SLA

Staff

Principal: Chris Lehmann – clehmann [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Chris is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA. Chris has returned to his native Philadelphia after nine years as the Technology Coordinator at the Beacon School in New York City, one of the leading urban public schools for technology integration.

In 2006, the National School Board Association named Chris one of "20 to Watch" among American administrators. In 2001, Chris was honored by MOUSE (http://www.mouse.org) as a Champion of Technology and Education for his work on building the portal at the Beacon School. Chris has spoken at educational technology conferences all over the world, including the International Conference on Technology and Education in 1998 in Edinburgh, Scotland and at LinuxWorld 2000 in San Jose, California. Chris received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Chris is the author of the education blog Practical Theory: http://www.practicaltheory.org

Development Coordinator: Jon Amsterdam – jamsterdam [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Jon boasts a twenty year career in youth leadership and citizenship development work. He has founded and directed a number of nationally recognized youth community service programs, assisted in the creation of the Americorps national service program, and developed the design of many popular project based learning initiatives across the country. As a trained lawyer he has taught high school civics and other Law Related Education curricula, as well as served as a Service Learning Instructor at Temple University. Most recently he managed a University of Pennsylvania sponsored multicultural civic engagement program bringing together students from eighty of Philadelphia's city and suburban high schools for collaborative public problem solving experiences. His broad background in community based pedagogy makes him a perfect fit for SLA.

History: Matt Baird – mbaird [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Matt is a fifteen-year veteran teacher coming to us most recently from Abington Friends. Matt has taught in Quaker schools in New York and Pennsylvania as well as teaching abroad in Costa Rica for four years. Matt has a deep pedagogical background in community service as well as a powerful vision for a case-study methodology for the teaching of History.

Biochemistry: Tim Best – tbest [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Tim comes to SLA from the Boston area, where he has most recently been working as a high school technology integration specialist, collaborating with teachers to develop technology-based projects. Previously, he taught 4 years of physical science and biology. Tim's experiences with both inquiry-based science teaching and the use of technology in the classroom make him a great fit for SLA.

Humanities: Joshua Block – jblock [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Joshua has taught in public schools in the Philadelphia suburbs, New York City, and Philadelphia. He received his B.A. and M.S. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. He received additional education while living in Jerusalem and Cameroon and while working as a cabinetmaker. Joshua is passionate about the belief that education should be a tool that allows people to both understand and transform their individual and collective realities.

English: Alexa Dunn – adunn [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Alexa has spent the last five years at Friends’ Central as an English teacher and has spent the last year as the Director of Publications as well. Alexa is experienced in using cutting edge technologies such as podcasting in the English classroom, and in addition to her abilities in the classroom, she is someone who can provide powerful teacher leadership in the creation of the school’s vision. Alexa received her Masters in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University

Spanish: Jillian Gierke – jgierke [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Jillian has just finished a full year of student teaching as well as a MAT in Spanish (with a focus on Service Learning) from Indiana University in Indianapolis. She has experience teaching Spanish at the university level as well as teaching English to teenagers in Spain. She will be spending most of the summer in Salamanca, Spain taking classes at the Universidad de Salamanca before making the big move to Philadelphia!

Counselor: Karina Hirshfield – khirshfield [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Karina brings a wealth of experience to SLA. She has been the founding counselor of a charter school, so she is well prepared to create the systems necessary to run an innovative and effective guidance program. In addition, Karina will be working with the faculty to craft the core of our advisory curriculum. Before becoming a guidance counselor, Karina spent six years as an ESL teacher in New York City, so she will give our emerging English language students added support.

Digital Arts: Marcie Hull – mhull [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Marcie has spent the last five years at Shoemaker Middle School in SDP. She brings a powerful understanding of both the fine and digital arts and their role in schools. She has established a reputation as one of the top digital arts educators in the city. Marcie comes to us highly recommended by the Educational Technology Group as a perfect fit for SLA’s mission.

English: Matthew Kay – mkay [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Matt is a product of the Philadelphia Public Schools, having graduated from Saul High School and West Chester University. For a young teacher, Matt has had an incredible amount of teaching and coaching experience, having worked as an assistant football coach at West Chester, as a Summerbridge Math and English teacher and as a teacher and naturalist at the Awbury Arboretum.

Information Specialist / Librarian: Paul Scaer – pscaer [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Paul is making the move from Masterman to SLA. He has been the librarian at Masterman for many years, and he has established himself as one of the premier Open Source “Blended” librarians in the country. By coming to SLA, Paul is able to take his vision of the digital school beyond the library and into the larger school culture. Along with Marcie, he will form the backbone of our digital information pedagogical faculty.

Biochemistry: Gamal Sherif – gsherif [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Gamal is a veteran teacher and administrator who has worked for SDP, with independent and in the charter school movement. He has run his own consulting group, Progress-Ed, and he has worked with several schools on curriculum mapping and educational design.

Computer Support Specialist: Franky St. Pierre – fstpierre [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Given SLA’s unique technological mission and infrastructure, it was essential that we found a CSS who could innovate. Franky St. Pierre is that person. Franky is a recent graduate of Penn State’s Information Science and Technology program and is fluent in many computer programming languages and has a background in educational technology support, both at the university and high school levels.

Mathematics: Yenche Tioanda – ytioanda [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Yenche has just completed her two-year Teach For America assignment at Ben Franklin HS. Before going into teaching, Yenche received her Master in Architecture from the Harvard School of Design. Between her work in Boston with at-risk youth and her work in architecture, she brings a real-world project-based mindset to the teaching of mathematics, which makes her a perfect fit for SLA

Biochemistry / Math: Matt VanKouwenberg – mvank [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Matt comes to us from West Philadelphia HS. He is currently the Math Department chair there, and by coming to SLA, he will be able to take full advantage of his background as a double major in biomolecular engineering and chemical engineering at Penn. Matt is a Yale Teaching Fellow, and he has been running staff development workshops for the district.

Special Education: Anissa Weinraub – aweinraub [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – Anissa is a Philadelphia Teaching Fellow who is coming to us after working at Kensington CAPA High School. Before coming to the School District of Philadelphia, Anissa was involved in education as the Assistant Program Director of an after-school arts program in Providence, RI, as well as teaching in the CCP Upward Bound program and at a charter school in Philadelphia. She also has experience in educational theater, touring college campuses with an independent theater troupe that explored issues in the Middle East. Anissa is working toward her MA in Education at Temple University, and she received her BA in Urban Studies/Creative Writing from Brown University.

Spanish: Melissa Yarborough – myarb [at] scienceleadership [dot] org – SLA will be Melissa’s first year in an American school. She is finishing her certification program at U. Penn after receiving her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr. She spent a year in Chile developing and implementing a GED program for adults. She is currently working at Independence Charter in their bi-lingual program. Melissa brings many innovative ideas to the teaching of Spanish and Hispanic culture.

The School District of Philadelphia
School Reform Commission
James E. Nevels, Chair
Martin G. Bednarek
Sandra Dungee Glenn
James Gallagher, Ph. D.
Daniel Whelan

Paul G. Vallas, Chief Executive Officer
Gregory Thornton, Ed. D., Chief Academic Officer
Albert Bichner, Deputy Chief Academic Officer
Janet C. Samuels, Center City Regional Superintendent

The Franklin Institute Science Museum, 222 North 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
www.fi.edu