Tonight from 6:30-8:45pm, Curley K-8 journalism teacher Steve Lawrence will participate in a panel discussion entitled “What’s the Boston Public School System Doing to Achieve Excellence Despite the Budget Cuts?” The panel, comprised of experienced Boston educators, also includes Laura Perille of EdVestors, who is a former Curley parent (now mom to two high schoolers).   The group will discuss a number of innovative projects that are currently underway in BPS schools in Jamaica Plain and Roslindale.

This event will take place at the Farnsworth House (90 South Street in JP – corner of Child Street near the Agassiz School) and is open to the public.   BPS parents are welcome and encouraged to attend to hear the panelists talk about the challenges they face as they strive for excellence in education – and, more importantly, how they’re addressing these challenges.  Topics will include the achievement gap, the drop-out rate, English Language Learners and special needs students, teacher competency and retention, and parent involvement.

The Panelists:
Rosa Berriz – Co-lead Teacher, Boston Teachers Union School
Erik Berg – Board member, Boston Teachers Union, Philbrick Elementary School Teacher
Waleska Landing-Rivera – Principal, J. F. Kennedy School
Steven Lawrence – Middle School Teacher, Curley K-8 School
Anne Whittredge – Adjunct Faculty Member, Simmons College & Collaborator with the Boston Public Schools
Lisa Gonsalves (Facilitator) – Associate Professor, UMass Boston
Laura Perille – Executive Director of EdVestors

Detailed Panelist Profiles
Eric Berg is a second grade teacher at the John D. Philbrick Elementary School in Roslindale where he serves on the Instructional Leadership Team. He has taught elementary school for 19 years, starting at a public school in Brooklyn, New York and including stints in Brazil and Ecuador. He has worked as a Spanish bilingual teacher and in general education. Eric is currently a member on the Executive Board of the Boston Teachers Union, on the Negotiating Team, and the Committee on Political Education. He also chairs the Governing Board of the Boston Teachers Union School, and serves on the board of Common Core, a national organization advocating for a broad and diverse curriculum for all students. A father of two students in the Boston Public Schools, Eric and his family live in Jamaica Plain.

Berta Rosa Berriz is currently the co-lead teacher for the lower school of the Boston Teachers Union School, an innovative teacher-run pilot school in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain. Born in Cuba, she is a national board certified bilingual teacher and has taught in the Boston Public Schools for over thirty years. An adjunct faculty member at Lesley University in the Arts in Learning Department, she is also a published writer, dancer, and storyteller. Her doctoral research work investigated the relationship between the cultural identity of Puerto Rican and Dominican second-generation students and their teachers’ assessment of their academic performance. Berta was named a Massachusetts Teacher Scholar by NEH in 1992 which supported her research on the folktales and storytelling of the Spanish and English speaking Caribbean cultures. She also received the Lucretia Crocker Fellowship (1990) for integrating special need students with advance work students and curriculum using team teaching, thematic education, cooperative learning and integrated cultural arts.

Waleska Landing-Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, was appointed principal over a year ago of the John F. Kennedy School, a “turn-around school” in the Hyde Square area of Jamaica Plain. In 1990 she came to Boston with a degree in accounting but decided on a career change after volunteering and substitute teaching at the Agassiz School and at the Sarah Greenwood School in Dorchester.  At the Greenwood, Waleska was quickly recruited for a kindergarten teaching position. Receiving a master’s degree in special needs education and with intensive training in Reading Recovery and other specialized reading programs, she broadened her teaching skills beyond the traditional classroom to include working with special needs students, being a resource room specialist, and serving as a Reading Recovery teacher. More recently, prior to her current position at the Kennedy, Waleska worked as a literacy coach, assistant principal and director of instruction at the Greenwood School.

Steven Lawrence has taught full-time in the Boston Public Schools since 2003. Currently he is teaching journalism to 6th-8th grade students at the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain.  The journalism class is characterized by a participative culture in which students chair meetings, take turns as the “Newsroom Manager” and pursue stories that naturally interest them and which they believe may be relevant to their readership.  Near the end of the nine or ten week class session, the students produce a school newspaper called “The Curley Chronicle.” Presently the students are experimenting with “going green” and producing a simple, online version.  Steven earned his Masters Degree in Learning, Teaching and Educational Transformation from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.  The LTET program specializes in organizational change, collaboration and creative thinking in the classroom and on the organizational level.  Future plans include the pursuit of doctoral studies in organizational theory or a related field of study that views school transformation through the lenses of workplace ethics, organizational culture and school government.

Laura Perille is the Executive Director of EdVestors, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that partners with philanthropic donors and education leaders in order to accelerate change in urban schools. It combines strategic private investment, education expertise, and engaged implementation support. Launched In 2002 by a group of philanthropists and business leaders, the organization under Laura’s leadership has directed nearly $12 million dollars in funds for urban school improvement efforts in Boston and Lowell. Prior to joining EdVestors, she led Perille Consulting Group, whose clients included public and private schools and systems, foundations, and a variety of nonprofit organizations serving children and families. Previously, she served as a director of education at Crittenton Hastings House, a policy analyst for Community Catalyst/Families USA, and director of programs for the Greater Boston Food Bank. Laura and her family live in Jamaica Plain and her children attend the Boston Public Schools.

Anne Whittredge has over 35 years of experience as a classroom teacher, arts educator, principal and adjunct faculty member at Simmons College. A longtime educator and administrator in the Boston Public Schools, she went on to spend more than half of her career as a public elementary school principal at the Broadmeadow School in Needham before her retirement in 2008. During her tenure there, Anne initiated programs to strengthen urban-suburban educational partnerships. One program linked students and teachers from Needham and Boston elementary schools for shared science explorations of the Weir River. Currently, as a performance evaluation specialist, Anne coaches principals in the Boston Public School system on teacher supervision and evaluation. A resident of Jamaica Plain for many years, Anne also consults in the areas of school leadership, classroom culture, new teacher support, mentor training, and Response to Intervention (RtI). At Simmons, she continues to teach two classes in the Educational Leadership program.

Kathryn Riley (Facilitator) has worked in the field of English Language Learner (ELL) education for her entire professional career.  She began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda, was a faculty member at Roxbury Community College for 14 years, and also served on the adjunct faculty at UMass-Boston and Salem State College where she taught teachers second language acquisition and methodology. Most recently, Kathy worked for the Mass. Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) as the administrator of the Office of Language Acquisition. A resident of Jamaica Plain for almost 30 years, Kathy is working toward her doctorate on a topic involving non-native English speakers.