MEET OUR TEACHERS
School Faculty in the Spotlight

Lodi Pertovt
ENGLISH TEACHER
Raija Perttunen
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL
Chris Kelly
DRAMA ARTS TEACHER
John Ariail
SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
Benjamin Newton
MAKERSPACE TEACHER
Adam Benabbès
FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHER
Alex Maros
ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Satu Labigne
ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Annie Almekinder
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Alisha Brizicky
ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHER (EAL)
Christopher Borges
VOCAL MUSIC AND CHOIR TEACHER
Léo Lefort
VISUAL ARTS TEACHER
Andrew Thompson
ATHLETICS AND CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR
Ingrid Kopke Donado
SCIENCE TEACHER
Heather Purcell
SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
Michelina McPherson
ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Elisabeth Lefort
FRENCH COORDINATOR ET TEACHER
Gavin Hopwood
MATH TEACHER
Shalin Guillen
PREK TEACHER
Sanna Aman
LIFE X-PERIENCE TEACHER
Tinja Heimo
LEARNING SUPPORT TEACHER
Zineb Benmakhlouf
TEACHING ASSISTANT
Chantal Butzbach
ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Lyubov Borisova Waters
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELOR
Mohammed Omari
ARABIC TEACHER
Meriem Bellamine
TEACHING ASSISTANT
Kim Ariail
ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHER (EAL)
Bouchra Slaoui
LIBRARY ASSISTANT
Adil El Megaless
ARABIC TEACHER
Jaana Errajia
ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Diaritza Diaz
TEACHING ASSISTANT
Megan Skaggs
ELEMENTARY TEACHER
William Watter
COLLEGE COUNSELOR
Ali Bougrine
Health and Physical Education Teacher
Laurent Labigne
WELLNESS (PE) TEACHER
ENGLISH TEACHER
Lodi Pertovt
Lodi Pertovt is the English Teacher for Grades 6 to 9. He is Australian and has been teaching in different schools in Australia for the past 6 years.

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL
Raija Perttunen
Raija Perttunen is from Finland. With 40 years of experience in education, Raija has been recruited as elementary principal for PreK4 to Grade 5.

DRAMA ARTS TEACHER
Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly is the Drama Arts Teacher for Grade 1 to 9. He is from Australia and has 25 years’ experience teaching at schools in Australia, Egypt, and Brazil.

SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
John Ariail
John Ariail is the Social Studies Teacher for Grades 6 to 9. He is American and has over 24 years of experience teaching in the USA, as well as in China and Indonesia.

MAKERSPACE TEACHER
Benjamin Newton
Benjamin Newton is the Makerspace Teacher for Grades 6 to 9. He is from the United States and has 22 years’ experience teaching in the United States, South Korea, and China.

FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHER
Adam Benabbès
Adam Benabbès is a French Language Teacher for Grade 1 to 9. He is from Morocco and has been teaching at different schools here for the past 10 years.

ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Alex Maros
Alex Maros is the teacher for Grade 4. He is from the US and has been teaching at different schools in the USA for the past 6 years.

ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Satu Labigne
Satu Labigne is Finnish and has over 15 years of experience teaching children from PreK4 to Grade 4, having worked in Finland and China. We have recruited her as an elementary teacher.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Annie Almekinder
Annie Almekinder is an American who was hired as our director of educational technology. She brings more than 25 years of experience, having worked primarily in the United States and later in Bangladesh.

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHER (EAL)
Alisha Brizicky
Alisha Brizicky teaches English as an Additional Language for Grades 6 to 9. She is an American with over 12 years of experience at schools in the United States, China and South Korea.

VOCAL MUSIC AND CHOIR TEACHER
Christopher Borges
Christopher Borges is the Vocal Music and Choir Teacher for Grade PreK4 to 9. He is an American citizen and has been teaching for over 25 years in the United States and Brazil.

VISUAL ARTS TEACHER
Léo Lefort
Léo Lefort is the Visual Arts Teacher for Grades 1 to 9. He is French and has spent the past 14 years teaching at international schools in Ethiopia, Dubai, and London, prior to which he was an art director and graphic designer.

ATHLETICS AND CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR
Andrew Thompson
Andrew Thompson is Athletics and Co-Curricular Activities Director for all grades. He is from the United Kingdom and for the past 12 years taught in China and the United Kingdom.

