Jennifer Parpacen-Smith is a pediatric occupational therapist with 18 years’ experience working with children and adolescents of varying abilities. She has worked in camps, ABA clinics, the NICU, home health, schools, and rehab settings. She currently runs a small private practice and works part-time as an early intervention therapist with Easter Seals. Her areas of specialization include neurodivergence, sensory processing and feeding. She has a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in special education from UTSA and earned her B.S. in Health Sciences and a MSOT, both from the UT Health Science Center. She spent the last year completing her 200 YTT (yoga teacher training) and an additional 95-hour training in Yoga for children with special needs, in hopes of helping to make yoga more accessible to all youth in San Antonio. She is a proud founding family at TGP with both a 4th grader and 1st grader, and her husband is a civil engineer in San Antonio whose passion is working with local schools on various projects. As a family, they eat, play, and laugh often!
She and her husband chose TGP because their local public school could not provide the type of education, they felt their children deserved and required to thrive. Finding out about TGP in the middle of the pandemic was a saving grace for her and her daughter. Everything from the focus on SEL, to the abundance of arts/wellness classes and the opportunity to learn about social justice through books and meaningful conversations lured them in. They found great solace in knowing that Asia and Ryan spent countless hours dreaming up TGP and continue to devote themselves to creating a special place for all children. She is honored to be on the board of The Gathering Place, and is prepared to serve in any capacity.
Adriana Segundo El-Farrah is an immigration attorney at the Law Office of Christina Neville. Her practice area is focused on family-based immigration, both in the United States and abroad through U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world. Adriana currently serves on the San Antonio Bar Association, Immigration and Nationality section as Vice President, and was formerly a member of the State Bar of Texas Immigration and Nationality Section as chair of the communication and publications committee and chair of refugee and asylee issues.
Adriana is an alumna of Leadership San Antonio, Class 44, Latina Leadership Institute Class 3, and the City of San Antonio's Neighborhood Leadership Academy. Through the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber, she also served as the co-chair for Class 5 of the Latina Leadership Institute. She holds a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a juris doctorate from St. Mary's University. Adriana resides in San Antonio with her husband Rami, a professor of Saxophone and Jazz History at the University of Texas at San Antonio. They have two cats, Zoe and Adderley.
Eric Neal, along with his wife Jenni, is a caregiver of two here at The Gathering Place.
He brings almost two decades of financial analysis experience as Board Treasurer. In addition to his participation at The Gathering Place, Eric serves as a director of the San Antonio Rotary Club, was an Ambassador of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and has volunteered with Snack Pak 4 Kids, the San Antonio Food Bank, K9s for Warriors, Sleep in Heavenly Peace and SAMMinistries. He is highly motivated for the betterment of his local, national, and global communities.
He graduated from SMU in 2005 with a Degree in Economics.
From San Antonio, TX, Dashia Miles is a graduate of St. Mary’s University who double-majored in Finance and Accounting with a minor in Risk Management. She has worked in various financial analytic roles, mainly in large financial institutions. She has sat on multiple community engagement organizations in San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas to help underserved communities.
Dashia is currently a Portfolio Manger responsible for both San Antonio and Houston commercial and industrial banking portfolios at Truist Bank. In her new role, she is very appreciative of the new caring and engaging team she is a part of.
Dashia enjoys writing poetry, watching Ted Talks, and listening to motivational and informational podcasts and romance comedies. She is passionate about seeing small businesses grow, women in business, and helping underserved communities.
She firmly believes in The Gathering Place’s mission and vision as she believes our child are the future and we should guide them to fulfill their upmost potential.
Janet Knupp has led a variety of education and health nonprofits and businesses in her career as an executive and entrepreneur. Her experience combines the mission focus of a nonprofit leader with the bottom-line orientation of a corporate chief. She has a track record of building organizations that thrive long after her tenure.
Janet inspired a team of people from some of the most respected companies and universities to join her in building The Chicago Public Education Fund. She attracted Fortune 500 CEOs and venture capitalists to invest their financial and intellectual capital.
Janet leveraged her strong financial management skills to restore Communities in Schools of Chicago to fiscal solvency. As CEO of a national private equity education company, she reversed a five-year negative performance trend and built a team, brand, and strategy to enable its successful sale.
Janet has raised hundreds of millions of foundation, corporation and private dollars. She recently joined the Superintendent’s Cabinet of the School District of Indian River County as Executive Director of Development and Engagement. She is building the community’s first education foundation focused exclusively on supporting the district’s strategic priorities and is leading her fifth start-up.
Board Governance
TGP Public Schools is a non-profit organization that runs The Gathering Place, a public school in San Antonio, TX. All documents legally required to be posted are included below, and all board meeting agendas and minutes are posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Upcoming Meetings
Monday, April 8, 2024 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm
TGP Board Budget Workshop - agenda linked hereThursday, April 25, 2024 at 5:00 pm - agenda linked here
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Thursday, June 27, 2024
Legal Documents
Legally Required Postings and Documents
For all public information requests, please email a public information request to publicinforequest@thegatheringplacek12.org or mail the request to 5818 NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78238. Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code gives the public the right to access certain government records.
To contact the school’s webmaster, email brian@thegatheringplacek12.org
Historic Board Minutes and Agendas
All board agendas and minutes are linked here.