Cave Creek Unified School District is pleased to announce that Mrs. Emily Ellis-Hill has been named the Lone Mountain Elementary School Principal, Dr. JoAnn Roach has been named the Desert Willow Elementary School Principal and Mrs. Jill Sarriano has been named the Sonoran Trails Middle School Principal for the 2021-2022 School Year. Mrs. Ellis-Hill was approved by the Governing Board at their April 26, 2021 meeting and Dr. Roach and Mrs. Sarriano were approved by the Governing Board at their May 10, 2021 meeting.
Mrs. Emily Ellis-Hill is no stranger to Cave Creek, as she has spent most of her career here and has trusted our schools with her three boys who all attend CCUSD schools. Emily has served in education for 20 years. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education from Grand Canyon University.
She also earned two Master’s degrees – one in Educational Leadership and the other in Administration from Northern Arizona University and Grand Canyon University. She taught at Horseshoe Trails Elementary School for many years, served as an instructional coach, and was most recently the Assistant Principal at Mountainview Elementary, a K-8 School in the Sunnyslope neighborhood in the Washington Elementary School District. After spending a few years outside of the district to gain administrative experience, we are excited to welcome Emily back to CCUSD to serve the Lone Mountain community as Principal where she will work to continue to shape our STEM program, develop high quality classrooms, and help the Eagles SOAR to Success.
Dr. JoAnn Roach has been dedicated to the field of education for more than 21 years and earned her doctorate through Capella University in 2018. She is a fluent Spanish speaker, reader, and writer and has a passion for second language learning. Dr. Roach has worked with students ranging in age from Preschool through 8th grade in a variety of roles to include being a bilingual education teacher, middle school behavior intervention specialist, and a K-5 Instructional Coach. Most recently, she served the past 4 years as the Assistant Principal for Gateway Elementary School in the Creighton School District. On a personal note, Dr. Roach and her husband have lived in the north Phoenix area for over 16 years. Her son is a nursing student at Northern Arizona University while her daughter is a business student in the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She has two Rottweiler puppies and enjoys spending time with them every day!
Jill Sarraino currently is the Principal of Mountain View Elementary School, located in the Washington Elementary School District. Mountain View is located in the heart of Sunnyslope, serving almost 1,500 Preschool through 8th grade students. Jill graduated from the University of South Dakota in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, with a middle school Language Arts focus. She earned her master’s degree in 2008 from Northern Arizona University in Educational Leadership. Jill taught and coached in the Cave Creek Unified School District for 10 years prior to accepting the Assistant Principal position at Palo Verde Middle School in the Washington Elementary School District in 2008. After 4 years as Assistant Principal, she moved into the Principal role at Palo Verde. After her 6 years as an administrator at Palo Verde, she and her staff were able to take the school from a state label of a D label to a B label. Jill believes truly that “it takes a village” to run a school. With the support from not only her staff, it is essential to include parents, community, business leaders, and faith based partners. Jill is married to Mike Sarraino, former CSHS school counselor, and her son Joey is a 10th grader at Cactus Shadows and daughter Ellie is an 8th grader at STMS.
