Miss DeMarco is originally from Canton, Ohio. She moved to Sarasota at age 14 and attended Riverview High School. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education (with a minor in music) from Ohio University  She received her Master's Degree in Reading Education from the University of South Florida.

Miss DeMarco taught 5th grade and 3rd grade before taking some time away from teaching to live in New York City. While there she worked as an executive assistant in a large ad agency. In addition, she worked as a nanny for two little girls. 

After two years in New York she moved back to Sarasota and began teaching 8th Grade Language Arts at Brookside Middle School. In 2004, she transferred to Laurel Nokomis, again teaching 8th Grade LA. Two years ago, she moved to the 7th/8th grade Odyssey team and loves it!

Her brother lives in Hawaii and earns his living making surfboards. So she loves to visit him whenever possible-in fact she loves traveling whenever she can. Besides traveling, in her free time she enjoys running (she's training for a marathon), reading, riding her bike, playing with her amazing dog Jack, photography, listening to music, surfing (she's learning!), and snorkeling (swimming with the fish and turtles in Hawaii is the most amazing experience ever). 

Mr. Lapean
US History


This is Mr. Lapean's sixth year at LNS. He grew up in Hawaii on the island of Kauai until fifth grade and then moved to Massachussetts. He graduated from the University of Massachussetts, Amherst with a degree in History. Seven years ago he moved to Florida. He enjoys traveling, working out, and working on his Alfa Romeo. Mr. Lapean and his wife have a baby boy named Brody.
 
Ms. Shackelford (formerly Mrs. Wyar)
Science
Team Leader

This is Ms. Shackelford twelfth year of teaching science at LNS. She was born and raised in Florida and a graduate of the University of South Florida. Ms. Shackelford has also completed her Master’s degree in gifted education also from USF. She has two daughters, Paige and Ella. Paige will be attending second grade at LNS this year. In her free time, Ms. Shackelford enjoys horseback riding with her girls and traveling. She is looking forward to a super year!

This is Mr. O’Leary's third year at LNS. Before moving to Florida, Mr. O’Leary taught Middle School Math in Massachusetts for four years. Prior to beginning his teaching career, Mr. O’Leary worked for Verizon as a National Account Manager. Mr. O’Leary is a graduate of Boston College, is an avid golfer, and loves living in Florida.