Classrooms & Staffing Update
Transfers to Lawrence
I am pleased to announce that after interviews and speaking with in-district references, I have approved the following transfers to Lawrence from other schools:
Maxine Hunter, Grade 6 Science and English: Maxine has been teaching sixth grade at Runkle School for the past six years. She is active in district work to update the science curriculum. She has training in the Responsive Classroom program that emphasizes building community in a classroom, as well as Writer’s Express, a current writing program. Prior to teaching, Maxine worked as a school librarian and nutrition education consultant. She holds a BA from Cornell in Nutrition Science and a Masters of Arts and Teaching from Simmons College. I am confident she will be a terrific addition to our sixth grade team. Maxine will take over from Alexandra Leszczynsky, who is relocating.
Debbie Caruso, Occupational Therapy (.6 FTE): Debbie comes to us from Devotion School. She has worked in Brookline since 1995. She will take over the position vacated when Heather Newman relocated in January. Joanne Pascar will continue in the .4 FTE position.
Math Specialists Malia Scott (.4 FTE) and Katy McGraw (.6 FTE) come to us from Lincoln and Runkle respectively, joining Anu Advani to round out our increased math staffing. We will use the increase to provide additional math consultation to teachers as well as to offer intervention for students needing extra help.
Classroom Configuration
As of this writing, our class configuration for next year is as follows:
Kindergarten: 3 classes* with Nora Carpenter, Dominique Ferdinand, and Nao Rosenberg
Grade 1: 3 classes with Suzanne Coyne, Kris Frye, and Joanna Lampert
Grade 2: 3 classes with Jill Demsey, Marie Leman, and Jonathan Norwood
Grade 3: 4 classes with Alicia Hsu, Sharon Kiernan, Mary Lee Malandrakis, Jeremy Ward
Grade 4: 4 classes* with Justin Brown, Karla Cunha Cardoso, Leanne Dellibovi, TBA
Grade 5: 3 classes with Greg Porter, Jonathan Weinberger, and TBA
Grade 6: 3 classes with Pam Charpentier (Social Studies), Maxine Hunter (Science), and
Lora Smid (Mathematics). All 3 teachers teach English to their own homerooms.
Grade 7/8: 5 sections with Peggy Randall, Grade 7 English; Dianne Muendel, Grade 8 English; Charles Deily, Mathematics; Ryan Keser, Science; Jonathan Greiner, Social Studies; Zoë Kern, Grade 7 Spanish; Rachel Stein, Grade 8 Spanish and 7/8 French. Both Zoë and Rachel will continue to teach elementary Spanish .6 and .4 respectively.
* Note on number of classes: The district is seeking a location for an additional Kindergarten section. I have asked that it be located elsewhere due to long-term space needs in our school. We continue to monitor Grade 4, which could be reduced to three classes. Our known enrollment as of June 5 is 70, but I anticipate an increase during the summer.
— Rick Rogers, Principal
Click here to access the PTO Spring 2009 Grant Application.