Barton Welcomes New Teachers

By Brian Milavitz

Between retirements, sabbaticals, and forced realignments, this is a year of significant change in the teaching staff. However, we have been fortunate to get a group of new team members who come with experience, a diversity of backgrounds, and a passion for teaching.

Dawn White is new to the primary staff (grades 1-2). Dawn spent the last 11 years at Bancroft teaching first, second, and fifth grades. In her spare time she enjoys crafts, sports, and teaching aerobics. She and her husband Clarence have a ten month old future Barton student named Jake. Dawn comes to Barton as a result of the realignment of dually licensed teachers and replaces Marilynn O’Donnell who is now teaching special education at Lake Harriet.

Jesse Moyer joins the upper primary (grades 3-4). Jesse formerly spent six years at Ann Sullivan teaching grades two through five. He is especially interested in math, sports, and animals. Jesse replaces Scott Slocum who was sent to South High School as a special education teacher.

New to the Middles (grades 5-6) team are Lisa Lange and Katrina Belding. Prior to coming to Barton, Lisa was at Whittier Elementary for six years as a reading support teacher. She was also previously a regular classroom teacher at Marcy Open. Lisa loves books, has a passion for the arts, and is a modern dancer. She and her husband have two children, a 3rd and a 4th grader, who attend Lake Harriet School. Lisa replaces Lee Fabel who retired.

Katrina Belding replaces Rebecca Till who moved to grades 3-4 to take the place of retiring Mary Ann Fabel. An experienced open school teacher, Katrina spent the last twelve years at Webster Open where she taught grades four through eight. She likes math, drama, geography, and music. She plays the piano and flute.

Sara Van Der Werf is a new uppers (grades 7-8) math teacher. For the past 13 years, Sara taught math at Patrick Henry High School. Sara is passionate about math. She is nationally board certified math teacher who has been an adjunct professor of math education, an instructional leader for professional development, and a math mentor. Sara takes over for Helene Perry who left at the end of last term. This year she will be teaching geometry, CMP math, and an elective course this fall on math and elections. Ask Sara about the planned celebration of PI day.

Kris Shaban has a one year appointment to teach uppers math and social studies this year while Allison Rubin Forester is on sabbatical. He has previously taught at Franklin and Northeast Middle Schools. He is especially interested in history and biographies and is a very serious basketball player.