NAELPA Membership 2025

Laura Gardner

Founder & CEO

Immigrant Connections

Laura has 20 years of experience working in education, refugee resettlement, and social work. While in education, she worked as a district level manager for immigrant family and community engagement as well as a school social worker. Laura also worked for Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS) managing their national technical assistance initiative to federal Refugee School Impact Grantees. Laura has facilitated professional development on building the capacity of teachers and school systems to engage immigrant families in their children’s education, language access, cultural competency, equity, unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant family reunification, and refugee resettlement. Laura holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Education. Laura founded Immigrant Connections in 2017.

• 4:00 - 5:30 PM, April 22, 2025 Virtual - Zoom

  Q2 Webinar: How EL Program Leaders can Help Immigrant Students and Families During Uncertain Times

Dr. Bill Rivers

Principal

WP RIVERS & ASSOCIATES

Dr. Bill Rivers, principal WP Rivers & Associates, has more than 35 years’ experience in language advocacy and capacity at the national level, with significant experience in culture and language for economic development and national security, and publications in second and third language acquisition research, proficiency assessment, program evaluation, and language policy development and advocacy.

• 4:00 - 5:00 PM, April 30, 2025 Virtual - Zoom

  Championing ML Success: Support Strategies for Educators

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick

Multilingual Learner Consultant/Title III State Director

Connecticut State Department of Education

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick is proud to serve as the 2024-2025 President of the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators (NAELPA). She has been involved in the leadership of the organization for several years and also served as NAELPA’s President for the 2020-2021 board year. Dr. Alubicki Flick works for the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) as the state’s Title III State Director and English Learner/Multilingual Learner (EL/ML) Consultant. In her role she works to advance outcomes for and develop assets-based approaches to serving ELs/MLs, which is her professional passion. During her time at the CSDE, she has overseen the federal Title III grant, the state bilingual grant, and Connecticut’s Seal of Biliteracy initiative in addition to supporting a range of other projects and initiatives related to the instruction of ELs/MLs and professional learning for teachers. Prior to joining the CSDE, she worked as an ESL teacher for Hartford Public Schools, conducted education and language policy research as a U.S. Fulbright Fellow to the European Union, and served as an EFL Teacher in Mikkeli, Finland through a fellowship with the American-Scandinavian Foundation. In 2023, Megan was honored to develop and deliver a TED Talk called “The Power of Multilingualism in Education” in which she advocates for multilingualism to be viewed as an asset in America’s schools. It can be accessed at https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_alubicki_flick_the_power_of_multilingualism_in_education.

• 4:00 - 5:00 PM, April 30, 2025 Virtual - Zoom

  Championing ML Success: Support Strategies for Educators