Faculty and staff updates, September 2025
New to the team
Kaitlyn Beaver she/her
Lower School music
Mrs. Beaver arrives at Gordon having just relocated from Yokosuka, Japan, where she spent the past three years teaching music to Kindergarten to fifth grade and establishing a fifty-student after school choir for third, fourth and fifth grades. Before that, she taught a similar age range in the Keystone Oaks district in Pittsburgh, PA. Her training includes the Orff-Schulwerk pedagogy, the Kodály method, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and Gordon Music Learning Theory, and she holds a B.S. in Music Education from Duquesne University.
Kristi Budd she/her
Counselor
Ms. Budd joins the Gordon team after twenty-three years working in mental health, student wellness, teaching, admissions, and administration at the Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia. Gordon’s values and mission align closely with those of Paideia, and Kristi is excited to find a place that will let her to build on her two decades of experience while allowing her to be nearer to family in the Boston area. A licensed mental health counselor, she earned a B.A. in Communications at Boston College, a M.A.T. in Elementary Education at Emory University, and an M.S. in Mental Health Counseling at Walden University.
Meredith deChabert she/her
Head of School
Dr. deChabert started at Gordon in July, after a fourteen-month transition that drew participation from throughout the Gordon community and, in the process, reaffirmed what students, faculty, parents and alumni value about Gordon School. She comes to Gordon after twenty years in leadership roles at Rye Country Day School in Rye, NY. Meredith holds a Ph.D. in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in
Anthropology from Columbia University.
Oonagh Delaney she/her
First grade parental leave substitute
Ms. Delaney will be on the first grade team during the first semester of the year, covering Lily Chase-Fielding’s parental leave. She comes to Gordon with two decades of experience teaching in preschool to first grade in California. A committed practitioner of anti-bias education, she found Gordon through a search for an innovative, progressive school. Originally from the northwest of England, she earned a B.A. in Education and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Manchester University.
Michele Kaine she/her
Nurse
Nurse Kaine is excited to join the Gordon health office from the Fain Clinic at Miriam Hospital in Providence, where she served as a registered nurse. Prior to Miriam Hospital, she served as a substitute school nurse in East Greenwich, where she provided direct nursing care to a diverse population of students in the elementary, middle, and high schools, and as a registered nurse at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where she provided care to pediatric patients. Nurse Kaine also is no stranger to Gordon, having served as the on-site nurse for a session of Summer at Gordon. Nurse Kaine earned her B.S. in Nursing from Rhode Island College.
Mayuko Kobayashi they/them
Middle School art electives
Mayuko Kobayashi is an animator, film maker, artist and RISD graduate. They were born in Japan and lived in many countries before coming to Rhode Island. Mayuko will offer an animation class that will layer physical movement, puppetry, and storytelling. From flipbooks to invented drawing tools to puppet-making, students will redefine previously conceived notions of physical animation and expand their definition of what can hold a story.
Jess Macdonald she/her
Second grade
Ms. Macdonald comes to Gordon from Friends Academy in North Dartmouth, with five years of experience leading classrooms in Prekindergarten to sixth grade. Her most recent work focused on language arts work with neurodivergent learners in sixth grade, and she is glad to be returning to lower school to become part of Gordon’s second grade team. Her training includes the Orton Gillingham method that Gordon uses in language arts, and the same Math in Focus approach that Gordon employs schoolwide. She earned a B.S. in Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Pennsylvania State University.
Mia Schon she/her
Middle School art electives
Mia has studied painting, film, design and business and currently has a vibrant practice as a mosaic artist and teacher. Mia lived in Tel Aviv for many years and her mosaics are in public art spaces internationally and in the US as well as in hospitals and schools. Mia will bring a mosaic elective to seventh and eighth graders this fall, a course that will involve tile cutting, goggles, grouting, and will help students grow their toolkits for personal expression.
Lauren St. Martin she/her
Middle School health and Middle School math
This year, Mrs. St. Martin joins the team at Gordon to partner with Eric Kravitz and the Middle School math department and with Veronica Jutras on Gordon’s health and wellness curriculum. She first got to know Gordon while serving as key long-term substitute last year, and her skill set is a perfect match for the Middle School’s needs this school year. Lauren’s classroom experience includes time in middle schools and high schools in Southeastern Massachusetts, and she earned a B.A. in Biology from Colby College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Bridgewater State College.
Familiar faces in new places...
