Our New Faculty and Staff

This has been a busy summer at HA. While the students have been frolicking in the pool and lounging on the beach, Mrs. Boothe, members of the lower school faculty, and I have spent much of our time interviewing and hiring a number of new teachers.  Consequently, I thought I would fill everyone in on the teachers who have chosen to join the Houston Academy family for next school year. 

Extended Day Program Director

Emily Granger

Emily Granger will be our new Extended Day Program (EDP) Director. Ms. Granger has an Associate of Science degree in early childhood education from Wallace College and is currently enrolled at Troy-Dothan, working on her B.S. degree. Emily comes with outstanding credentials and substantial experience running after-school programs.  I expect our daycare to be interactive and educationally oriented. 

Emily has a daughter named Olivia Anne, who is going into the third grade. She also has a dachshund named Mille, who Olivia views as her “sister.” Emily enjoys crafting with Olivia, junking flea markets, antiquing, watching Auburn football games, playing tennis, and reading.

Lower School Physical Education

Ginny Adams

Mrs. Adams is a certified teacher with a degree from Auburn University-Montgomery, and she is also a certified United States Tennis Association tennis professional. In addition to her 20 years of teaching in public schools, Ginny has spent the last two years working at HA as a teaching assistant and our as our JV tennis coach. In addition, many of our students have been taking tennis lessons from her over the past two years.  Personally, in my capacity as a "tennis parent," I've been thrilled with how well she has worked with our children as a coach.  We expect great things from her in PE, as well. 

Ginny is married to Scott Adams, and she has two children Sissy, a rising 7th grader at HA and Will, a ninth grader at Northside Methodist Academy. In her spare time, Ginny enjoys reading, playing, teaching and coaching tennis, and going to the beach.

3 Year-old Preschool

Chera Lee

Chera Lee will be our new 3P teacher.  Mrs. Lee has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Alabama. Previously, she has taught 2P, 3P, 4P, kindergarten, and 2^nd grade.  Additionally, Mrs. Lee has served as a teaching assistant and tutor and Grandview Elementary here in Dothan. Previously, she taught at Brookwood Forest Elementary and Grantswood Elementary in Birmingham. Chera is meticulous and assiduous, and has been a fantastic volunteer here at HA. 

Chera is married to Stuart Lee, and she has two children who attend HA – Douglas is in 3P and Mary Lawrence is in kindergarten. Her interests include running, reading, shopping, baking with her children, and spending time with family and friends.

Kindergarten

Cara Dennis

Cara Dennis will be teaching kindergarten this year. Cara was a member of the first third grade class at Houston Academy in 1970. She graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in early childhood education and received her masters from Troy University in early childhood education.

Cara has been married to Mark Dennis for 29 years. They have 4 children, 3 of whom have graduated from Houston Academy. Carolyne is 23 and is a nurse at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. Catie (21) and Jackson (18) are both students at Auburn University. Sam is 9 and is going to be in the third grade at Houston Academy. Cara is a member of First United Methodist Church, and she loves to spend time at the beach with her family.  

Tiffany Sulsberger

Tiffany Sulsberger holds a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Georgia State University with an endorsement in Mathematics. She also earned an M.A. in Secondary Biology from Western Governors University.

Tiffany’s hometown (Rome, Georgia) is very near my old “stomping ground” in Northwest Georgia.  Last September, her husband, Scott, took a position with Hornsby Tire Distributors and they were relocated to Dothan. Tiffany’s two children both attend HA. Her daughter, Lauren, will be in 5K, and her son, Ryan, will be in 3P.

Anne Zeron

Anne Zeron will be our new 5K teacher assistant. Mrs. Zeron grew up in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and graduated from The University of Alabama where she met her husband, Bryan.  Anne moved to Dothan three years ago from Jacksonville, Florida where she worked as a teacher’s assistant at St Mark’s Episcopal Day School.

Anne has two children, Mary Blake and George.  In between running her kids from activity to activity, she enjoy reading, exercising, and spending time with her family, which includes her dog, Oliver.

Learning Specialist

Lauren Thomas

Lauren Thomas is joining us this year as our Learning Specialist. She graduated from Auburn University (Magna Cum Laude) with an M.S. and B.S. in Communication Disorders from Auburn University. While working on her Masters Degree, she received the Outstanding Graduate Clinician Award, as selected by the professors and faculty at Auburn. She has also received Orton-Gillingham certification, which allows Lauren to work with students with dyslexia and other reading issues.

Ms. Thomas grew up in Dothan. She is the daughter of Jim and Pam Thomas.  Lauren loves Auburn football, going to Braves games, and running.

