Meet Our Staff
Our fabulous teachers come from diverse backgrounds and bring unique talents to the program. They strive to make BSED a welcoming and fun environment for all students. And with an average tenure of over a decade, our experienced teachers are second to none.
Janelle Conway, Co-Director
Janelle started at Baker School working in the office and found her way to the basement to join BSED 17 years ago. Her favorite activities to share with her students foster a sense of community, like zumba, or require practice to make progress, like knitting. She hopes these things will help bolster confidence in the children that they can carry with them as they grow. This is Janelle’s first year as Co-Director and is looking forward to the job! When Janelle is not at BSED she enjoys dancing, travelling, and spending time with her two little boys.
Kelsey Dullea, Co-Director
Kelsey is excited to be taking on a new role at BSED! She’ll be splitting time in the office and helping in the classrooms. She loves testing out new science experiments and researching new slime recipes that students are interested in! In her free time, she loves to travel and explore.
Bobby Uttaro, Team Support
Bobby Uttaro (Mr. U) has been teaching throughout Brookline for the past 10 years and lending his skills to BSED for most of that time too. One of his favorite activities at BSED is cooking with so many kids of different cultural backgrounds. Bobby loves playing games, learning new recipes, listening to music and seeing live concerts. You’ll see Mr. U supporting all of our teams this year! He’s the BSED Team Superhero!
Ana Pitt, Kindergarten Lead Teacher
Ana is in her first year with Kindergarten after getting her start with BSED with our 3rd, 4th, & 5th grade program. She loves working with kids and spends her summers as a camp councilor in New Hampshire. In school she was a competitive dancer and now enjoys doing dance choices with the kids. In her free time she likes going on walks and exploring new places.
Gail Shuttle, Kindergarten Teacher
Gail has been a teacher with BSED for the better part of 30 years. When she’s not coming up with fun and creative activities for the students in her program, Gail can often be found helping out with the children’s bell choir at the Littleton First Baptist church. Gail loves to travel and has done several mission trips to exotic locations all over the world. Her personal philosophy on teaching is that sometimes you just have to let children be children.
Mona Pollack, Kindergarten Teacher
Mona is so delighted to join you all here at Baker! This is her third year teaching; she loves the after-school setting because it allows room for kids to choose what they want to learn and direct their own learning, and gives them more flexibility to play, to be themselves, and to learn how to be in community with each other. She has a ton of fun leading building activities and crafts, and most of all she loves reading to and with the kids.
Adelenny Irizarry, Kindergarten Teacher
Happy to have you on the team, Adelenny!
Zach Smith, 1st & 2nd Grade Lead Teacher
Zach is the program coordinator for our 1st and 2nd grade program. He enjoys playing the piano as well as teaching children how to make short, simple movies. Zach, the parent of 2 children of his own, believes in the importance of ensuring that all of the students in his program arrive knowing that the teachers are happy to see them, that they have a safe and fun place to relax, that the teachers truly value all the ways they are surprising and unique, and that the teachers are listening and interested. In this way Zach hopes to provide each and every student an environment where they can feel engaged and empowered.
Colby Pitt, 1st & 2nd Grade Teacher
Colby is a teacher in our 1st & 2nd grade program. He enjoys cooking, spending time with his cats, and working on his Miata. He hails from Connecticut but is loving Massachusetts and BSED!
Lamonte Bond, 1st & 2nd Grade Teacher
Welcome to the team, Lamonte!
Yessica Barrous, 1st & 2nd Grade Teacher
Ms. Barrous (Ms. B) found out she loved working with children really early in life and has been teaching for 15 years. A recent addition to Baker School as a para, she found her way to Extended Day not long after. Ms. B is also a mother of 3 wonderful young men. One of her favorite quotes is, “Teaching children to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” -Bob Talbert
Lesley Lake, 3rd & 4th Grade Lead Teacher
Lesley is the program coordinator for the 3rd & 4th grade program. She is a talented artist and passionate about dance and theatre. Lesley believes that every child is unique and interesting and enjoys getting to know each one of them. Lesley loves creating fun and imaginative environments for the BSED students to play and grow in.
Dylan Krakowsky, 3rd & 4th Grade Teacher
Dylan is a BSED alum who is working with 3rd and 4th grade. They enjoy a wide range of engaging activities such as crafts, runways, and music making. They very interested in science and they take great pride in being able to share the wonders of our natural world with BSED students.
Kelsey Raymond, 3rd & 4th Grade Teacher
We’re happy to have you back, Kelsey!
Hakeem McKoy, 3rd & 4th Grade Teacher
Keem loves working with the children of our future. He emphasizes hands-on activities and differentiated instruction to meet the needs of each unique student. When he’s not teaching he enjoys reading, sports, and spending time with family. Keem is excited to partner with parents and students for a successful school year!
Meaghan Darling, 5th & 6th Grade Lead Teacher
Meaghan is truly versatile and is moving up to 5th & 6th grade after much of her time with BSED has been with the lower elementary grades. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in film so she is a real cinafile. She is a nerd who loves star wars, comic books, and dragons. She likes to cook and bake with the children. Meaghan is an animal lover who enjoys spending time with her dog Khaleesi. She also enjoys reading and writing and encourages the kids to do the same!
Jen Lindblom, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher
Jen teaches with our 3rd, 4th, & 5th grade program. She loves cooking and experimenting with foods and new recipes with the students at BSED. In addition to being a teacher, Jen is also an avid tennis player.
Rayshaw Matthews, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher
Mr. Matthews has been a 3rd-4th grade para at Baker School for the past two years. Ray loves working with children and has been loving BSED. During his free time, Ray enjoys watching and playing sports (mainly basketball) and even taking some time to coach. His favorite quote is, “Live every moment! Laugh everyday! Love beyond words!”
Osa Odeh, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher
Osa is excited to be part of the Extended Day Program. When she’s not hanging out with the awesome students, she is usually traveling to new places, snapping photos of cool spots, or designing fun projects. Osa can’t wait to make our students’ afternoons creative and full of adventure!
Daniel Primilsky, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher
Welcome to the team, Daniel!
Lydia Sellers, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher
Ms. Sellers came to BSED after working as a paraprofessional at Baker for a few years. She studied in Canada and spent the majority of her life in the United Arab Emirates. Working with children is her favorite thing to do. It is as much of an opportunity to learn for her as it is for them.
Myla Pellegrini, 5th & 6th Grade Teacher
Myla is a senior at Boston College studying Psychology, English, and History. She loves working with children and families and aspires to do it for her future career. Myla is originally from Honolulu, HI but has embraced Boston as her second home.
David Flick, 7th & 8th Grade Lead Teacher
David is the program coordinator for the 6th & 7th grade program. He graduated from the University of Miami where he studied Motion Pictures and Adolescent Psychology. Utilizing the principles of Positive Youth Development, David hopes to equip students enrolled in BSED with the proper coping skills necessary to ensure resiliency and encourage confidence. During his summers, David is also the head of the Video Department at Creative Arts at Park.
Nevaeh Kendricks, 7th & 8th Grade Teacher
Neveah aka Ms. K loves to swim, read, and write. She’s been working in childcare for 4 years now and enjoys making an impact on every child around her. Ms. K wants the kids to build great memories every moment they are at BSED and when they move on to high school she wants them to look at their BSED teachers friends as a positive part of their life that they will never forget !