Technical Advisory Committee
Dr. Frank Donavan
Chair
Dr. Donavan is the Superintendent of the Magnolia School District in Anaheim. He has a broad range of experience that includes being a classroom Teacher, School Site Administrator, and District Office Administrator. Under his leadership, the Magnolia School District has received several prestigious awards for student achievement including two Golden Bell Awards from the California School Boards Association, and the recognition by the Learning Policy Institute at Stanford University as a Positive Outlier. Dr. Donavan has greatly expanded school programs and collaborative partnerships to serve children and their families including a focus on music, arts, STEM, and early childhood education, as well as fresh food distribution, dental and medical services, parent education, and summer and afterschool programs.
His educational background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in History from UCLA, a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Azusa Pacific University, a Master’s Degree in Education Administration from California State University, Fullerton, and a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from USC. He currently serves as Past President on both the Anaheim Family YMCA and the Anaheim Rotary Club Board of Directors.
Dr. Donavan resides in Costa Mesa with his wife, Monique, and his seventeen-year-old.
Susan McClintic
Vice-Chair
Susan McClintic, a seasoned early childhood educator, has extensive teaching, leadership, and program development experience with infants and toddlers, preschool, school-age, and community college students. An advocate for high quality early learning experiences for all children, especially those facing challenges of poverty and other adverse childhood experiences, McClintic is a Board member for Families Forward and the Orange County Association for the Education of Young Children.
McClintic has served previous board member and leadership roles with numerous groups benefiting children and families, including the Orange County Child Care and Development Planning Council, Irvine Child Development Center Operating Corporation, Irvine Child Care Project, and Northwood High School PTSA. In 2019, she was named Local Planning Council Outstanding Advocate for Children in Orange County.
A UCLA graduate, McClintic earned a Master’s Degree from Bank Street College of Education, a teaching credential from UC Berkeley, and three years of doctoral-level course work in Child Development from UCLA Graduate School of Education. She lives in Irvine with her husband Michael Gilbert M.D., a practicing Family Physician and Associate Regional Medical Director at St. Joseph Heritage. They have two grown children and two grandchildren under the age of 5.
Gail Araujo
Gail Araujo has served human services agencies and programs for over 23 years. During her career, she has worked within public assistance and CalWORKs programs, administrative services functions, and the Family Self-Sufficiency & Adult Services division. Prior to Ms. Araujo’s appointment as Division Director of Family Self-Sufficiency & Adult Services, she served in several positions within the Social Services Agency including as Deputy Division Director of Adult Services which includes Adult Protective Services and In-Home Supportive Services programs, and Deputy Division Director over Contracts, Procurement, and Human Resources. Over the last year, she was also part of the Department Operations Center (DOC) supporting SSA’s COVID response.
Gail began her career as an Eligibility Worker in the CalWORKs, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal programs. Before coming to the County of Orange in 2017, she worked in Los Angeles County at the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) and the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department (ISD). She was also part of the LEADER Replacement System (LRS) and led Project Management related activities for the migration of their case management and eligibility determination system.
She also served as the Communications Manager for LAPDSS where she provided oversight for internal and external communications. Gail holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Sociology from California State University, Fullerton.
Scott Burdick
Scott Burdick is Deputy Division Director of the County of Orange Social Services Agency’s Children and Family Services Division where he has worked for over 26 years. He currently oversees the Intervention and Prevention Services Section, which includes the Adult and Child Abuse Registry, Emergency Response, Child Abuse Services Team (CAST), Differential Response and Voluntary Family Services. He also has experience in Permanency Services, Families and Communities Together (FaCT) – the County’s Family Resource Center platform, Resource Development and Management (RDM), Specialized Family Services, Investigations, Intake, Conditional Release to Intensive Supervision Program (C.R.I.S.P) and Best Known Practices.
Scott has led or been integrally involved with numerous initiatives including programs to support Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC), Teen Court, The Teen Collaborative, Neighbor to Neighbor, Permanency Roundtables, Runaway Prevention and Recovery, Family to Family, the Children and Family Services Review process, the Children and Family Services System Improvement Plan, Structured Decision Making, Safe Measures, Group Home Monitoring and Safety Organized Practice. Attachment 1 In addition to his career with the Social Services Agency, Scott consults locally and nationally with several agencies. These partnerships have led him across the nation to assist other jurisdictions in strengthening child abuse prevention, evaluation, and assessment practices.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton, and is currently a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
Marie J. Jeannis, RN, MSN
Marie J. Jeannis is currently the Executive Director of Quality and Population Health Management at CalOptima, a County Organized Healthcare System (COHS). Marie is responsible for the oversight of key medical management functions including Population Health Management, Quality Management, Quality Analytics and Behavioral Health Integration.
Marie is a registered nurse and certified case manager with over 30 years of experience. Marie’s background is diverse and includes experience in home care, care management, utilization management, informatics, quality, and population health management. Marie works closely with the Chief Medical Officer to provide leadership to the executive team and key leaders, across CalOptima, in the development and implementation of a comprehensive population health management plan to address the health disparities and social determinant of health needs of CalOptima’s members.
Dr. Christine Olmstead
Christine began her teaching career in 1998 in the Brea Olinda Unified School District in north Orange County, California, transitioned to the role of Education Technology Specialist in 2002, and then to the role of Educational Services Specialist in 2006. In 2009, she became the principal of Arovista Elementary School, a K-6 Title I School in North Orange County, California where she served until joining the Orange County Department of Education.
Christine holds a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction and emphasis in Educational Technology and a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from California State University, Fullerton. Her dissertation focus was Using Technology to Increase Parental Involvement.
Dawn M. Smith
Dawn also served as an Administrative Manager II for four years with the Behavioral Health Services Prevention and Intervention programs overseeing county-operated programs funded with Mental Health Services Act dollars. In 2018, Dawn became the Division Manager for Children and Youth Behavioral Health. In this capacity, Dawn has had the opportunity to develop and oversee programs that serve children (0-17), transitional aged youth (16-25), and their families across the full continuum of care for both the Mental Health Plan and Drug MediCal-Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS).
She collaborates closely with Social Services Agency, Probation, and the Courts to ensure seamless delivery of behavioral health services to system-involved youth in facility and community settings. Dawn brings a systems perspective with a focus on collaboration between child-serving entities and stakeholders in Orange County and across the State.