Our Team

Kristin Botello is an educator with 30+ years of teaching and school leadership experience. She has been the principal of Animo Jackie Robinson Charter High School for the last 13 years and served as the Assistant Principal for 7 years prior. She founded AJR with Dr. Lori Pawinski, as both a Green Dot Public School and a Facing History Partner School. Ms. Botello has created a school environment dedicated to ensuring both emotional and physical safety for all students, so that they feel equipped and supported enough to take academic risks and grow their intellectual and academic capacities. Her areas of expertise in education include:

· Instructional leadership and coaching of teachers at all levels

· Mentoring school leaders, especially in urban schools

· Relational leadership and capacity building in teacher leaders

· Developing school cultures that elevate students and foster student success

• Creating systems that foster community and mutual accountability
• Helping adults create authentic, positive relationships with each other and with their students

· Curriculum development and vertical planning

· Building strategic plans focused on reaching rigor and relationship goals

Ms. Botello welcomes all students to AJR, which she describes as a family, a learning community and a space where all students thrive.