Dean Lesicko currently directs the Student Assistance Program called Breakthrough, and the Elementary School Counseling Program called R.A.I.N.  Dean was instrumental in the design and implementation of both programs which began with the assistance of grant funds that he helped secure.
Dean was born in Santa Monica and attended public schools in Southern California, Illinois, and Maryland.  By the time Dean reached his sophomore year of high school he had attended 18 different schools.  He credits this experience with making him especially attentive to students who experience a high degree of transition. He also indicates that he is thankful for having had the opportunity to sample so many different institutions during the first part of his life.
He received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1979 and immediately went to work as a caseworker at a residential facility for male probation wards, Boys Republic.  Dean and his wife lived on the grounds of that facility and despite the intense stress and trauma they had to endure, they remain married to this day. While at Boys Republic, Dean began working on his masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. During one of his first courses he was required to write an autobiography.  While writing the autobiography, Dean realized the significant role played by one of his third grade teachers, a man who went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure Dean had the resources and support he needed to be successful in school. Following this insight, Dean decided to change his major to school counseling to position himself in schools in order to maximize the likelihood that he could have the same impact on a student as his third grade teacher had had on him. 
Dean earned an M.S. in Counseling from California State University, Long Beach while working full-time as a group home supervisor. Upon earning his credential, he began working as an attendance coordinator at Duarte High School. The following year he was selected as the initial school counselor to be hired at a new high school in Temecula.  He worked three years at Temecula Valley High School. While there, he helped establish a Student Assistance Program during the 1988-89 school year. He then left when granted the opportunity to help open the district's new continuation school.  Dean worked at the continuation school for twelve years as a counselor and served a short stint as interim principal before leaving to take a position at Murrieta Valley High School in 2002.  The same year that Dean's favorite baseball team, the Angels, won the World Series.
In 2005, Dean was selected to help create a District Student Assistance Program for Murrieta Valley Unified School District. During his first week on the job he again crossed paths with Jan Ryan and Jim Rothblatt. He had visited the Student Assistance Program they had created in Desert Sands and he knew he wanted to do something similar. Through a Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communties Grant written in collaboration with Jan Ryan and Riverside County Mental Health, Dean was able to secure the funding needed to help put the program together.
Dean currently teaches in the Counseling and School Psychology Department at Azusa Pacific University. He is also Past- President of the California Association of School Counselors (CASC). Dean possesses an Administrative Services Credential and a Pupil Personnel Services Credential. He has a long-standing professional interest in student assistance programs, alternative education, and youth development. Dean is also interested in creative methods for enhancing collaborative efforts between K-12 schools and the surrounding community.
For fun, Dean likes to go hiking with his wife. He also enjoys spending time with his four children and two grandchildren.  He plays basketball a few times a week (more if he can find a good pick-up game), reads voraciously and takes genuine pleasure watching baseball and listening to music