Father Granito has been the pastor of Holy Child Catholic Parish in Tijeras for many years. He was present for the founding of the school in 2008 and has been a staunch advocate throughout its existence. His side passion is baking and his splendid bakes have placed in the State Fair. Students enjoy his quirky sense of humor and his love of all things good, true, and beautiful.  

Janice has been a Catholic school teacher since 1997, teaching elementary, middle and high school throughout the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. She has been the principal of HCCS since 2016. She has been developing and teaching a classical curriculum since 2008 and she truly believes classical learning is the solution to many of the problems facing education today. Janice has also conducted historical research in archives in Europe and was a graduate teaching assistant at the University of New Mexico. She has one B.A. in French Literature and another B.A. in Education. Moreover, she has an M.A. in Modern European History from the University of New Mexico and a Master’s Degree in Theology from Catholic Distance University.  Janice received her principal's license from the University of Dayton.  She is currently a graduate student at the University of Dallas working on a Master of Arts in Humanities with a focus on Classical Education.

Amanda (Mandy) has her Bachelor's Degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Akron in Ohio. She has worked as an Administrative Assistant for the Pastoral office for Catechesis in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. It was there she took Theology Courses through St. Joseph's college as part of the Ecclesial Lay ministry program and has experience in the Strengthsfinder program and the Spiritual gifts inventory for working with teams.

Her other work experience includes: Management in the food retail industry, coaching college students through career management at The University of Akron, librarian and certified Coffee Master.

Amanda has been actively volunteering for the Parish and School since she and her husband Jeff moved here in 2016. Her most active role has been her involvement in creating, launching, and coordinating the F.I.A.T. ministry. All three of her children attend Holy Child Catholic School. 

Della Tapia comes to us with many years of experience in customer service and leadership roles. She is excited and eager to start giving a helping hand to HCCS.

Della and her husband, Ray, have two daughters and son-in-laws. They have four grandchildren/two of which attend HCCS and one attending Our Lady of Assumption.

Della is a member of Estancia Valley Catholic Parish where she is currently involved in several ministries at San Antonio church in Tajique.

Colette is a product of Catholic education from kindergarten through high school. She graduated from UNM in 1990 with a degree in Elementary Education. Colette taught elementary school for two years with Albuquerque Public Schools and the Moriarty-Edgewood schools before taking a 14-year break to stay home and raise her kids. Colette, her husband, Josh, and their five children are members of Holy Child Parish. 

Patricia graduated from UNM with a degree in Art and helps Mrs. McCleave with preschool classes. A resident of Edgewood with her husband, Patricia has three sons, her oldest graduating HCCS in 2016, and her twin boys in 2021.  Her sons have then gone on to UNM and East Mountain High School. Her joyful, helpful spirit is such a gift as she helps with everything from recess duty to substitute teaching. 

Ann Cathy Coffey was born and raised in Albuquerque and now presides in the NE Heights with her husband. She received her BS in Education from William Jewell College and MS in Education from Walden University. Mrs. Coffey is a seasoned teacher of the primary grades. She began teaching in 1977 and after 6 years took a break before returning to teaching in 2000. She taught for 16 years at Route 66 Elementary, near Edgewood. Her last teaching position was 4 years at Our Lady of Fatima.

Both she and her husband are parishioners at Our Lady of Assumption where she teaches CCD classes and is also a Eucharistic minister.

Mrs. Valerie Talley was raised in a large Catholic family in Albuquerque. Her parents were parishioners of St. Charles Borromeo and sacrificed much to send all six children to Catholic schools. This act of love ignited an intense love of learning in young Mrs. Talley which burns brightly to this day. Mrs. Talley triple majored in Theology, Special Education, and Elementary Education at Benedictine College, and she was endorsed by the Kansas State Board of Education in Adaptive K-12 Special Education, and as an Early Late Childhood Generalist with Core Content: Math, English, History Comprehensive for grades K-6.

At Benedictine Mrs. Talley dove headfirst into the fullness of the Holy Catholic Church. She discovered the riches of its wisdom and surrendered herself to the intensity of the love of Christ. She found Saint Paul’s Outreach, an intentional community who needed the Lord, who knew true friendship, who loved her and were determined to grow in virtue together. After graduation, Mrs. Talley served as a missionary for SPO in St. Paul, Minnesota.

