Professional Status

Photo: Brianna Normile, who earned her professional status from the school district she attended for her entire elementary and secondary education, including graduating from Belmont High School.

Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan said this year’s celebration on the granting of 26 educators’ professional status was special for him on a personal level. One of the educators who were honored on Oct. 27 at a virtual meeting of the Belmont School Committee was a student he knew a decade ago when he was an assistant Middle School principal.

“I won’t call her out,” said Phelan, but said it was so rewarding to have taught her and now seeing her as a teacher.

Under state statute, a teacher who has served in the public schools of a school district for the three previous consecutive school years is deemed to have earned “professional teacher status,” which is sometimes referred to as tenure.

Included in the group includes Brianna Normile, who earned her professional status from the school district she attended for her entire elementary and secondary education, including graduating from Belmont High School.

Noting that the keepsake given to him 17 years ago when he earned his professional status as a teacher at the Chenery Middle School is on his desk, Director of Human Capital Mike McAllister, gaining professional status is no small accomplishment as it not only means each teacher, specialist and leader met expectations but will serve the larger mission: to educate the children of Belmont and prepare them for the future.

This year’s teachers and educators include:

Eleanor Ahlborn-Hsu
Elizabeth Willis
Margaret Dagon
Kerry Eaton
Nicole Frisone
Meghan Gallagher
Scott Giusti
Lauren Grossi
Kaitlyn Kennedy
Emily Communiello
Lea Walsh
Elise Stoppel
Stephanie Chan
Melissa Chalmers
Jennifer Richards
Elizabeth O’Connor
Sara Carson
Lisa Carlivati
Brianna Normile
Sonia Neuberger
Kassie Bettinelli
Steven Berson
Catherine Monnin
Sarah McInnis
Marella Averill
Tawnya Lewis

Photo: The ‘Override” Class of newly minted professional educators.

A quiz of teachers gathered at the Chenery Middle School on Tuesday, Oct. 9 to celebrate a milestone in their career; earning their professional teaching status in the Belmont public schools. Each in the group had successfully completed three years teaching or working with educators and had started their fourth school year last month.

And it’s a whopper of a class: 33 teachers and administrators by far the largest number of educators to earn professional status in the collective institutional memory of administrators attending the ceremony hosted by the Belmont School Committee. Mary Pederson, the schools director of human resources, said the number reflects both retirements and “that this year marks the first group of staff that was hired with the funds from the (2015) override we successfully passed.”

“And I know the students and parents in the district … are grateful we have all of you out in the schools teaching classes and helping to keep our class sizes aren’t so big,” said Pederson. Superintendent John Phelan and School Committee Chair Susan Burgess-Cox greeted and presented each attending educator with a small gift

The educators are: