Meet Our New 2020-21 Faculty & Staff
We are pleased to introduce the newest members of the Sioux Falls Lutheran School family, who are joining our community as faculty and staff during the 2020-21 school year! Please take some time to get to know them by reading about them below.
Preschool
Mrs. Glenda Jones - 2-Year-Old Teacher
Earlier this summer, SFLS received permission from its licensing entities to expand early childhood care to serve children as young as 18 months in age. Ms. Larson, who piloted our 2-year-old program during the 2019-20 school year, enthusiastically agreed to serve as the lead teacher in our 1.5-year-old room, which set us on a search for a highly qualified teacher for our 2-year-old room. God once again provided for our school community in unimaginable Q&A with Mrs. Jonesways by blessing our early childhood team with Mrs. Jones, who holds an associate degree in child development and has 25 years of experience as a lead toddler teacher at Bright Horizons Early Learning Center here in Sioux Falls (formerly known as the Citi Family Center).
Q&A with Mrs. Jones
Miss Jacqualyn Berg - 3-Year-Old Teacher
Miss Berg is a May, 2020, graduate of Concordia University, Nebraska. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, which is early childhood inclusive (birth-3rd). Her student teaching experiences included time in infant and toddler rooms, early childhood/preschool classrooms, and 1st grade literacy. Miss Berg also has experience as a counselor at Camp Omega in Waterville, MN, and a float between infant, 1, and 2-year-old rooms at HopeCare Sioux Falls. In addition, she currently serves as an active member of the South Dakota Air National Guard.
Q&A with Miss Berg
Sara Brinkman - 4-Year-Old Teacher
Mrs. Brinkman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Consumer Sciences from South Dakota State University. Her degree includes a major in early childhood education, certifications in birth through age five, and endorsements in kindergarten and special education. She has a diverse background in education, including experience as an education coordinator, a lead kindergarten prep teacher, and a toddler teacher at Bright Horizons Early Learning Center in Sioux Falls (formerly known as the Citi Family Center). She also spent three and a half years traveling the country as the education coordinator for Bright Horizons, PGA Tour, which involved setting up classrooms across the country on a weekly basis and providing age-appropriate educational curriculum/instruction for players’ children ranging in age from 6 months to 12 years.
Q&A with Mrs. Brinkman
K-12
Rod Lenz - 6th-12th Grade Principal
Mr. Lenz has diverse experience in the world of education and a longstanding history with SFLS. He holds a BA in elementary education from Concordia College, St. Paul, a MA in special education from Augustana College, and a MA in leadership from USF. His wife, Tina, received her very first call from SFLS after graduating from Concordia, St. Paul, in 1979. Collectively, they have served at SFLS for more than 40 years in a variety of roles.
Q&A with Mr. Lenz
Whitney Fisher - High School Science Teacher
Mrs. Fisher is originally from Mitchell, South Dakota. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology education from the University of South Dakota and has experience teaching 8th grade earth science, biology, anatomy, STEM, forensics, and integrated science classes. Prior to joining the team at SFLS, Mrs. Fisher taught high school science at Bridgewater-Emery for five years.
Q&A with Mrs. Fisher
Liz Slavens - High School English Teacher
Mrs. Slavens is a 2002 graduate of Concordia University, Nebraska, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education. She completed her Master’s Degree in Education at Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2009, and has more than 15 years of experience in teaching, curriculum and instruction, and professional development. Mrs. Slavens moved to Sioux Falls with her family in the summer of 2019, when her husband, Rev. Doug Slavens, received a call to serve as Associate Pastor of Discipleship Ministry at Memorial Lutheran Church. Since moving to South Dakota, Mrs. Slavens has obtained her SD Teacher Certificate for high school level English Language Arts and has been substitute teaching at Tea, Sioux Falls Public, and SFLS where her four children attend school.
Q&A with Mrs. Slavens
Lisa Compton - K-12 Art Teacher
Mrs. Compton has been teaching studio arts, art history, and cultural arts since 1985. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education and Business Education, as well as a minor in Studio Art, from Valley City State University, ND. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Hamline University, St. Paul. Over the course of her career in education, Mrs. Compton has taught all ages ranging from kindergarten through graduate studies. For the past nine years, she has served as the art instructor at Children’s Home Society.
Q&A with Mrs. Compton
Caroline Tipton - K-12 Spanish Teacher
After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in English/journalism and secondary education certification from the University of Sioux Falls, Mrs. Tipton pursued a Spanish teaching degree and coaching endorsement from Augustana University. She has an eclectic array of experience with the Spanish language, to include serving as an English instructor for the USF Bridges ESL Program, a Spanish interpreter at All Nations Interpreters, a community education Spanish instructor and long-term substitute teacher (Spanish I through AP Spanish) with the Sioux Falls School District, an ELS language instructor at Augustana University, a corporate Spanish and ESL instructor at Southeast Tech, a middle school coordinator for the Collision program, and more.
Q&A with Mrs. Tipton
Kortney Temple - 2nd-4th Grade Strings Teacher
Mrs. Temple grew up on a dairy farm in Nisland, South Dakota. She was homeschooled through high school and started her college career studying music at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD. After two years, she transferred to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2016 with a degree in K-12 Music Education.
After graduation, Mrs. Temple taught as a substitute with the Sioux Falls School District and began volunteering with Harmony South Dakota, an after-school music program in Sioux Falls. From 2017-2019 she taught 4th-6th grade orchestra at four Sioux Falls Catholic elementary schools. In 2019, she expanded her position with Harmony South Dakota, where she now teaches individual lessons, rehearsals, musicianship, and percussion four afternoons per week. In addition to her responsibilities at Harmony South Dakota and Sioux Falls Lutheran School, Mrs. Temple also has a private studio where she teaches violin and viola lessons.
All School
Rev. Darren Olson - Campus Pastor
The SD District Board of Directors and the SFLS Board have entered into an agreement allowing Rev. Darren Olson to serve half-time at SFLS as our part-time campus pastor and one of our high school theology teachers (alongside Rev. Chris Ascher and Miss Marli Ockander, and under the leadership of Rev. Howard Shane, who will serve part-time as our Head of Theology during the 2020-21 school year). He will also begin laying the groundwork for planting a church on the SFLS campus—a mutual desire of the SD District BOD, the SFLS Board, and school leadership.
Q&A with Rev. Olson
Janelle Lafrentz - A-OK Director (Before/After School + Summer Care)
Mrs. Lafrentz is a 2011 graduate of South Dakota State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree. She holds K-12 certifications in vocal and instrumental music. Prior to joining the team at SFLS as an educational assistant during the 2019-20 school year, she gained valuable classroom experience as a K-12 vocal music instructor and a middle school vocal music instructor in the Hills-Beaver Creek, Parker, Harrisburg, and Mankato, MN, school districts. She looks forward to incorporating the following daily themes into A-OK activities each day: Music Mondays, Tactile Tuesdays, Wired Wednesdays, Theater Thursdays, and Fine-Arts Fridays.
Q&A with Mrs. Lafrentz