About Us
Who We Are and the Book’s Illustrators
About Us
If I Ran the Schools is a book published by Educational Initiatives, Inc., a nonprofit devoted to innovative school-based solutions. It is also the theme of this website, which offers a place for teachers and aspiring teachers to find easy-to-use information and share ideas on how to make learning more effective by making it fun.
Who We Are
Gene Weisfeld, Executive Director of Educational Initiatives, has devoted 25 years to the public schools. He is a recovering attorney who came to New Mexico in 1965 as a VISTA volunteer, working on building community and improving local schools in Mora County, one of the poorest counties in the nation. He moved to New Mexico to live in 1970. After being certified to teach in the State of California, he taught briefly at an alternative school in Taos, N.M. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the Hastings School of Law. Upon relocating to Santa Fe in 1993, he became executive director of Mentoring New Mexico, a nonprofit placing adult and high school mentors one-on-one with students in schools in Santa Fe, Espanola, Pojoaque and Pecos. He tutors or substitutes daily in elementary schools in the Santa Fe Public School District.
The Book’s Illustrators
Asher Weisfeld is now an eighth grader at Bearden Middle School in Knoxille, Tenn., where he is a straight A student. His favorite subject is science, and he loves playing soccer.
Beatrice “Trixie” Weisfeld is now a fifth grader at Sequoyah Elementary School in Knoxville, Tenn., where her favorite subject is writing. She plays piano and can recite all the lyrics of “Hamilton.”
Ilana Pereyra-Weisfeld has returned from Bolivia since illustrating this book, and is a fifth grader in the enhanced program at Enos Garcia Elementary School in Taos, N.M. Her favorite subject is math. She plays in the local mariachi group.
Kosmo Pereyra-Weisfeld, also back home in Taos, is a second grader at Enos Garcia Elementary School. His time in Latin America has made him love soccer, and his favorite subject is still playing.