CodeVA Facilitators

Jon Stapleton is CodeVA’s Elective Curriculum lead, responsible for leading curriculum development serving teachers and students at middle and high school levels. He is passionate about empowering students and teachers to be creative, focusing on rhizomatic learning, computer science, coding, and generative creativity as learning practice. Jon is a co-author of the Virginia Computer Science Curriculum Framework, a curriculum writer with CodeVA, and an advocate of free and open source software for education. Jon holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music education from James Madison University, a Virginia teaching license for K-12 music education and 6-12 computer science, and has presented at local, state, national, and international conferences on intersections between computer science and music education.

As an educator with over 18 years of experience in public schools, I am passionate about discussing innovative ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. After spending 13 years teaching high school science, I transitioned to the position of Instructional Technology Coach at Woodbridge Senior High School. Recently, I moved to Prince William County School's central office as a STEM coach, where I am expanding my leadership skills. I have discovered my niche in mentoring colleagues on effective instructional technology practices through these positions. I am honored to have been named the VSTE Coach of the Year in 2019, an accolade for which my peers humbly nominated me. My greatest joy comes from building the capacity of teachers, students, and caregivers to engage confidently in the digital world.

I am a mathematics teacher at Thomas Dale High school in Chesterfield County. In addition to teaching high school , I am an adjunct Mathematics professor at Virginia State University. I have been teaching since 1997. As a mathematician, I have taught 7th, and 8th grade Mathematics, Algebra I & 2 ,Statistics, Trig, Computer Math ,and Basic Programming. I studied computer programming while I was obtaining my BS and MS in Mathematics minoring in Education. I have devoted my teaching career to getting students job-ready with mathematics and computer science. I have taught a code.org course Computer Science in Algebra , which gave students a hands-on opportunity to observe how Algebra and Computer Science work together to make a game. I have trained teachers on Computer Science in Algebra. I have taught Computer Science Discovery(CSD) in my computer math class. I currently train teachers how to use CSD or Middle School Electives . I look forward to training more teachers, giving them the tools they need to expose all students to computer science.

Kristen (Krissy) Franklin is the CodeVA Faculty Administrator for Curriculum, and she is passionate about providing equitable CS learning opportunities for all.  She works with an amazing team of curriculum leads, writers, and facilitators to provide resources and content for educators and learners across Virginia.  Krissy earned her teaching license along with a B.S. in Elementary Education and M.A.Ed.  in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech.  Krissy taught elementary school for 16 years and served as an instructional coach.  Her dedication to equity and diversity led to an endorsement in ESL and a certification in Educational Leadership from JMU.  At CodeVA, Krissy has served as a facilitator, curriculum writer, Integrated Curriculum Lead, and even a cartoon character for CodeVA’s CS Education Week 2020!  She worked with the NEA to co-author the CS microcredential stack and is a co-PI on a competitive NSF grant.  Krissy loves cultivating new curricular materials, facilitating and consulting with educators across the state and beyond, and always discovering new ways to incorporate and implement CS in today’s classrooms!   

Hi, I'm Megan Graybill, and my passion is connecting students and educators with opportunities to learn about Computer Science. For 11 years, I taught K-5th grade in Roanoke City and Roanoke County. After earning my degree in Administration and Policy Studies at Virginia Tech, I pioneered a new position as Computer Science Coordinator at Salem City Schools teaching 8th grade Introduction to Computer Science and coaching K-8 educators through modeling integrated Computers Science. I served on the VDOE’s Computer Science Curriculum Framework writing team, NEA Computer Science Micro-credentials and The Governor's STEM Education Commission. Facilitating and curriculum writing with CodeVA has been an amazing experience since 2018, and I am proud to support our amazing CodeVA Faculty as CodeVA Educator Programs Faculty Administrator. I love my career and the important work we do, but my favorite roles are being a wife to Mark and mom to Van. I'm looking forward to learning from you too. Thank you for your partnership with us to bring CS to ALL!

Melodie Surratt teaches in the Chesapeake Public School District as the Computer Science teacher at Deep Creek Middle School. She is a U.S. Navy Veteran, with an BSBM who did a career switcher program at ODU to earn her MSEd. She's been teaching since 2012 and has spent 7 years in grades 3-5 and the rest in middle school. She is passionate about STEM and has a personal goal to help bring computer science to the underrepresented populations in tech. She has coached underwater robotics with SeaPerch for 2 years and has been coaching VEX IQ robotics teams since 2018. She is also an event partner for REC Foundation and hosts an annual tournament in February in Chesapeake, open to all Virginia VEX IQ teams.

She has been with CodeVA since 2022 and in 2023 became a facilitator. She absolutely loves computer science and is excited to show educators how coding can be implemented into the elementary and middle school classrooms.

Currently, an Instructional Technology Specialist and Science Lead Teacher K - 5 with Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Life long explorer of computer science integration across the K - 5 curriculum. I love facilitating students' creativity by approaching computer science with an integrative real word lens. Outdoor learning and learning about the outdoors is a personal passion that I enjoy incorporating in my teaching to enhance students' understanding of the world around them.

Natalie Rice is the Director of Educator Programs at CodeVA, where she manages the professional learning programs for K-12 educators. As a dedicated educator with over 15 years of experience in teaching and professional development, Natalie has a keen interest in K-8 computer science integration, curriculum development, and supporting the learning needs of both students and teachers. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Shenandoah University and a Master’s degree from Eastern Mennonite University in Curriculum and Instruction and Instructional Technology. Prior to joining CodeVA, Natalie taught middle school science and served as an Instructional Technology Resource Coach in Shenandoah County. Passionate about student learning and teacher education, Natalie is committed to supporting the growth of computer science education.

I am career switcher with a background in Electrical Engineering. I currently teach math at Lloyd C. Bird High School (2008 - Present) in Chesterfield County, VA. I've been with Code Virginia since 2019 working with the Middle School Elective, Python and Curriculum teams.

Perry Shank is the Director of Curriculum for CodeVA and designs learning opportunities for educators and students covering computer science content knowledge and skills. He has worked with the Virginia Department of Education on the VA State Computer Science K-12 Standards and the Digital Learning Integration Standards, co-wrote the VA Computer Science Curriculum Frameworks, and is a co-PI on two competitive NSF grants. Perry received his Ph.D from the University of Denver in Curriculum and Instruction and holds a Professional VA teaching certification with endorsements in PreK-12th Music, Bus/IT, and Computer Science. He has taught for over 20 years in public K-12 schools in Virginia and Colorado. He works with an amazing team of curriculum leads and writers throughout the state to provide resources and content for CS educators and learners in Virginia’s K-12 public schools.