Southwest Regional Education Cooperative Staff

We are proud to employ a dedicated staff of experts in their field! With a love for our community and a desire to provide our students with an exemplary public education, we are committed to providing local school districts with services that streamline their administrative responsibilities so they can focus on what matters most—students! If we can help you in any way, please feel free to contact us. We are here to serve you!

SWREC Team Photo - June 2021

Administration

Valerie Brea
Executive Director
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Biography

About Valerie Brea

Valerie Brea has been in education for over 22 years. She spent the first eight years of her career as a special education teacher in a self-contained K–5 class and then as a reading coach in an elementary school in Silver City, New Mexico. During these years, she obtained two master’s degrees, one in special education and one in educational leadership, in addition to her BA in elementary education. Providence led her to a ten-year position, during which she was simultaneously the principal and SPED director, and she taught as many as three classes a day in history and English to middle and high school students. Ms. Brea has spent the past four and a half years working with the Southwest Regional Education Cooperative (SWREC) as a program director and associate director, designing and implementing professional development for teachers covering a wide range of topics. She also mentors principals in the Principals Pursuing Excellence program and serves as the onsite team leader with the Teachers Pursuing Excellence program.

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Erica Reyes
Financial Director
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About Erica Reyes

Erica was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but she has lived in Deming, New Mexico, all her life. She started as a vocational transition specialist who, after being in the banking business for ten years, plunged into this new career on August 1, 2017. Erica has earned a bachelor’s degree in general business and a master’s in business administration, both from Western New Mexico University. As of January 3, 2018, she is the SWREC operations manager.

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KaLee Smyer
HR Director
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About KaLee Smyer

KaLee was raised in Deming, New Mexico, and currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico. KaLee has a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer science from New Mexico State University. She has one beautiful daughter and enjoys spending time with her family. KaLee joined the SWREC team in April of 2021 to assist with operational and fiscal management services.

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Prestine Parten
Technology Director &
Educational Technology Specialist
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About Prestine Parten

Prestine Parten is a level III teacher who began teaching in the Deming Public School District in 1998. She holds an elementary education bachelor’s degree from NMSU, a master of education degree in technology in education from Lesley University, and she has a second master’s degree in educational leadership/administration through WNMU. She taught grades 4–7, was a technology coach at Columbus Elementary and joined Deming Public School District’s technology department in July 2011, where she supported teachers with instructional technologies for the classroom as well as trained district and school staff on various technology tools and programs, website authoring, and Office 365 features. She was also the instructional and technology coach for J.U.M.P. School (multi-age classroom) teachers. In August 2017, Prestine began working with the Southwest Regional Education Cooperative (SWREC) as the technology manager. For the first four years, she spent part of her time in Animas Public Schools as their technology director and district test coordinator. She continues to offer training in instructional technologies. She supports various programs that bring STEM and technology into classrooms and looks for opportunities to involve regional districts in educational technology learning.

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Debora Armijo
Office Manager and Event Coordinator
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About Debora Armijo

Debbie is originally from Phoenix, Arizona, but has lived in Deming for over 30 years. She comes to SWREC as the new office manager/event coordinator after working at the local hospital for 23 years in multiple departments including nursing administration, administration, case management, the business office, and the emergency department. Debbie is married with two grown children and five grandchildren. She and her husband live on a “mini-farm” along the Mimbres River where she enjoys music, gardening, and spending time with her family. Debbie is currently pursuing a degree at Western New Mexico University having recently changed her major from psychology to business administration to better support her new position with SWREC.

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Kristina Camacho
Clerk
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About Kristina Camacho

Kristina comes to SWREC with experience from a local grocery store, Pepper's Supermarket, where she had many positions, including working in the bakery and deli, as a courtesy clerk and cashier, at the service desk, and in their bookkeeping department. She also worked as a receptionist at the assessor's office. She was an office manager of a local dental office. Kristina is a mother of three boys and a stepson and loves fishing and hunting with them. She loves being with family and spending valuable time together. She enjoys watching baseball and football, especially when her boys play. She is also a band booster mom and enjoys cheering on her band kiddo and football player. She began working as SWREC's clerk in October 2018.

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Crystal Gonzales
Medicaid Financial Coordinator
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About Crystal Gonzales

Crystal Gonzales joined the Southwest Regional Education Cooperative team in February 2023 as our Medicaid financial coordinator. She comes to us after working for the Deming Public School District for over 21 years. Crystal served in various positions during her tenure with DPS including her most distinguished positions as administrative assistant for the Transportation Department, and lastly as the lead equity liaison for the Equity Department. During her time in the Transportation Department, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in business from Western New Mexico University. A proud Deming native, Crystal is active in her community and is always aspiring to spread love, acceptance, and awareness. She is one of the founding members of Deming’s Hearts for Autism non-profit organization, is a Community Healthcare Foundation board member, and a Deming Community Coalition member. In her down time, she enjoys time spent with her family, friends, and dogs, exploring spiritually based universal themes, meditation, camping, and reading.

