About Us
Your Red Path Learning Team
Nothing about us, without us
Our Approach
We support schools and organizations in understanding that all education in Massachusetts happens on Native land.
Additionally, we work with educators in their growth to disrupt educational practices that continue to inaccurately depict Native knowledge, histories, and continued resilience of the original stewards of this continent.
We are encouraging and supportive but also provide straightforward feedback when appropriate as well as help hold space for the processes and reflections through cycles of inquiry and collaborative problem - solving and growth.
Ask us about a tailored program of professional development, coaching, assessment, and technical assistance for your district, school, or organization that can meet your specific needs and goals. RPL excels at drawing together the right multidisciplinary team for you, with deep expertise and experience in
Providing infrastructure support such as: conference planning, professional development support and points (PDPs) certification, professional learning communities (development and co-facilitation)
Strategic planning support including, but not limited to, development of land/waterways acknowledgement action plans, course development, and curriculum review
How to center a place-based protocol
Considerations for use of AI
Research and evaluation
Communications
Who we are
José works to learn how to serve and provide support as requested by Native Entities (American Indian/ Alaskan Native federal & state tribes) and individuals for consultation, technical assistance, and curriculum development. His area of focus is Native and Indigenous wellness and educational practices. José’s inclusion and advocacy with indigenous communities in his homeland and in MA give him an insight into how education continues to impact students and educators in the omission of Indigenous perspective in schools. José has benefited from learning the accurate history of the Mashpee, Aquinnah, & Herring Pond Wampanoag tribes. He has supported Native entities through the State Tribal Education Partnership, Traditional Ecological Knowledge conferences, and Native Teacher Retention initiatives. His work with DESE via Investigating History 3rd & 4th grade History & Social Studies curriculum and the Racial Imbalance Advisory Committee help keep José connected to advocate for more native representation in schools. José is a Chicano-Macehualli and has a Masters in Multicultural Literature.
Itza’s work is informed by an emerging understanding of her ancestral Indigeneity. She has worked internally and externally with José when he was the Native Education Liaison at the Collaborative for Educational Services. Itza is passionate about supporting learning by cultivating and curating spaces of belonging across leadership settings. Her work focuses on building collaboration, facilitating dialogue, and navigating potentially challenging topics. In addition, she works on curriculum development, design, and evaluation. Itza has worked in private, public, and non-profit realms as a bilingual educator and administrator for students across the developmental lifespan. She holds both a BFA and an MAT from Manhattanville University, and earned her PhD in Educational Leadership with a graduate certificate in Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice from the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Like José, Itza has benefitted from learning the accurate history of the Mashpee, Aquinnah, and Herring Pond Wampanoag tribes.
José Lugo, M.A.
Founder & Co-Director
tlacatl, he, him
jlugo@redpathlearning.org
Itza D. Martínez, Ph. D.
Co-Director
she,her,ella
imartinez@redpathlearning.org
Board Members
Amanda Lugo
Carlos J. Martinez
Igda Martinez
Dr. Igda Martinez is a mother of four and current PTA president for her children's elementary school. She is a strong advocate for social and emotional learning as an important component of education in both schools and the home. Dr. Martinez's research focused on Latino mental health and cultural idioms of distress. She dedicated the first part of her clinical career in community mental health settings, with a keen emphasis on identities and cultural concepts in understanding health and wellbeing. Dr. Martinez then became the director of a dually licensed outpatient mental health department in a nonprofit primary care clinic that served primarily unhoused families in NYC. She now has a private practice in Westchester, NY.
Carlos Martinez, Lead Product Manager at PayPal and Red Path Learning board member is a U.S. veteran turned technologist, driving scalable solutions that transform developer workflows. From leading enterprise CI/CD transformations to organizing PayPal’s first AI Summit for 250+ developers Carlos is passionate about empowering teams and accelerating innovation. His expertise lies in utilizing AI to amplify developer experience and align technical solutions with business outcomes.
His devotion to technology and leveraging its capabilities align with RPL to shape the way AI is utilized to empower Native entities and all users to reduce biases when AI is implemented.
She is a member of an indigenous, bi-racial, bilingual family with an investment in Waldorf-inspired education and educational social justice initiatives. She is interested in cultivating empathy and holding space for young children while nourishing a love for and connection with the natural world. She is committed to the hard and messy work of self-reflection, exploring biases, and listening to and learning from others along the perpetual journey toward anti-racism.
At The Maple Hill Play Garden, she strives to create a nurturing, inclusive, home-like environment to help foster children's emotional growth and well-being.
As an Air Force "brat" Norm spent his early years bouncing around the world, but from the third grade on he was raised in Aurora, Colorado. He began working in schools in 1997, first as a paraprofessional and eventually in many different roles from behavior management to providing professional development to other educators. In 2014 he and his family relocated from Denver to western Massachusetts. Norm completed his undergraduate studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver in Special Education, his Master’s degree at Fitchburg State University in Curriculum and Teaching and is a Doctoral Candidate at American International College in Academic Leadership
After spending many years working in special education, Norm currently is an 8th grade Ethnic Studies teacher in Holyoke where he has worked for the last six years. In this role it is his goal to educate students about the history, culture, and experiences of various ethnic and racial groups, often focusing on marginalized or underrepresented communities. His hope is that through his class, he can promote a deeper understanding of diversity, social justice, and the ways in which race, ethnicity, and culture influence society.
In addition to José & Itza, we are honored to have
the following amazing people as part of our board.
Contact us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!