In 2014, Mrs. Talley accepted a full-ride scholarship to attend the Augustine Institute in Denver. There she recognized her vocation to marriage, cultivated her gifts for working with children, and formed friendships with men and women who had studied the Liberal Arts. The encounter was essential to Mrs. Talley’s journey: these men and women were intelligent and impressively talented, yet full of piety and humility, they knew about complex things, yet possessed a simple peace. Mrs. Talley kept these friendships in her heart when she accepted a position as Reading Specialist and Resource Teacher in Denver. It was her greatest joy to care for the children alongside the Nashville Dominicans, who were also formed in the Liberal Arts. Mrs. Talley worked diligently with classroom teachers to help struggling readers learn, not only to read, but to fall in love with books. The Lord blessed the work of their hands. It allowed the children to flourish.

Mrs. Talley and her beloved husband, Mr. Talley, are grateful for the opportunity to continue their journey into the Liberal Arts at Holy Child. The Talley family has already been cared for by this community in ways they will never be able to repay. AMDG

Stephanie Garrity received her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, along with a minor in History at New Mexico Highlands University. She was born and raised in Albuquerque, currently resides in Rio Rancho and attends St. John Vianney Parish. She has been married for 13 years and has four children. Prior to teaching, she homeschooled her children for five years using the Charlotte Mason method. Mason's pedagogical method, like the classical, emphasizes students should be exposed to the highest possible quality curricular materials, whether in Literature, Art, Music, History or Science. Mrs. Garrity also taught Religious Education for six years. In 2017, she founded the Catholic Women of New Mexico Facebook group, a ministry dedicated to Mary and the Eucharist, leading women closer to Christ through Mary. 

Mrs. Monica Dominguez was born and raised in Albuquerque where she attended St. Mary’s, St. Charles, and Saint Pius X Catholic Schools where she developed her commitment to Catholic education. After high school, she earned a Business Degree with a concentration in Marketing from the University of New Mexico, and an Elementary Education degree from the College of Santa Fe.

She has taught for 16 years both in the Archdiocese of El Paso and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, teaching both 1st and 4th grade. During a 6 year period when she and her husband lived in Kentucky she was the Hispanic Ministry Coordinator for Immaculate Conception Parish in LaGrange, Kentucky,. She and her husband Daniel have two daughters and one granddaughter and they are parishioners at St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center.

Michelle graduated from Idaho State University with a B.S. degree in Speech Pathology followed by a M.S. degree in Audiology. She worked as a professional audiologist until deciding to stay home and begin homeschooling her three children. She has been past president of Corpus Christi Home School Cooperative and has always taught a diverse, rich, classical curriculum with a focus on providing interventions for all types of learners. Michelle then built on that experience by completing her teaching licensure and she now holds a level II teaching license. 

Marlena holds a B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Art History from Fort Hays State University. She is currently pursuing graduate studies in the Liberal Arts program at St. John's College, Santa Fe.  Marlena has several years of experience working as a tutor and educational assistant in both private Catholic and public schools. 

Before joining Holy Child, she worked as an independent copy editor in the realm of Catholic and academic publishing. Over the past eight years, she has been engaged in an intensive independent study of the Western canon, reading works ranging from the pre-Socratics, Aeschylus, and the Apostolic Fathers, to Heidegger, Faulkner, and von Balthasar. 

Her transformative journey through the Great Books inspired her conversion to the Catholic faith in 2018. Marlena regularly leads reading groups focused on major works of Western philosophy, theology, and literature for graduate and undergraduate students at St. John's College. 

In her free time, she enjoys reading demanding books, exploring the natural beauty of New Mexico, cooking traditional Italian cuisine, learning foreign languages, and volunteering for a local cat rescue.

Mrs. Jaramillo-Anaya was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM.  She attended the University of New Mexico receiving her B.A. in Psychology with a Minor in Criminology in 2002 and her M.A. in Elementary Education with Licensure K-8 in 2005.  

She is a lifelong parishioner of the Shrine of St. Bernadette's.  Jessica and her husband were married there in 2007 and their two children attend Religious Formation classes there as well.  

She was a First Grade teacher at Queen of Heaven School 2006-2007. She then had the privilege and honor of being a stay at home mom for twelve years.  

This will be her  third year at HCCS teaching PE and being the Athletic Director.