Upper School Learning Specialist and Registrar

Pamela Sewell

Pamela Sewell is joining the HA staff as the Registrar and Upper School Learning Lab Learning Specialist.  Mrs. Sewell taught in both public and private schools in Mobile and Phenix City for 10 years.  She taught special education, academic enrichment, algebra, geometry, and world history.  Mrs. Sewell has a B.S. in health education from Florida State University and an M.Ed in specific learning disabilities from University of South Alabama. 

Pamela was born in Dothan, but grew up in Panama City, Florida.  Mrs. Sewell is married to Dr. Joseph Sewell II and they have two children, Dr. Joseph H. Sewell III (a 2006 graduate of HA) who is in his second year of residency at University of South Alabama Medical Center and Ryan, who is currently in the ninth grade at Houston Academy.  In her spare time, Mrs. Sewell enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, and going to sporting events

3^rd Grade

Jo Ellen Nelson  

Ms. Nelson will be one of our third grade teachers this year.  She holds a B.S. from University of Alabama and an M.A. from Troy University in Elementary Education. Jo Ellen has worked as a third grade teacher and Instructional Coach in Dothan City Schools. Basically, Jo Ellen has been working with other teachers to improve their own teaching. Jo Ellen has a great deal of passion for children and for education.

On the personal front, Jo Ellen has three children: Joe, who is a world history teacher and head soccer coach and varsity academic coach at Northview; Sara, who is a senior at Troy University pursuing a medical career; and Virginia, who will be starting at Tuscaloosa this fall to pursue her dream of becoming a special education teacher. Jo Ellen loves to exercise (she ran the 2014 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta), to garden, and to read. One day, she hopes to write a children’s book!

5^th Grade

Erin Barragry

Erin Barragry comes to us from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  She attended the University of Minnesota where she received both her B.S. and M.S. in education and was a member of Rho Lambda Honor Society.  For those of you who are not familiar, the University of Minnesota has one of the top schools of education in the United States. Moreover, we are very excited about the technology skills and experience she will bring to H.A.

Ms. Barragry is looking forward to a new (and warmer) adventure here in Dothan. Outside of school, she loves to golf, hike, camp, travel, play games, and bake. Other interests include country music and going to football games.

6^th Grade

Lisa Cohen

Lisa Cohen will be teaching 6^th grade next year. She is joining us from Jacobson Sinai Academy in Miami, Florida, where she was a 6^th and 7^th grade teacher. Lisa graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from New Jersey City University. Currently, she is enrolled in an Educational Master’s program in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on digital leaning. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Cohen is excited about H.A.’s technology initiative and looks forward to using her technology integration skills in the classroom.

Outside of school, Mrs. Cohen has been a teacher of martial arts for many years. She currently holds the rank of Senior Master as a 6^th degree black belt. She also is very committed to working with various charitable organizations, but her greatest source of pride is her children. She and her husband, Melvyn, love to travel.

Sandra Egan

Sandra Egan will teach our third section of 6^th grade this year. Ms. Egan holds a B.S. in Education from the University of Houston with an additional certification in teaching talented and gifted children. Most recently, she taught 5^th and 6^th grades in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Earlier in her career, she was named teacher of the year at her school in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Sandra has come to Dothan due to her husband’s relocation with his job at Boeing.

Sandra is married to Bill Egan, and they have two children. John is 24 and is in graduate school at the University of Texas-Austin, and Brittany is 21 and is a dental assistant in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Brittany is getting married in May 30, 2015! Sandra enjoys scrapbooking, jewelry making, and gardening. 

Upper School Chorus and Music

Julie Arthur

Julie Arthur will take over our extraordinarily successful chorus program.  Julie has a B.A. in Music with an emphasis in Musical Education from Azusa Pacific University (CA), and an M.A. in Music, with an emphasis in coral conducting from San Jose State University. 

Julie possesses strong qualifications to lead any instrumental or choral program.  She has strong experience as a classroom teacher AND as a private music instructor.  She has helped organize and run a high school and junior college choral festival and has organized performance opportunities for her private students.  Julie's youth ensemble (through the Smith Academy of Singers) successfully performed with the Imperial Valley Master Chorale, as well as in a concert of its own.  As a conductor she conducted the world premier of “Our Father, Lord and Shepherd” by Phil Shakleton, and she recently conducted a group of singers on stage with the Rolling Stones! We are also very excited that she is an accomplished strings performer, and we plan on adding a strings program here at HA.  When we do so, we will have the only strings program in the Wiregrass. 

Julie is from a very small town in California. She and her husband, Peter, just got married last July, and they spent their first year of marriage living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Julie loves having tea parties and traveling the world, and her hobby is learning languages.  She does not have any children, yet, but she is "dying to get a puppy!" 

Mrs. Holman, Mrs. Boothe, and I could not be more pleased with the hires we have made this spring and summer. We have been lucky enough to find people who are not only outstanding in their field, but also have a passion for young people. Please join me in welcoming this outstanding group of new teachers to the HA family!

A Few Early Notes on Personnel For Next Year

Recently, faculty and parents have asked me questions about our job postings on the HA website. There are still a number of moving pieces, but here is what I can tell you, as of today. 

Athletic Director & Director of Buildings and Grounds

Jim Robbins will be changing roles.  Next year, Jim will be the Director of Buildings and Grounds and will continue to help manage Upper School discipline.

It has become obvious to me that our regular maintenance and upkeep has been lacking in several areas. This is not due to any lack of effort on the part of our maintenance staff’s, but rather, it is due to the fact that no one has actually been in charge of our facilities. We need someone to serve as a liaison to our contractors, solicit competitive bids, prioritize maintenance requests, procure materials and supplies, trouble-shoot and budget for future repairs, organize volunteers, and communicate with the faculty and staff. This will become especially important as we open our new Student Activities Center, make some long overdue repairs, and work to build a performing arts facility. Jim’s outstanding efforts managing our athletic facilities this year convinced me that he is the perfect person to take on a broader role with our campus.

Of course, with Coach Robbins serving Director of Buildings and Ground we now have an opening for Athletic Director. We are looking for someone with experience in athletic administration, who has strong technology skills, and who has independent school experience. We have formed a search committee consisting of Upper School teachers, administrators, and coaches, and we hope to have filled the position in the next few weeks.

Director of Admissions and Marketing

Another change for next year is that Leanne Todd has agreed to be our Director of Admissions and Marketing. If you know Leanne at all, you know that there is not a better ambassador for our school. She is highly organized, and her background as a parent and a teacher at HA makes her the ideal person to sell HA to prospective families. Shelly Phillipps will be moving into the classroom full-time, as our World and Classical Language program expands into the middle grades.

Learning Specialist

Thanks to the generosity of one of our grandparents, we have started a search for a learning specialist. The goal is to hire someone on who can help our students with dyslexia and other learning issues. As you probably know, having a learning difference has nothing to do with aptitude, intelligence, or ability to complete a college degree. You might also be aware that some of the world’s most talented and brilliant artists, scientists, and innovators had dyslexia.  A brief list of famous people with dyslexia includes Alexander Graham Bell, Pierre Curie, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Woodrow Wilson.

Students with learning differences need a different approach to learning. What bright students with learning differences do NOT need is a “dumbed down” curriculum or lower expectations. Currently, there are a number of students at HA who are hard-working, bright students who are struggling because we do not provide the support they need to reach their full academic potential. In fact, in many cases, students and parents have hidden their learning issues from the school because of a fear that they would be asked to leave HA.

By adding the position of Learning Specialist, we hope to augment what is being done by Patti Flowers in the H.A.L.L. (Houston Academy Learning Lab) to help our students achieve to their highest potential. This is consistent with the practices of a great number of quality independent schools throughout the country.

I should also note that Pamela Sewell has agreed to come on board for next year to work with any Upper School student who may need tutoring or extra academic assistance. Many students in the Lower School who have benefited from the HALL have found the lack of assistance in the Upper School quite difficult. In fact, I thought it was strange that we offered learning assistance to children through grade 6, but then did not provide that same assistance in the middle grades – a time when our children are going through some of the most dramatic biological and chemical changes.

Pamela has already worked with a number of our students, and as a substitute and parent, she is very familiar with our culture and our student body. Pamela will continue as a substitute at HA, and she will also be handling our attendance records.

Upper School Chorus and Drama Teacher

While HA has an outstanding visual arts program and an outstanding vocal and instrumental music program, our curriculum lacks is the dramatic arts. Despite the best efforts of Mrs. Arens, our drama numbers have been low, and it has been quite some time since we have had any sort of musical or production that involved students from across the Upper School.

I firmly believe that one cannot have a truly fine independent school without a thriving fine and performing arts program. Frankly, we are not where we need to be in this regard. Part of our struggle is due to the lack of an adequate performing arts facility. Regardless, we must have school-wide performances in both the Lower and Upper Schools. Shelley Keeley is working on expanding the lower school offerings for next year. In the Upper School, we are hiring a full-time teacher to continue our outstanding chorale music program and to direct the production of musical and dramatic performances. 

Lower School Positions

We will spend more time later in the year celebrating the careers of a number of faculty members who are retiring or who are leaving us, but for now, we do have a number of openings in the Lower School.  Mrs. Boothe has formed a search team, including members of the Lower School Academic Council, to hire the best available teachers for the following positions: 3P Teacher, 5K Teacher's Assistant, Kindergarten Teacher, (possible) 3rd Grade Teacher, and Lower School Physical Education Teacher.

We are conducting national searches for all of our openings, and we have been inundated with applications. You may read our job descriptions, which are posted on the employment section of the HA website at: http://www.houstonacademy.com/about-us/jobs/index.aspx  . Please encourage any qualified applicants to apply.  Houston Academy is a great place to work!