PLS Hires 3 New Staff

By Sophie Gala

  Did you know that Project Learn School (PLS) hired three new staff members for the 2013-2014 school year? They're names are Sean Leber, Rebecca Zeldin and Dorian Dean. All were hired over the summer, which is a challenging time to hire teachers.

    The process for hiring  a teacher at PLS has many steps, each of the three new staff members at PLS had to go through them. First, the PLS Personnel Committee met and wrote an ad for the position and then put the ad for the position in many different places, one of which was the Chestnut Hill Local. As the resumes came in, they were looked at by the committee and some were eliminated. After a second look through, phone interviews were conducted with some of the candidates. Of those who were interviewed on the phone, a few were chosen to come to school to teach a sample class, which was followed by an interview with the whole committee. The Personnel Committee had to come to consensus on who would be the best fit. The job was offered to that applicant.

Jordan Shapiro, PLS Lead Parent, said the hardest part of doing this was finding someone who would fit in with the culture of PLS. The other challenge was coming to consensus on the decision. Jordan went on to say, "There were several reasons PLS needed three new teachers this year. Liz Ben-Yaacov retired over the summer, and it was important to replace her with a new math teacher. Also, Liam Galagher taught English to the Jr. High last year, and the staff felt it was important for him to have time to teach science to the younger groups. Plus, the staff wanted to get a teacher who would teach English and Spanish to the Jr. High. Jane's Group this year was so large, it was important for her to have an assistant."

    

Sean Leber on the third floor.

Sean Leber, the new math teacher, was born in Boston, Massachusetts and went to the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst. He did not  graduate from college to be a teacher. However, after he joined 'Teach for America,’ a program committed to helping kids from all backgrounds, he discovered how much he loved to teach. He taught at Olney Charter School for two years. A couple years ago he did sample classes with Liz's math class and really enjoyed his experience.Then  he traveled across the world and taught African refugees in Israel for  two more years. He came back to the USA and began his search for a job. Sean’s hobbies are music and technology. He collects head phones, and has one cat named Jeffery. He thinks the hardest and best part of teaching at PLS is enjoying the chaos.

   

Dorian Dean with some of her students.

Dorian Dean was born in Baltimore, Maryland and went to college at Tyler School of Arts at Temple University. Dorian has always been interested in teaching and  taught ceramics at multiple schools prior to this year, plus she ran an after school program. She was wondering what it would be like to teach full time when Debbie Pollack who used to teach art at PLS told her about  the assistant teaching position. Dorian's hobbies are cooking and art. She collects stones and has one cat named, Fifty. She thinks the hardest thing about teaching at Project Learn School is teaching kids to “make choices through freedom. “ The thing she likes the most is the sense of community and the passion of the other teachers.  

Rebecca Zeldin outside her room.

Rebecca Zelden was born in Washington D.C and went to Haverford College. She has always been interested in novels, and she has wanted to teach since she was ten years old. Rebecca knew she wanted to work in a cooperative environment  and Project Learn School is certainly that. Rebecca said she likes the people at PLS. She thinks the most difficult thing about PLS is how well other people think she does her job. Her hobby is hiking and she has one cat. Rebecca doesn’t collect anything, but she used to collect snow globes; she said she used to have over two hundred of them. All three teachers are fitting nicely into the school culture. Make sure to say hi when you see them.