New Leaders in New Roles: 2016-17

Susannah Bell, Special Education Program Supervisor, BHS

For the past 18 years Susannah has worked as an English teacher, special education teacher, and teacher on special assignment at Berkeley High School, and is now stepping into the role of program supervisor for special education at BHS. Prior to Berkeley High, Susannah was as an English teacher in Florida for approximately nine years and worked for three years as Coordinator of the Omega Program, which provided services to students at risk of not graduating from high school. Susannah earned a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Florida State University, and a master’s degree in English Literature from San Francisco State.

Prior to being selected as the principal of Jefferson Elementary, Mary was a special education teacher and teacher on special assignment for 14 years in our district — 3 years at Longfellow Middle School and 11 years at Jefferson Elementary. She has served as the teacher-in-charge at Jefferson since 2007 and held various leadership roles in which she has been recognized for her deep commitment to equity, understanding of instruction, and skill with students, teachers, and parents alike. Mary is also a parent of 5 students who have attended our schools.

Shannon comes to Berkeley High School from Aspire Public Schools where she was most recently the director of instructional coaching. Previously, Shannon served as supervisor of formative assessment for San Francisco Unified School District, an assistant principal in New York, and as a teacher of French, English as a second Language, Spanish and Drama. She also brings leadership experience in special education. Shannon’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in French from Dickinson College, a master’s degree in French Studies from New York University, and a master’s degree in Education from Harvard University.  While obtaining her degrees in French, she studied abroad in Toulouse and Paris.

A National Board Certified Teacher, Tamara Friedman is one of two newly appointed BHS Vice Principals. Tamara has served as an educator in various capacities including as a Spanish and English Language Development teacher at Berkeley High School since 1994, professional development lead teacher at Berkeley High School for the past 3 years, and for two years as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco.  Tamara’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in education from Stanford University, and a master’s in school administration from Cal. She is also a proud graduate of Berkeley High School.

Allison is the new Instructional Technology Coordinator for our school district. She is highly regarded by teachers and principals alike and has held various educational positions in Oakland and Berkeley over the last 15 years. She has served as a math and science teacher, bilingual elementary teacher, math coach, ELD intervention teacher and teacher on special assignment for instructional technology. Allison is bilingual certified, national board certified, Google Educator certified, and was recently named a Desmos Fellow. Her educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Anthropology from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in education from Cal.

Prior to being appointed to lead Berkeley Technology Academy (BTA), Ardarius served as Dean of Students at BHS where he provided guidance and conflict mediation to students and families, contributed to significant drops in overall suspension rates, and among other roles, extended his leadership to the African American Studies Department. Ardarius has been a special education teacher and a teacher on special assignment, and previously worked in West Contra Costa Unified School District and Sausalito Marin City Unified School District. Ardarius’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a master’s degree in educational leadership from UC Berkeley.  

With a demonstrated commitment to equity, quality instruction and family engagement, Susanne was chosen as the new Assistant Principal at Malcolm X. She has held several positions, including seven years as an elementary teacher in Fremont and, over the last five years was an elementary school teacher at Jefferson.  Susanne has also served as equity teacher leader, facilitator of the Teachers of Color Network, and Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA). Susanne’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in politics from UC Santa Cruz and a master’s degree in fine arts from Sarah Lawrence College.

New to Berkeley Unified as Dean of Students at BHS, Kiernan is known by his peers for inspiring educators to grow and meet the challenges of teaching. He brings his educational experience of approximately 10 years of service as a general education and special education teacher and two years of administrative experience as assistant principal in the Oakland Unified School District. While in Oakland, he was trained in restorative justice practices and received the Teaching Excellence Award. Kiernan’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree from Bard College in political studies, human rights and Latin America studies and a master’s degree in special education from San Francisco State University.

Melody joins the special education department as a program supervisor. Most recently she worked in Pittsburg Unified, and brings additional experience from positions she held in Mt. Diablo USD and San Francisco USD.  Melody has a wide range of experience from positions as a paraprofessional, parent liaison, parent project instructor, special education program specialist, special education supervisor, and special education coordinator. Melody’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree from Cal State East Bay in human development and a master’s degree from Cal in social welfare.  Melody also holds a pupil services credential and an administrative services credential.

Erin has once again been tapped for her strong leadership. In her new role, Erin will continue to fulfill vice principal duties, be responsible for the extremely complex master schedule and support administrators new to BHS. Erin’s career in our district began in 1998 as a teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School.  Since then, she has worked as a math and AVID teacher at Longfellow, teacher on special assignment in the Research and Evaluation Department and the Professional Development Department, and most recently as vice principal at BHS.  In 2012-13, Erin was granted a sabbatical leave to study Finland’s educational system. Erin’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in history from Cal and a master’s in educational leadership from Cal State East Bay.