Christel Leahy-Reaves
CEO & Founder
Christel Leahy-Reaves is the founder of Connected Class. She is an energetic educator who is passionate about learning and teaching. Currently, Christel supports 98 schools in the state of Florida by providing high-quality professional development in building Professional Learning Communities, developing relationships between the classroom and home environment, as well as cultivating data teams to analyze student formative assessments to drive instruction.
Christel has taught at all academic levels. She has utilized those classroom experiences in several leadership positions in order to increase student achievement. As an Instructional Specialist for the School District of Palm Beach County, Christel worked closely with the State Regional Director and the Florida Department of Education in removing low performing Title I schools from Intervene and Correct II status. As a district administrator, Christel has assisted numerous schools in curriculum alignment, data analysis, and teacher development.
As a certified John Maxwell coach, Christel embeds leadership principles with instructional strategies to increase student achievement at the schools she serves. Christel supports administrators and their teacher leaders with annual Leadership Institutes and Mastermind groups. She has presented to thousands of public and nonpublic school educators from the national to local level. Christel’s dedication to education has led to her being designated as Teacher of the Year (2002) by her peers and nominated for the Dwyer Award for Teaching Excellence in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Christel obtained her master’s degree in Educational Leadership K-12 from Florida Atlantic University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York (S.U.N.Y) College at Cortland in Elementary Education and Early Secondary Biology Education.
When not working, Christel enjoys spending time with husband and two children and going to the beach.