseling and life skills services to detention centers, residential facilities, and day treatment facilities serving Kent and Mecosta-Osceola Counties, Michigan DHS and juvenile justice populations. They serve about 1700 students a year at their school locations, of which there are eight in Kent and Mecosta-Osceola Counties.
Heidi's educational and professional background includes obtaining a bachelor's degree from Kalamazoo College before completing her first Master's degree program to obtain her limited license as a psychologist from Western Michigan University. She began practicing as a psychologist with youth at this point and served in this role for 14 years. The last 5 of these years she served as Community Prevention and Treatment Program Director for Wedgwood Christian Services.
She finished her second Master's in Educational Leadership with a Charter School Emphasis from Central Michigan University in December 2010. Subsequently, she finished her dissertation and graduated August of 2014 with her PhD in Education from Capella University. Her dissertation was a quantitative study of Teacher's Self-Reports of Efficacy in Juvenile Justice Settings in the US.
Heidi's area of interest and expe1iise include: child advocacy including working with state legislators to change policy and impact funding for under-resourced student populations; interagency collaboration (Department of Human Services, Juvenile Justice, and public and private Residential Treatment Centers) regarding child welfare; organizational and strategic leadership; and grant making and writing.
Lucas Yax; Assistant Superintendent of Residential and Juvenile Justice Youth School Programs
Lighthouse Academy - Barry County
Lighthouse Academy - JDC
Lighthouse Academy - South Residential
Lighthouse Academy - The Pier
Lighthouse Academy - The Port
Lighthouse Academy - Waalkes
Lucas obtained a Bachelor's degree from Ashford University before completing his Masters in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education. In 2004, he started working with at-risk youth as a Youth Specialist and Chemical Dependency Tech at the Brown County Evaluation Center.
Starting in 2006, Lucas served in multiple roles including Youth Specialist, Shift Supervisor, Activity Therapist, and Education Specialist at Wedgwood Christian Services, who partners with Lighthouse Academy.
In 2009, Lucas was employed as the Responsible Thinking Advisor with Lighthouse Academy. Lucas served in this role until 2016, when he transitioned to the MTSS/PBIS Coordinator for the District and then into the Principal role at the Lighthouse Academy Waalkes and Pier programs from 2015 to 2020. Currently, Lucas serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Residential and Juvenile Justice Youth School Programs.
Angela Graham; Director of Special Education
Lighthouse Academy - District
Angela Graham serves as the Director of Special Education for the Lighthouse Academy district. She has experience in special education teaching in a fully inclusive setting and in a resource room, as well as multiple leadership roles in a K-8 charter school.
She has earned degrees from Grand Valley State University in Psychology/Special Education, Learning Disabilities, and Special Education Administration. Angela believes strongly in the importance of building an inclusive classroom culture where all students are integral parts of their community and are able to learn together.
Elisabeth DeMaar; Director of Multilingual Learner Services
Lighthouse Academy - District
Elisabeth has worked in education for 17 years as an Endorsed Multilingual Language Instructor, Certified Teacher and new teacher mentor for Title One Public Schools in Michigan and Colorado. She is the Director of Multilingual Programming for the Lighthouse Academy district.
Elisabeth earned her bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and endorsement in English as a Second Language from Regis University, as well as a master’s degree in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity from The University of Colorado, Boulder. She began her educational career teaching in Barranquilla, Colombia while studying the Spanish language.
Since that time, she has taught a variety of grade levels while serving newcomer refugees and families with the education system. Elisa attends yearly training on Multilingual Education with a focus on Special Populations and students with limited or interrupted education. Her passion for providing educational access to all students can be seen in her collaboration, coaching, advocacy and instruction in her professional roles.
Ronda Dyer; School Leader
Lighthouse Academy - Eagle Village
Ronda Dyer has twenty years of experience in the field of education. In December 2009, Ronda graduated from Central Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Education. In April 2015, Ronda earned her Masters of Education from Grand Valley University. Ronda has been a paraprofessional, substitute teacher, general and special education teacher and special education teacher consultant. Currently, Ronda is serving as a principal at Lighthouse Academy - Eagle Village Campus.
Over the last eight years, Ronda has worked in several locations within the Lighthouse Academy district. Ronda has been a Professional Learning Committee leader. As a leader, Ronda has worked with grade level colleagues to review data and student progress, created a district wide scope of sequence, and created units of studies for grades 4-8th. Ronda has completed the Leverage Leadership and Teacher Collaborative Routine series. Ronda is an Acadience Reading trainer.
