Photo: Fifteen of the seventeen educators who were granted professional status by the Belmont School District. 

For Elizabeth Gentes, Tuesday night was the culmination of her giving Belmont students a first-class education. In return, the School District recognized that effort and her skills by saying “thanks for sticking with us. We’d like you to stay,” she said. 

Gentes was one of 17 educators the Belmont School District recently bestowed professional status onto, who were honored at a ceremony held on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the Chenery Middle School. Professional status is granted to outstanding educators by the superintendent or school principal after their third consecutive year, providing what is essentially a type of tenure and some measure of job security.

“It’s really exciting. The past three years have gone by so fast,” she said. 

The 17 educators include:

• Jennifer Aller, High school math
• Danielle Bayardi, Grade 5 math and science
• Catherine Bresnahan, Special ed at Chenery
• Kristen Colavito, First grade at Wellington
• Lindsey Costa, High school chemistry
• Lindi DeLorio, Elementary ELL
• Caitlin Elgert, Fourth grade at Winn Brook
• Elizabeth Gentes, Sixth-grade science at Chenery
• Jennifer Hebert, High school math
• Jacqueline Kaiser, High school French
• Yasmin Khan, Fifth-grade math/science at Chenery
• Christa Lesiczka, Third grade at Wellington
• Lianne McCann, Speech and language pathologist at Chenery
• Meghan McGovern, Second grade at Winn Brook
• Daniel Moresco, High school math
• Allison Ruane, Sixth-grade social studies at Chenery
• Mina Vahedi, Kindergarten at Wellington.

Gentes said obtaining professional status was in many ways “a team effort. Everyone is doing their part,” from colleagues to administrators who encourage the third-year teachers to continue growing in their job and personally.

“It’s definitely not something you accomplish by yourself, but it feels really good to get there and know all the support that was behind you. It really showed tonight of all the people who showed up to say, ‘Hey, you did it’.” Gentes said. 

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