CRA Board – California Reading Association

CRA Executive Board

CRA Immediate Past President

Audrey Fleming

Audrey Fleming is the Immediate Past President of CRA. Audrey has been a member of CRA since 1994. She was the secretary/treasurer for six years. She has been on the CYRM committee twice and the Eureka committee. Audrey is a retired teacher. She taught grades 2-5th, with 4th grade being her favorite. Besides reading, Audrey’s other hobbies are quilt making and travel. Audrey’s goal is for CRA to keep meeting the literacy needs of current teachers, librarians, and, most of all, students.

CRA VICE PRESIDENT

Janeen Zuniga

Janeen Zuniga is currently affiliated with Saint Mary’s College, in Moraga, CA as a HEROES Teacher Leader. She teaches 1st-4th grade teachers in reading intervention techniques as well as working as a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader for Antioch USD. Janeen has taught in several grades, is a credentialed reading specialist, a trained comprehensive literacy coach, and a certified Reading Recovery Teacher leader and holds an MA in Reading. She also served as a school principal in Antioch USD for many years and worked at the Antioch District Office. Janeen is a member of the Contra Costa Reading Association and has served on the CCRA Board. Her passion is bringing literacy to all students.

EDITOR OF THE CALIFORNIA READER

Nancy Rogers-Zegarra

Nancy Rogers-Zegarra, Ph.D., is the HEROES’s project manager and teacher leader for a federal grant affiliated with The Ohio State University and Saint Mary’s College that trains teachers to support striving readers. In addition, she is a clinical trainer and Reading Recovery Teacher Leader affiliated with Saint Mary’s College, CA. Nancy has pre-K-12 administrative experience at the district and county level, has taught at the elementary, secondary, and university levels, and has served as a reading specialist in California and Peru. She has served at the state level on the ELA and History/S.S. curriculum adoption panels, was a member of the state literacy planning team, and is a current member of CDE’s Literature List K-2 committee, In addition, Nancy has presented numerous professional development sessions at the state, national, and international levels. She is a past President of the California Reading Association, a current CRA Board member, and the Editor of The California Reader. Her research interest is finding ways to develop students’ oral language to facilitate reading and writing, especially for MLLs. Her passion is bringing the joy of literacy to all students.

CRA Comptroller

Ailish Johnson

Ailish Johnson has been teaching for 28 years, 14 of those years in kindergarten. She holds a masters degree in teaching and was National Board Certified from 2009-2019. She is passionate about engaging young learners in literacy and fostering their natural curiosity so that all students see themselves as readers and writers! Ailish has dedicated over 17 years into local, state and national reading associations. She has been active on the CRA board since 2020 holding many positions such as liaison, Vice President, President and Conference Chair. Prior to her work with CRA she was on the board for the Santa Clara County Reading Association. While living and teaching in Colorado she served on the board for CCIRA. Her work extended to the National level in 2010-2012 for ILA as a Teacher Advisor. She currently teaches kindergarten in Saratoga. Her favorite thing to do is read picture books to her students!

CRA Membership Director

Marcy Merrill

Dr. Marcy Merrill holds a doctorate in Reading and a Master’s degree in English Education. Dr. Merrill holds teaching credentials in English grades 7-12 and reading grades pre-k-16. She taught high school English for 12 years before becoming a professor at California State
University, Sacramento in 2002. She works in the College of Education, where she teaches graduate students and preservice English teachers and serves as the chair of the graduate program in Language and Literacy. Dr. Merrill has been a member of the leadership team for the Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum since 2005 and serves as director of the College and Career Readiness Center at CSUS. She has served on the SARA board in Sacramento in the past, and loves community literacy events.

Recording Secretary Treasurer

Rita Huitron

Rita Huitron has been in education for 29 years. She was a long-time member and officer of the Merced Area Reading Association and a former member of the Fresno-Madera Area Reading Council. Currently, she is on the Executive Committee of the San Joaquin-Stanislaus County Reading Association.

CRA Chapter Liaisons

CHAPTER LIAISON, Northern Region

Carla Peterson

Carla Peterson has been a member of the Gateway Reading Council (Sonoma County) and California Reading Association for nearly thirty years. She is currently on the CRA Board serving as Chapter Liaison for the Northern Region with Gayle Watkins. Carla joined the board of her local CRA chapter, Gateway Reading Council, in 1998. She continues to be an active member, currently serving as the council secretary. Carla first joined the CRA Board as an Area Director for Area 1 and served as a member of the Eureka! Non-fiction Book Award Committee. Carla was a general education upper elementary teacher for many years before moving to special education. Currently, Carla is an elementary special education teacher co-teaching with general education teachers.