Mr. Talley was born in Albuquerque, raised in Louisiana, and has called Albuquerque his home (on and off) for 16 years now. In 2010 he became a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, earning a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from the Pontifical College Josephinum in 2013 and graduating summa cum laude. He spent a semester studying theology in Rome, where he discerned his vocation to married life. Mr. Talley returned to Albuquerque where he did propaedeutic work towards a master's in classics at UNM. Though he was accepted to UNM's graduate classics program, Mr. Talley chose to take a job teaching Latin, religion and literature at a Catholic middle school in Aurora, Colorado, where he could also be closer to his future wife. After three happy years of teaching he moved back to his hometown with his wife and newborn daughter. There he pursued a career in nursing. Four years, three daughters, and a few dozen science credits later, he is returning to his first love, teaching. Mr. Talley loves philosophy, Latin, good literature, good coffee and Byzantine liturgies. He is looking forward to a career at Holy Child. 

​Mrs. Pamela Padilla grew up in Texas and received a B.S. in History from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor while volunteering in the collections and education departments of multiple museums and working as a substitute and after school teacher. She then received a M.A. in Museum Studies from the University of Oklahoma and began teaching Religious Education at her local Parish before moving to New Mexico in 2014. Since then, Pamela spent a few years working as a paralegal, but kept her love for education alive by volunteering through various outreach programs and Holy Child Parish. Pamela returned to teaching in 2020 and taught fifth grade at San Felipe de Neri, then came to teach at Holy Child in 2021, and loves her time in the classroom. She met her husband at Holy Child and their son has been a student since 2014 as well. 

Mrs. Sanchez has been teaching Math and Science in the Upper Grades at Holy Child Catholic School since 2012.  She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of New Mexico earning a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (K-8) with a minor in Mathematics.  She currently holds a Level II teaching license in New Mexico with additional endorsements in both Language Arts and Middle School Science. The school first discovered Lisa when she was teaching Religious Education at the parish, where she has been a member since 1999.  Lisa brings into teaching a deep content knowledge as well as an efficient, no-nonsense approach toward learning.  She and her family resided in the East Mountains for over twenty years and she is the proud mother of three daughters. While she now resides in Albuquerque, she is still committed and in love with the East Mountain community.  

Ruthanne Hamrick is the Latin instructor at Holy Child Catholic School. She is a long time resident of Cedar Crest, having lived here since 1990.  She was a church pianist from 1997-2018  and taught piano lessons from 1993-2023.  She has a Bachelor's degree from UNM in Fine Art, a Masters Degree from Trinity Theological Seminary in Biblical Counseling, and a Master's Degree from Southwestern College in Art Therapy.  Mrs. Hamrick began her study of Latin while using a classical approach to home-educate her three children. She then taught Latin at Rio Grande Enrichment Studies from 2008-2013. and has been teaching it at HCCS since 2017. 

Melissa Daugherty is extremely happy to be heading up the enrichment program at HCCS. She believes that art, art history, and music dovetail perfectly with a classical curriculum in that they give voice and vision to the subjects taught at HCCS. Melissa has taught drawing and art history to upwards of 250 children over the last eight years, and several of her former students are pursuing advanced training in studio art. Melissa is thrilled to able to bring the glories of the Catholic visual heritage to her own parish here at Holy Child. She and her husband Kevin are longtime members of Holy Child Catholic Parish and are the proud parents of four children. She also has five grandchildren with hopes of a lot more! 

While Mrs. Daugherty has ended her teaching tenure at HCCS, she will continue to offer Masterpiece Club after school and contribute to the art project the school is undergoing in the hallways.

Dr. Pam Engerer (or “Dr. E”) grew up in Michigan and graduated with Honor in

Chemical Engineering (B.S.) from Michigan Technological University in 1983. While

in college, she played Varsity Volleyball for four years and was active in her church

where she taught Sunday school and led youth groups. She married her college

sweetheart Dan in 1983 and moved to Ohio. Together they have three (3) adult

children (Nick, Jeff, and Kate) and five (5) grandchildren (Wyatt, Joanna, Clare,

Phillip and Vincent). Joanna, Clare and Phillip attend Holy Child.