This year, Middle School Director Matthew Boyd and Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning Alethea Dunham-Carson will each teach a section of eighth grade humanities. Between the two of them, they have decades of experience teaching history, humanities and social studies to middle and high school students, and each already serves as a chaperone on the eighth grade Civil Rights Trip, an experience that gives them a deep understanding of how eighth grade humanities fits into the schoolwide curriculum in general.
After serving in an interim capacity for much of last year, Laurie Clark is now our permanent Early Childhood Creative Arts Teacher while also taking on new responsibilities as Arts Department Coordinator. Laurie has fourteen years of experience teaching arts in a variety of elementary and middle school settings, most recently in Providence’s Paul Cuffee School, where she created and implemented a culturally responsive curriculum serving students in Kindergarten to fifth grade. She also has eight years of arts administrative experience that will serve her well in her role as arts department coordinator, as she works alongside the arts department to ensure that our arts program remains robust, innovative, vibrant and mission-aligned.
This year, Lower School Director Minna Ham will serve as the Kindergarten to First Grade Learning Specialist and Learning Support Coordinator, building on her previous work as a Gordon first grade teacher, Gordon’s first literacy specialist, a role she held for seven years, and founder of Gordon’s Pathways Program for young readers. While she will continue as Lower School Director, she will also teach first grade Pathways and support early literacy development in Kindergarten alongside Early Childhood Director Cendhi Arias Henry and the Kindergarten teaching team.
Andrea Del Sesto, who currently supports Kindergarten to second grade, will become Second to Fourth Grade Learning Specialist and Learning Support Coordinator, teaching second to fourth grade Pathways and coordinating academic support needs in our upper elementary grades, and Annie White will coordinate learning support in fifth to eighth grade to become Middle School Learning Specialist and Learning Support Coordinator, offering students and families support from the very beginning of their journey in Middle School through graduation in her role as a learning specialist, support coordinator and a high school counseling coordinator.
Susan Trencansky will return to Gordon’s sixth grade team to cover for humanities teacher Alison Lewkowitz, who will be on medical leave. Susan first arrived at Gordon in 2005 to teach in Gordon’s Middle School, and three of her children have graduated from Gordon since then. Susan was one of the primary architects of the current sixth grade curriculum and since stepping down from fulltime work at Gordon in 2023, she has remained a consistent presence on campus as substitute teacher and tutor.
This year, Assistant Head of School for Institutional Advancement and Community Engagement Veronica Jutras will return to the classroom to teach Lower School health. Veronica led the development of this curriculum when she served as Gordon’s Wellness and Athletics Director, and she is looking forward to partnering with Lauren St. Martin to sustain this essential piece of Gordon’s program.
After three years of serving as a Faculty and Staff Professional Development Coordinator and a year in her current role as Dean of Faculty and Staff Professional Development, Rebecca Zakin’s leadership role will be expanded to become our first-ever Lower School Dean, working alongside Ms. Ham in service to Lower School teachers and students. Rebecca’s experience with curriculum coordination, her work as a successful instructional coach and as a veteran teacher with fourteen years of Lower School experience position her well to take on this new role. Rebecca will also be able to support the bridge between Lower School and Middle School by continuing to teach Middle School math.
Current third grade teacher Maggie Friedfeld was originally hired to travel with this class from third through fourth grade, but instead, she will remain in third grade while fellow third grade teacher Mateal Lovaas Ishihara will move up with the current third grade, a natural transition that returns Mateal to fourth grade, where she taught in the 2022 school year.
Head of School Meredith deChabert and Annual Giving and Engagement Manager Greg Carson will be serving as Middle School advisors this year: Meredith in the sixth grade and Greg in eighth. It’s a return to the familiar territory for both of them; the two administrators have dozens of years of middle school teaching experience between the two of them.
Same roles, new titles
When Greg Carson joined the Philanthropic Engagement Team last year, he was hired as the Annual Fund Manager. Within weeks, it became clear that Greg’s title didn’t accurately reflect his work, particularly given his talent for relationships and community building, and his title was appropriately changed to Annual Giving and Engagement Manager.
Last year, Damon Ray and Peter Soto shared leadership of the athletics program, as Peter served as Director of Wellness Initiatives and Athletic Programs, while Damon served as Director of Athletics Operations. With Peter’s departure and Damon’s continued leadership and commitment to our athletics program and providing a meaningful experience for our student-athletes, Damon will head that program as Athletics Director.
Happy news in first grade
Megan Ali is expecting to go on parental leave as 2025 comes to an end. More details on how her leave will be covered will be shared in the months ahead.