SCIENCE TEACHER
Ingrid Kopke Donado
Ingrid Kopke Donado is the Science Teacher for Grades 6 to 9. She is from Colombia and has over 17 years of experience in education, having worked in Colombia, Germany and most recently Panama.

SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
Heather Purcell
Heather Purcell is the Librarian for the entire school. She is originally from the United States. Her international experience spans 23 years, including the United States, South Korea, Egypt, and Brazil.

ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Michelina McPherson
Michelina McPherson teaches Grade 5 at DAS. She is American and has over 24 years’ experience teaching at schools in Japan, USA, China and Vietnam.

FRENCH COORDINATOR ET TEACHER
Elisabeth Lefort
Elisabeth Lefort is our French Coordinator and Teacher. She is French and has 21 years of international experience having taught in Ethiopia, Dubai and London.

MATH TEACHER
Gavin Hopwood
Gavin Hopwood is the Math Teacher for Grades 6 to 9. He is from the United Kingdom, and came to DAS from Panama after more than 26 years teaching in Russia, Colombia, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Germany.

PREK TEACHER
Shalin Guillen
Shalin Guillen teaches students in PreKindergarten at our school. She is from the United States and for the past 5 years has taught at schools in France, Morocco and the USA.

LIFE X-PERIENCE TEACHER
Sanna Aman
Sanna Aman is the Life X-perience Teacher. She is a Finnish citizen and came to us after 6 years teaching this subject in Finland.

LEARNING SUPPORT TEACHER
Tinja Heimo
Tinja Heimo is the Learning Support Teacher for PreK through Grade 9. She is originally from Finland and has been a classroom and special education teacher for 7 years now.

TEACHING ASSISTANT
Zineb Benmakhlouf

ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Chantal Butzbach
Chantal Butzbach is our Kindergarten Teacher. She is from the United States and has over 19 years of experience teaching in Morocco, Congo, and China.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELOR
Lyubov Borisova Waters
Lyubov Borisova Waters is our Elementary School Counselor. She is an American citizen with over 27 years of experience working as a school counselor and principal.

ARABIC TEACHER
Mohammed Omari
Mohammed Omari teaches Arabic Language to Grades 1 to 9. He is Moroccan and has been teaching Arabic at various schools in Morocco for the past 6 years.

TEACHING ASSISTANT
Meriem Bellamine
Meriem Bellamine is a Moroccan multilingual teaching assistant at DAS. She is a former student of the Casablanca American School, where she also worked for 5 years. She is passionate, loving and caring person who also loves new experiences and challenges. She lived in Switzerland and Spain and loves sharing and learning about different cultures.

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHER (EAL)
Kim Ariail
Kim Ariail teaches English as an Additional Language (EAL) for Grades 1 to 5. She comes from the United States, but has over 20 years’ experience teaching overseas in China and Indonesia.

LIBRARY ASSISTANT
Bouchra Slaoui

ARABIC TEACHER
Adil El Megaless
Adil El Megaless teaches Arabic Language to Grades 1 to 9. He is from Morocco and has been teaching at different schools in Morocco for the past 16 years.

ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Jaana Errajia
Jaana Errajia teaches Grade 3 at DAS. She is from Finland, where she has spent the past 17 years teaching.

TEACHING ASSISTANT
Diaritza Diaz
Diaritza is an American, originally from New York City. She is a multilingual teaching assistant at DAS, who has experience working with children for over 10 years in the U.S.A, Jordan, and Morocco. Being multilingual enables her to understand students from different backgrounds and tailor to their individual educational and emotional needs. Her objective is to help students be aware and understand the wider world and their place in it. To promote compassion, creativity, curiosity and encourage a passion for learning.

ELEMENTARY TEACHER
Megan Skaggs
Megan Skaggs teaches Grade 1 at DAS. She is from the United States and has spent the last 10 years at different schools in the USA, Egypt, Albania, and China.

COLLEGE COUNSELOR
William Watter
William Watter is the school’s College Counselor. He is from the United States and has 12 years of experience in the USA, China, and South Korea.

Health and Physical Education Teacher
Ali Bougrine
Ali Bougrine is a Wellness Teacher for Grade PreK4 to Grade 5. He is from Morocco and has taught at international schools in Morocco and Indonesia for the past 7 years.

WELLNESS (PE) TEACHER
Laurent Labigne
Laurent Labigne teaches Wellness to Grades 6 to 9 at DAS. Originally, from France, he has spent the past 10 years working in France and Finland.