Staff Contacts

Deborah Ruel-Schaefer
Director

Debbie Ruel-Schaefer is the Career and Technical Education Director of the fourth largest school district in Texas with a Career and Technical Education (CTE) enrollment of over 28,000 students. Northside offers programs of study in all career clusters at twenty-one middle schools, twelve comprehensive high schools and eleven magnet programs. Debbie was a CTE student herself and taught Family and Consumer Sciences. The Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers Association of Texas named her the 2021 Outstanding CTE Administrator of the Year. She is a career educator in her Thirty-third year of helping students transform their interests into passions. Her biggest accomplishment is being the mother to Hannah, who was also a CTE student and is now a Speech Language Pathologist!

Email: deborah.ruelschaefer@nisd.net

Nicole Esparza
Specialist

Nicole Esparza is a Career and Technical Education Specialist for Northside ISD. Nicole is a strong advocate for CTE and believes in its ability to open doors and advance careers for all. As a former high school CTE student, she knew she wanted to become a CTE teacher early on. Nicole’s career began as an Agricultural Sciences teacher after earning her degree from Sam Houston State University in Animal Science and Agriculture Education. She later earned her Masters in Educational Leadership with Principal Certification from Texas A&M San Antonio. Nicole is passionate about public education and is grateful to serve the Northside CTE community.

Email: nicole.esparza@nisd.net

Joshua Roberts
Specialist

Joshua S. Roberts is a Career and Technical Education Specialist for Northside ISD. Starting in English and transitioning into middle school Technical Education. He later was promoted to central office to help provide support for all CTE teachers.  Joshua’s education began at UTSA with a bachelors in Education and later culminated in a masters in Educational Administration. He has a varied work background outside of Education including work in the Culinary and Food Service, Construction, Photography, and Water Treatment industries.

Email: joshua.roberts@nisd.net

Cristina Herrera
Instructional Support Teacher

Cristina Herrera is a Career and Technical Education Instructional Support Teacher and facilitates the cluster of Family and Consumer Sciences. She has been a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher and Career and Technical Education Department Coordinator at Marshall High School for the last 14 years. Cristina is from a family of Educators and a former CTE student herself. Originally from El Paso, She earned a bachelor's degree from New Mexico State University in Family and Consumer Sciences Education and later a Master's Degree from Trinity University in Educational Leadership. Career and Technical Education has always been a huge part of her life and she is honored to support students and teachers.

Email: cristina.herrera@nisd.net 

Barbara White
Instructional Support Teacher

Barbara White is a Career and Technical Education Instructional Support Teacher and facilitates the clusters of Health Science and CTE Science. She has 16 years of Health Science teaching experience and has spent the past five years in CTE administration. Before her teaching career, she was a certified Medical Technologist and Histocompatibility Specialist and worked 20 years in transplant immunology labs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from the University of Texas at Austin. During her teaching career, she earned a Masters of Education in Teacher Leadership from Lamar University and became a certified Pharmacy Technician and Emergency Medical Technician in order to keep well informed about what students need to learn to be successful. She is the mother of Elizabeth, who graduated from the University of the Incarnate Word with a degree in Psychology and is currently enrolled in nursing school there.

Email: barbara.white@nisd.net

Justin Gomez
Instructional Support Teacher

Justin Gomez is a Career and Technical Education Instructional Support Teacher Northside ISD. He is a proud product of Northside, having attended kindergarten, middle, and high school in the district.  After graduating from O’Connor High School, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Texas A&M University - College Station. Starting his education career in 2006, he has taught many Information Technology-related CTE courses, and even several years of Algebra. In 2018, he joined the central office team, where he continually helps provide resources and guidance for all CTE teachers in the department. 

Email: justin.gomez@nisd.net

Monica Alvarado
Director's Secretary
Laura Bazemore
Bookkeeper
Email: laura.bazemore@nisd.net