Our Team

Chris McDavid

Academy Director

Chris McDavid has nearly a decade of experience in education and holds certifications in Early Childhood through Sixth Grade Education, Special Education, and English as a Second Language. He also has a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana State University in Business and Master of Science in Educational Management from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Chris’ career began as a substitute teacher in 2009 and includes four years of teaching a Social Development class in Clear Creek Independent School District. As a Social Development teacher, he taught all subject areas in grades ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade, served as a mentor to first-year teachers, and sponsored extracurricular activities on campus. Chris was awarded Teacher of the Year at John F. Ward Elementary for the 2014-15 school year. Since finding a home with Grand Oak Academy, he has had opportunity to not only lead the campus through the initial accreditation process, but to serve as an accreditation Review Team member with AdvancED.

Lissette Espinoza

BCBA and Instructional Coordinator

Lissette is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst from Houston, TX. She also holds a teaching certification in Early Childhood through 6th-grade education and a Special Education certification in Early Childhood through 12th grade. Lissette started her career teaching in 2012 and has 6 years of teaching experience. She taught all subject areas, facilitated social inclusion clubs at her campus, and was awarded First Year Teacher of the Year in 2014. She earned her Master’s degree in Special Education with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis from Sam Houston State University in 2018. She currently serves Grand Oak Academy as a BCBA and Instructional Coordinator, where she trains teachers and oversees the classroom curriculum.

Crystal Hebert

Teacher

Crystal graduated from University of Houston-Clear Lake with a Bachelors of Education. She started working at Grand Oak Academy a year ago, and absolutely loves her position at GOA as a teacher. Before joining the GOA team, she taught 2nd grade for three years at Clear Lake Christian School.

Heather Plante

Teacher

Heather Plante graduated from the University of Houston- Clear Lake. Heather has a teacher’s certificate in Early Childhood through sixth grade with an ESL certificate. She has been teaching since 2012. Heather teaches because she enjoys challenging students to shine to their true potential.

Jessica Miranda

Teacher

Jessica graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in Psychology. Shortly after graduating, Jessica completed her teaching certification coursework through Texas Teachers. Jessica began her teaching career with Grand Oak a year ago and is excited to continue teaching and serving our children of GOA.

Cynthia Salazar

Teacher

Cynthia is a graduate of Texas A&M University. After graduation, she began working in ABA and is going on 5 years of doing so. For the first 2 and a half years, she worked as an RBT in a 1:1 clinical setting. She joined the BTLC team in August of 2019. Cynthia has spent the last 2 years in Grand Oak Academy classrooms. She went from being an RBT in Mrs. Crystal’s class, to being the assigned LTA, to now having her very own classroom! Cynthia has been teaching since March 2021 and is loving it! She is currently on an intern educator certificate, actively working towards her standard certificate. Cynthia loves being part of a close-knit team that continues to strive for its students’ success. She is very excited to be able to continue to grow and learn along with her students!