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Terrance Hester
Business Services Specialist
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About Terrance Hester

Terrance is a New Mexico native and has lived here his entire life. He was born and raised in Alamogordo and attended college at both UNM and NMSU. He graduated from New Mexico State University in May of 2011 with his bachelor’s in business administration specializing in finance with minors in banking and risk management and insurance. Terrance came to our team after spending 10 years in the federal sector working for the USPS management team. In April of 2021, Terrance joined the SWREC team and is motivated to work with his school teams and the Business Services Department.

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Virginia (Gina) Labadie
Special Education Instructional Specialist
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About Virginia (Gina) Labadie

In July 2019, Virginia (Gina) Labadie joined Southwest Regional Education Cooperative as a special education instructional specialist. She has been an educator for 22 years. After graduation from WNMU in 1997, she taught Head Start for three years. In 2000, she began working in public schools and just completed her nineteenth year. During her teaching career, she taught regular education for six years and then special education for thirteen years. She has experience in grades K–12 that includes resource room, self-contained, and inclusion support classes. She currently holds a BA in elementary education and a MAT in special education, with a Level III dual teaching license for K–8 elementary and K–12 special education.


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Mary Ortiz
Instructional Specialist
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About Mary Ortiz

In July 2023, Mary Ortiz joined our Southwest Regional Education Cooperative team as an instructional specialist. She began her career teaching in the Deming Public School District in 1996. She holds an elementary education bachelor’s degree from NMSU. She taught 4th and 5th grade at Columbus, Smith, Ruben S. Torres, and Chaparral Elementary Schools before retiring from Deming Public Schools after 27 years of service. She is married and a mother of three grown children and grandmother of one. She enjoys spending time with her husband, friends and family, watching sports, and dancing.

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Lisa Pastran
Business Services Specialist and Medicaid Support
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About Lisa Pastran

Lisa has an extensive background in banking/finance. She was a bank officer and has been in banking for 28 years. In 2001, she received a management degree from Anderson School of Management at UNM. In March of 2013, Lisa joined the SW Regional Education Cooperative. Although challenging, she has found it exciting to see the inner workings of education and to experience this whole new world.

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Amber Richmond
Instructional Specialist
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About Amber Richmond

In July 2022, Amber Richmond joined Southwest Regional Education Cooperative as an instructional specialist. She has been an educator for 13 years. After graduating from NMSU in 2009, she taught Title I reading intervention at Red Mountain Middle School for five years. In 2014 she received her master's degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia University. At this time, she began teaching a 6th grade technology elective at Deming Intermediate School and obtained her technology endorsement. She became certified to teach Project Lead the Way courses and continued to grow as a leader in her school. She provided staff trainings, and helped her staff adapt to virtual teaching. During her teaching career, she taught regular education, summer school at a variety of levels and intervention classes. She also worked with the JPO office to teach reading intervention for students K–12. She currently holds a BA in elementary education with a focus in language arts, an MA in educational leadership, and a technology endorsement.

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Amber Rivera
Medicaid Specialist
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About Amber Rivera

Before coming to SWREC, Amber worked at Mimbres Memorial Hospital as an ER clerk. She also worked in scheduling and admissions/registration. There for nine years, Amber became very familiar with insurances and how billing begins. Amber came to SWREC in September of 2016 and has not regretted that decision one bit. At the SWREC offices, she does the billing for Medicaid in the schools. It keeps her busy!

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Toby Soderberg
Project Administrator
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About Toby Soderberg

Toby Soderberg is a level III teacher and administrator who began teaching for the Deming Public School District in 2004. He spent the first eight years of his career as a music teacher (instrumental and vocal) at an elementary, middle school, and high school in Deming, New Mexico. During this time, he obtained his first master’s degree in educational leadership from WNMU. Upon completing this degree, Dr. Soderberg made a career change and shifted from teaching music to teaching English language arts at sixth grade for three years. During this transition, he completed his second master’s degree in education from ENMU, which focused on reading and TESOL. For the past five years, Dr. Soderberg has been a principal at an elementary school and completed the doctoral program at NMSU, where he received his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, with an emphasis on educational learning technologies. He began working for SWREC in February 2022. His priority is to continue to support the districts, educators, and students of Southwest New Mexico.

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Lauren Verduzco
IGA Projects Coordinator
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About Lauren Verduzco

Lauren is a New Mexico native who has been residing in Deming most of her life. Lauren is currently pursuing a business degree from WNMU with an emphasis in finance and management. For the past seven years, Lauren has worked at and managed two local non-profits. These non-profits aimed to address domestic violence and our homeless population in Luna County. The business and grant portion of her work helped to ignite her passion for business services and, particularly, finances. Lauren joined the SWREC team on contract in August 2020, managing a grant for daycares throughout the state of NM, and she became a full-time business services specialist in June 2021. Lauren is married with two children and has a growing farm outside of town.

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