CHAPTER LIAISON, Northern Region

Gayle Watkins

Gayle Watkins has been involved with the California Reading Association for 35 years as a member of the San Joaquin County Reading Association, and the San Joaquin-Stanislaus Reading Association. She has recently joined the CRA Board as the Chapter Co-Liaison for the Northern Region with Carla Peterson. In her local chapter she currently serves as President and Treasurer, but has held various positions over the years. In 2011 she was awarded CRA’s Margaret Lynch Award for Exemplary Service to the Area. Gayle taught in Linden and Stockton Unified School districts as a primary teacher, Reading Specialist, Program Specialist and Literacy Coach until retirement in 2014. Currently, she finds joy in teaching Sunday School and tutoring 3rd graders in reading at her granddaughter’s school.

CHAPTER LIAISON, Central California

Lindsay Summers

Lindsay has served as a Chapter Liaison for Central California since 2021. Her local chapter is San Mateo County Reading Council. In addition to her role with the California Reading Association, Lindsay is the District Literacy Coordinator for the South San Francisco Unified School District. Prior to this role, she served as a classroom teacher and Reading Specialist & Literacy Coach. Also, Lindsay serves as on the California Department of Education’s Recommended Literature List and as an Advisor for Scholastic Headquarters on reading intervention.

Lindsay holds her Masters of Teaching Reading from the University of San Francisco and an Administrative Credential from California State University, East Bay. She is Orton Gillingham and GLAD trained. In all her roles, Lindsay remains committed to equity and supporting students & staff.

CHAPTER LIAISON, Central California

Lynn Scott

Dr. Lynn Scott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at California State University, East Bay. His research is centered on biliteracy for all multilingual learners. His recent co-authored books include Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall; Essential Shifts for Multilingual Learners’ Success (2023, Corwin Press) and Community-Owned Knowledge; The Promise of Collaborative Action Research (2022, Peter Lang Publishers). He is a past president of the California Association for Bilingual Teacher Education. A native of the rural Midwest, he is a credentialed dual language teacher in Massachusetts and California teaching in two-way
immersion and transitional bilingual education classrooms for over two decades. His advocacy
for linguistic human rights includes all students having access to education and literacy in their
home language in addition to English and other languages.

CHAPTER LIAISON, Southern California

Rebecca Langston-George

Rebecca Langston-George is the author of sixteen books for children including the internationally popular For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story, and The Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame and the Death of President Lincoln (a former Scholastic Book Club title). Her first graphic reader on one of WWII’s most daring spies, Viriginia Hall was published August 1, 2023. California Reading Association honored her with the Armin R. Schultz Award for writing in social justice in 2016. A graduate of California Baptist University, she holds a Master of Education degree.

After more than twenty-six years in the classroom, Rebecca recently retired from teaching to devote more time to writing books. An active volunteer, she is involved in both Kern Reading Association and Ventura Reading Association and currently serves as the Regional Advisor for the Central-Coastal California chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI CenCal), helping other writers learn the craft. She’s passionate about children’s books and classroom writing. She writes and mostly re-writes on a treadmill desk at one mile per hour. Rebecca Langston-George – Home

CHAPTER LIAISON, Southern California

Maria Grant

Maria is a Professor in Secondary Education at California State University, Fullerton and has been a K-12 classroom teacher (physics, chemistry, earth and space science) in the CA public school system for many years. Additionally, she has authored publications centered on content literacy, writing, and reading, including books, blogs, briefs, and articles in Educational Leadership and the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Currently, I teach courses in the credential program at CSUF and support new teacher candidates, as the Director of the Single Subject Credential Program at CSUF. I have a passion for working with educators to do the following: create humanizing educational spaces, engage in professional agency,
promote pedagogical expertise, and support student learning through reading, writing, and language. My vision for literacy education includes supporting teachers to integrate the latest technologies, including AI, into planning and instruction. Furthermore, I intend to continue efforts to bolster the community of educators who are working diligently to support students’ acquisition of deep content knowledge and skills through their use of literacy in the disciplines. I am an advocate of integrating multi-tiered systems of support in thoughtful and strategic ways and support finding ways for educators to share evidence-based strategies.