Ronda has been involved in administering NWEA and state assessments. Ronda has been involved in planning and implementation of PBIS, Blueprint, and MTSS for Lighthouse Academy. Ronda has attended a variety of professional learning conferences to build her teaching skills. After attending the conferences, Ronda shares her new gained knowledge and information with colleagues. Ronda considers herself as a lifelong learner.
Matthew Milanowski; School Leader
Lighthouse Academy - The Pier
Lighthouse Academy - The Port
Lighthouse Academy - Waalkes
Matt Milanowski serves as the Principal for Lighthouse Academy - The Pier, The Port, and Waalkes. These schools provide a whole child approach to education in partnership with the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center and Kent County Correctional Facility to youth and young adults in the facilities. They also seek to continue to serve the needs of the students when they are released with a divergent program set up to meet the flexibility and demands of a non-traditional learner.
Matt’s educational and professional background include obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University in secondary education, before completing his Master’s degree program in special education from the same university. He has supported students academically in the classroom in various roles for the past 10 years. This time has been primarily spent as a secondary teacher of English and/or Social Studies, with special education being added in the past 5 years, four of which were at The Pier working with students at the Kent County Correctional Facility. In December of 2019, Matt’s had the privilege of moving into the position of Interim Building Leader for The Pier, The Port, and Waalkes, where he helped support the teacher teams and support teams in impacting student growth, as well as in their own professional growth. He is currently in the Educational Specialist program for Leadership at Western Michigan University.
Matt is currently involved in the creation and implementation of a district-wide Multi-Tiered Systems of Support in Reading and Mathematics to promote student achievement for all students. He is also involved in the collaborative process of developing a Student Passport to support students in successful transition between secondary schools and into the post-secondary phase of their life.
Stacey Martinez; School Leader
Lighthouse Academy - South Community
Stacey Martinez currently serves as the Principal at Lighthouse Academy – South Community. She has worked at Lighthouse Academy for the past nine years in a variety of roles including as a Teacher, Responsible Thinking Advisor, and Principal. Stacey obtained her bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Social Studies. She completed her master’s degree in Educational Leadership from American College of Education in 2018.
Sherri Nash; School Leader
Lighthouse Academy - Barry County
Lighthouse Academy - Muskegon Community
Sherri Nash obtained her Bachelor's degree from Baker College of Muskegon before completing her Master’s in Human Service Administration from Concordia University. In 2015, She started working with at-risk youth at Wedgwood Christian Services, serving in multiple roles including Direct Care Staff, Youth Treatment Specialist, Shift Supervisor, and Education Specialist for almost 4 years.
In 2018, Sherri became a Responsible Thinking Advisor with Lighthouse Academy, as well as an on-call staff with Wedgwood Christian Services. Sherri served in this role until 2020, when she transitioned to the Office Manager for the Lighthouse Academy - South Campus.
Currently, Sherri serves the School Leader role at the Lighthouse Academy - Muskegon Community program, which opened in September 2023.
Shea Williams; School Leader
Lighthouse Academy - JJI
Shea Williams is currently a School Leader with Lighthouse Academy. Shea currently serves as the Principal for Lighthouse Academy - JJI and supports the Harbor day-treatment programs in Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties. Shea has been working with Lighthouse Academy since fall 2021, where she started as a Teacher Consultant in the special education department.
Shea obtained her bachelor’s degree from Albion College, in the areas of Spanish and Mathematics, with a focus in Secondary Education. Shea completed her Master’s degree through Ferris State University, where she earned a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in the area of Special Education.
She worked for five years at an alternative high school in the Traverse City Area Public Schools district, where she was the math and Spanish teacher for her building. Shea also led the staff in trauma-informed trainings, provided trauma education directly to students, and created and implemented an alternative discipline program within the school. Shea led the alternative discipline program by collaborating with staff and stakeholders to create individualized plans that would provide students with opportunities to make genuine changes in behavior and minimize the use of suspension as discipline. Shea also has one year of elementary special education experience from Eagle County Schools in Colorado, where Shea was a resource room teacher at Edwards Elementary school, a bilingual school within the district. While there, Shea instructed students in both English and Spanish, supported teachers and was a member of the behavior response team. Shea also implemented an alternative discipline program in order to provide direct support for students to encourage changes in behavior and minimize the number of suspensions.
Shea’s specific areas of interest and expertise include: trauma-informed instruction and care, trauma education for students, resiliency in students, accommodations and instructional strategies to best meet student needs within the classroom setting, differentiation in classrooms, and ensuring all students are provided an education that is appropriately fit to meet their individual needs.