After a brief engineering career, she stayed home with her children and eventually

home-schooled each son for his fifth grade year. Then, in 1998, an opportunity arose

to teach Science at a private Christian Junior High/Senior High school. Over the

course of ten years she taught Earth Science, Physical Science and Chemistry (Ohio

licensure: Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) Chemistry and Physics).

While her children were in college, she returned to academia and earned an M.A.

(2010) and Ph.D. (2017) in Secondary Education in Curricular & Instructional

Studies with an emphasis in Science.

Recently, she worked for VIPKid teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) online

to primary-aged students in China where she won the Admirable Screenwriter’s

Award for her script pitch Circuit Rider.

Most recently, she has been developing her artistic skills and has had art pieces

accepted in juried shows. Her piece entitled Behold earned an Honorable Mention in

the Fall 2023 Student & Faculty

Mrs. Kristin Daugherty, a native of Tijeras, is absolutely humbled and honored to join the devoted team at Holy Child Catholic School. A Masters level graduate in Cello Performance from SMU, Kristin has been teaching small groups and individuals in various musical avenues for just over 20 years. After falling more and more in love with the Classical Curriculum that is offered at HCCS, she is looking forward to discovering new and exciting ways to contribute to and enrich the music program. She has four adorable children with her equally adorable husband, Ross, and is likely to be found playing in the garden when she is not playing a musical instrument. 

Deborrah Figge was part of HCCS since its inception in 2008 as the school’s business manager and music teacher. After leaving for a few years in 2019 to live in Chicago, she is back in New Mexico and has rejoined the HCCS faculty as director of the school choir and Christmas choir. In addition to her involvement at Holy Child, she is a professed member of the Apostoli Viae community which is dedicated to living the joyful adventure of the contemplative life and leading others to do the same. 

Grace has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and hopes to open her own private Catholic counseling business one day.  She grew up in a Catholic

household and her faith continues to guide her through young adulthood. God remains at the center of her life as she is active in the Pro-Life movement and occasionally helps at the Fray Antonio Kitchen run by the San Juan Diego Friary. Her first job consisted of babysitting for her parish families seeking trustworthy childcare.

From her 5+ years of babysitting, she has developed a love for children and family relations.

Ms. Rafaelita Gonzales was a banker for 25 years in New Mexico before bringing her expertise to Holy Child Parish in 2008. Her assistance in bringing financial stability helped the school receive a loan for the capital campaign in 2019. She has helped expand our donor base, guide us successfully through our financial audits, align the recording of our financial databases and she faithfully stewards the process of balancing our budget each year.

In the classroom Doug brings over 30 years experience working with children as a religious ed and VBS teacher, soccer coach, and general ed teacher. Whether he is teaching chemistry and algebra to high schoolers or a simple Bible story and reading lesson to young grade schoolers, he brings a passion for seeing young people reach their full potential while developing a love for Jesus and His Church.

On the IT side, Doug brings over 25 years experience helping companies and educational institutions create customized IT solutions to make their workforce more productive and proficient with technology. Whether he is developing help sheets for students and professors to use common software applications or designing a classroom environment to allow teachers to share educational content in multimedia formats, he focuses on balancing ease of use, reliability, low cost, and industry applicability, so that students are prepared to use common tools later in life and teachers have reliable, simple solutions to their technology needs.

Mr. Padilla has been part of our Parish maintenance and custodial staff since 2018. He came to us with eight years of coaching experience, four years of security experience, and a certification in automotive work. While Mr. Padilla can fix most things around our campus, he finds great joy working with the students; whether it is assisting with drama practices or helping out in the classroom for science labs or other activities. He has also been a member of Holy Child Parish since 2003 and became a Knight of Columbus in 2017. Mr. Padilla met his wife at Holy Child and their son has been a student since 2014.

Bob Schick was born in Amish country in southern Pennsylvania, the last of 9 children. Early

education was Catholic schools from first grade through high school. After 2 years in Industrial

Arts Education at Millersville State the family moved to Florida and he later graduated with a

BSBA at Univ. of Florida. Bob’s career started with learning electronics at his brother’s auto

insert business in the Silicon Valley and there acquiring an ASET. As markets changed Bob

continued in manufacturing but now in medical devices with Johnson and Johnson and then

new product projects with ABBOT Diabetes Care in Alameda, California. Bob has 3 sons who

have a passion for camping as does their dad. Volunteering has been an enjoyable constant

with support in scouting, community, and church efforts.