A handful of new teachers and administrative staff are coming to the schools of Windsor Central Supervisory Union. The Vermont Standard talked with five of them:
Hannah Leland
Hannah Leland
Hannah Leland loves learning so much that she hasn’t stopped since she graduated from Johnson State College. She earned a master’s degree from Plymouth State University in 2009 and now she’s working on her certificate of advanced graduate studies in secondary school administration and plans to earn her doctorate within the next 10 years.
“I love school. I love learning new things! So I have always planned to continue my education and one day acquire my doctorate. I also am doing it to show my daughter the importance of education and that if you want something bad enough, you can achieve it with enough effort,” she said in an email.
Leland is the new dean of students at Woodstock Union High School.
She will oversee student discipline at WUHS, taking over the position from Jeff Thomas.
Leland was the curriculum, instruction and assessment coordinator at the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center. She has eight years of experience teaching English. She taught sophomore English at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Canaan, New Hampshire and before that taught at the Caledonia School in St. Johnsbury. Outside of learning, she loves community. She’s the director of the North Haverhill Fair, a fair she started volunteering at when she was 15, after being involved in 4-H and a competitor in the horse show.
“Without a strong community what do you have? You have to learn to give to others and do so selflessly. I grew up in the community where the fair is and have always felt a sense of pride being a part of that community,” she said.
Sarah Hahn
Sarah Hahn
Sarah Hahn is a new science teacher at Woodstock Union High School.
The 28-year-old spent this past year teaching science in Leeds, England.
“I always wanted to teach abroad,” said Hahn.
Hahn grew as a teacher in the United Kingdom, where she said the education system is heavily geared toward testing. Before her stay in England, she taught for five years at Naperville Central High School in the suburbs of Chicago.
Hahn has a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. She lives in Lebanon now.
“I wanted to come to WCSU because of the community and the passion and dedication of the teachers at WUHS. I’m really excited about the direction the science department is heading,” she said.
Katie Jacobsen and Ashley Stagner
Katie Jacobsen
Two new teachers, Katie Jacobsen and Ashley Stagner, taught at Hamilton Central School District in New York before they both coincidentally applied to the Windsor Central Supervisory Union at the same time.
Stagner, 28, is the new part-time art teacher at Woodstock Union High School and Jacobsen will teach first grade at Prosper Valley School.
“It was a delightful surprise,” Stagner said.
Ashley Stagner
Stagner and Jacobsen were both at Hamilton Central for about three years. Stagner taught elementary, middle and high school art classes while Jacobsen taught third grade.
Last spring, Jacobsen, 27, was named one of PBS’ most innovative educators for her use of technology in the classroom.
Students in her class ran a blog, published their writing and created videos and podcasts, for example. Jacobsen views technology as a tool, “especially in a rural environment to bring the world to the classroom,” she said.
Allison Greene
Allison Greene is the new fifth grade teacher at Prosper Valley.
Greene, 33, is an avid trail runner, hiker and cross-country skier, spent two years teaching outdoor environmental education in Montana, California and Wyoming.
She has a master’s degree at Columbia University in New York City and had been a second and fourth grade teacher in Brooklyn before applying to the job in Pomfret.
“I love building strong communities in my classroom, getting kids excited about great books, playing math games, and teaching hands-on science,” said Greene, 33, who lives in Woodstock.
“I recently had a baby and my husband and I both love being outside, so we were ready to move out of the big city,” she said.
This article first appeared in the August 25, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.