THE
STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 |
TO: |
The Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee |
FROM: |
Johanna
Duncan-Poitier |
SUBJECT: |
Appointments to the State Professional
Standards and Practices Board for
Teaching |
DATE: |
August 9,
2005 |
STRATEGIC
GOAL: |
Goal
3 |
AUTHORIZATION(S): |
|
Issue for Decision (Consent
Agenda)
Should the Regents approve the appointment of
new members to the State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching
and appointment of a new Board co-chair?
Required by Rules of the Board of
Regents.
Proposed
Handling
Approval.
Procedural
History
Terms for members of the State Professional
Standards and Practices Board for Teaching are set forth in Regents Rule 3.14.
The Board of Regents appoints members to the Standards
Board.
Background
Information
Six vacancies exist on the Standards Board.
Also, a co-chair position is vacant due to the resignation of one of the
co-chairs in June.
The following persons are recommended for
appointment as new members: Cheryl Lee Freedman (public), Rosemary B. Harrigan
(teacher), Susan W. Mittler (teacher), Shelley Rappaport (public), and Patricia E. Roberts
(teacher). A current Board member, first appointed in the public category, is
recommended for reappointment in the higher education category: Anne Marie
Tryjankowski. In addition, Board member Eric R. Gidseg is recommended for a
two-year appointment as co-chair. One vacancy remains for a teacher
member.
Brief biographical sketches of new members
and a list of the current membership are
attached.
Recommendation
VOTED: that Rosemary B. Harrigan (teacher
member), Susan W. Mittler (teacher member), and Anne Marie Tryjankowski (higher
education member) be appointed, each to a four-year term, beginning September 9,
2005 and ending June 30, 2009; that Patricia E. Roberts (teacher member) and Shelley Rappaport
(public member) each be appointed to unexpired terms, beginning September 9,
2005 and ending June 30, 2006; that Cheryl Lee Freedman (public member) be
appointed to an unexpired term, beginning September 9, 2005 and ending June 30,
2008; and that Eric R. Gidseg be appointed to a two-year term as co-chair,
beginning September 9, 2005 and ending June 30, 2007.
Timetable for
Implementation
Members’ terms will begin immediately upon
appointment.
The University of the State of New
York
The State Education
Department
State Professional Standards and Practices
Board for Teaching
Cheryl Lee
Freedman
Membership Category: Public
Central Hudson
Region
Parent Teachers
Association
Cheryl Freedman is a member of
the Central Hudson Region Parent Teachers Association where she serves as chair
of legislation for Rockland, Orange, and Sullivan Counties. She is also active in the Tuxedo Union
Free School District, serving as past PTA president from 1999-2001, and as a
member of the Comprehensive District Education Plan (CDEP), Annual Professional
Performance Review (APPR), and Character Education Committees. Mrs. Freedman has a career in aviation,
and is employed as an airline pilot by Continental Airlines. At Continental Airlines, she is a former
Boeing 727 flight engineer instructor pilot, and is currently a peer pilot
counselor assisting other pilots.
Formerly, Mrs. Freedman taught school as a substitute teacher in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Mrs. Freedman serves on the Tuxedo Town Planning Board and acts as an
aviation merit badge counselor for the Boy Scouts of
America.
Mrs. Freedman has a B.S. in Ed. in English from California University of
Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Ed. in special education from William Paterson
University.
Rosemary B.
Harrigan
Membership Category: Educator
Executive
Director
The Greater Capital
Region Teacher Center
Rosemary Harrigan has served as
executive director of The Greater Capital Region Teacher Center for the past
five years. The Center encompasses
the 93 public school districts, four BOCES and 83 non-public schools in the
Capital Region. Ms. Harrigan first
joined the teacher center staff in 1993 as a program specialist. Prior to this, she taught social studies
in the Duanesburg Central School District, where she retains her position on the
faculty. Her 23 years of classroom
experience includes teaching in the East Greenbush and Shenendehowa school
districts. She has designed,
delivered, and evaluated countless professional development activities over the
past 35 years.
Ms. Harrigan has served on the board of the Schenectady County Historical
Society and is a member of the New York State Archives Visitors Committee. In 2001, she received the State Archives
Award for educational uses of local government
records.
