iDesign Schools Staff

Before joining iDesign, Del Cueto served as the principal of Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. During his tenure, the school's historic auditorium was set ablaze and Del Cueto skillfully brought the school community together to raise money for a new facility. Del Cueto has been an educator at LAUSD for over twenty years beginning his career in 1982 as a science teacher at Adams Middle School. He is has also served as a teacher, bilingual coordinator, assistant principal, and principal in some of LAUSD's most challenging schools. Del Cueto holds a BS in psychology from Manhattan College and an MS in counseling from California Lutheran University. Back To Top

emphasizes iDesign Schools and Charter Schools. He has been with the LAUSD for nine years, six years as an attorney and three years and an administrator. In his current position, Mr. McNair provides advice and counsel to the LAUSD superintendent, members of the Board of Education, executive directors for iDesign Schools and for the Charter Schools Division and other central office departments on issues relating to policy formulation and interpretation, contract formation, public finance and budget. As an administrator, Mr. McNair was on the frontline of school reform and the charter school movement in his position as the chief administrative officer of the Charter Schools Division for the most active charter school authorizer in the United States. Before joining the district, Mr. McNair was an attorney in the private sector where his clients included former NBA great James Worthy, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Aetna Insurance, Nissan Corporation, the State of California and the City of Los Angeles. Mr. McNair earned a BA in economics from Whittier College and a JD and MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles. Back To Top

Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS). Ms. Rupp has been an educator at LAUSD since 1971, having served as a classroom teacher, mentor teacher, director of migrant students, and a successful principal. As principal, Ms Rupp presided over a school which had an API Decile 10 – distinguished by as being among the top 10 percent of API scores in California – for five consecutive years. Prior to joining iDesign Schools, Ms. Rupp served as a director of special education, training more that 800 assistant principals, elementary instructional specialists and 9,000 special education assistants, and monitoring a large budget. Ms. Rupp is avid cyclist, having completed two 100-mile rides only a year after shattering her hip. Ms. Rupp holds a BA from Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, and California State University, Los Angeles University and a MA from Mount St. Mary’s and California State University, Los Angeles. Back To Top

University Family of Schools. Amy spent two years as a Teach for America corps member teaching English to 8th graders at Nimitz Middle School in Huntington Park, CA.  Her curiosity about the policy side of LAUSD then led her to take a position as director of communications for former LAUSD Board Member Jon Lauritzen.  For the past 15 months, Amy served as the co-director of 826LA, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center, where she was largely responsible for fundraising, event planning, and organizational management.  Amy spends many of her weekend hours learning the art of flamenco dance, and traveled to Madrid last year to improve her technique.  She holds a BA in journalism from Indiana University and received her MA in secondary English education from Loyola Marymount University. Back To Top