Ms. Harrigan has a B.A. in history from Marygrove College, Michigan, and
an M.A. in social studies from the State University of New York at Albany. She did additional graduate work under a
summer fellowship at Haifa University, Israel, in
1987.
Susan W. Mittler
Membership Category: Educator
President
Ithaca Teachers
Association
Ithaca City School
District
Susan Mittler has served as president of the Ithaca Teachers Association
for the past 11 years. Since
joining the Ithaca City School District in 1981, Ms. Mittler has taught nursery
school through third grade, as well as worked in Project Opportunity, the
district’s gifted and talented program serving K-5 students. Prior to joining the Ithaca City School
District, she served as lead teacher in the Community Nursery School for three
years.
Ms. Mittler serves on the NCATE Board of Examiners and the Ithaca
Sciencenter Advisory Board. She is
active in parent-teacher associations at the local, state, and national
levels. She holds honorary life
membership in the New York State Parent Teacher Association and National Parent
Teacher Association and served as NYS PTA vice president for six years. Ms. Mittler was honored with the PTA
Life Achievement Award in 2004 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2001. She served on a State Education
Department School Review Team and is an active member and past president of
Delta Kappa Gamma, the Women’s Education Association. She volunteers as an instructor in a
collective bargaining simulation course at the College of Industrial and Labor
Relations of Cornell University.
Ms. Mittler has a B.S. in human development and family relations from
Cornell University and an M.S. in elementary education from the State University
of New York College at Cortland.
She has additional training in labor law from the College of Industrial
and Labor Relations, Cornell University.
Shelley Rappaport
Membership Category:
Public
Research/Operations
Associate
Manpower Demonstration
Research Corporation (MDRC)
Shelley Rappaport joined the research staff of MDRC, a non-profit policy
research corporation, in 2005, where she is involved in studying the education
of students in low-performing schools.
Ms. Rappaport’s prior experience includes serving as a resource
specialist at the New York City BETAC (Bilingual/ESL Technical Assistance
Center) and as a policy analyst for the Hispanic Federation and the Puerto Rican
Legal Defense and Education Fund.
She began her career as a teacher of bilingual education and ESL, and
from 1990 through 2001 taught at numerous schools, including P.S. 19 and P.S. 89
in New York City, the Elysian Charter School of Hoboken and the Los Angeles City
Schools. She served as a teacher
trainer in Los Angeles’ alternative credential program. In 2001, Ms. Rappaport earned National
Board Certification in Early Childhood Education. She has served as an adjunct professor
at Fordham University and the College of New Rochelle and, since 2000, has been
a mentor for the UFT, working with New York City teachers pursuing National
Board Certification.
In 2004, Ms. Rappaport was appointed to the New York City Community
Education Council in Community School District 2. In 2003, she received the New York State
TESOL Special Recognition Award for her work in bilingual education while at the
Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and in 1995 was the recipient of a
Toyota Science Innovation Grant.
Ms. Rappaport has a B.S. in philosophy from the London School of
Economics and an M.A. in Ed. in administration from California State University,
Los Angeles. She is currently
pursuing an M.P.A. degree from New York University’s Wagner School of Public
Service.
Patricia E.
Roberts
Membership Category: Educator
Special Education
Teacher
Garden City School
District
Patricia Roberts has been a special education teacher in the Garden City
School District since 1999. Ms.
Roberts serves as an elementary resource room teacher, and has taught special
education at all levels during the past 18 years, in both public and non-public
schools. She is an instructional
leader and serves on the district’s Positive Strategies, Crisis and
Instructional Support teams.
Ms. Roberts was honored with the Richard Gazzola Teacher Fellowship Grant
in 2003 for teachers pursuing advanced study in education. She served on a Middles States
Association Evaluation Committee in 2002 and participated in the New York State
Alternate Assessment Pilot program in 2000. Ms. Roberts is an adjunct professor both
at Molloy College and in Mercy College’s preparation program for New York City
Teaching Fellows. She has served on
a local school board for nine years and is a member of the Special Education
Parent Teacher Association in Garden City.
Ms. Roberts has a B.A. in elementary and special education from Marymount
College, an M.S. in Ed. from Queens College of the City University of New York,
and an Advanced Certificate in administration from the College of New
Rochelle.