Apples and teachers.

For decades, these two things have been synonymous. In the early 19th century, education wasn’t free. Poor families generally supplemented their education fees by providing teachers with baskets of apples and potatoes. Therefore, an apple was usually perched on their desk. Nowadays, education is free for age eligible students across America. To honor the tradition, however, new teachers were posed with apples.

Cassandra Carroll
Welcome to new staff member Ms. Cassandra Carroll, is a 6th grade, red pod, Language Arts teacher.
She attended Marist College, and when Ms. Carroll was a student she had a language arts teacher who taught in a different way; he allowed his students to create stories, conference, revise, and share the writing. This way they were constantly learning.

“I teach because I want to make learning fun and contagious. I know that when students are learning in the classroom, they are able to spread their wings outside of school. Reading, in particular, opens up many windows in the imagination and brings us places we’ve never actually traveled to. I want to build readers and learners who are successful in their overall lives,” said Ms. Carroll.

Kristen Hayslip
Ms. Kristen Hayslip earned her master’s in special education from Fairfield University and her bachelor of arts in history, political science and social economy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Prior to joining our team at BMS, Kristen worked as a special education teacher at Hope Academy in Orange, Connecticut, and as a special education teacher at Perry Hill School in Shelton, Connecticut.

This is not her first time at BMS; she worked as a paraprofessional while getting her Masters.
She said, “I love teaching and am very excited to work with my students this year. I get to work very closely with them all and see them throughout the day.”

Samantha Gettings
Ms. Samantha Gettings teaches language arts in the 6th Grade Purple Pod. She attended Albertus Magnus College as an undergraduate did her master’s work at and the University of Bridgeport.
“I teach because I love to learn, and I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn. I have always been passionate about working with children and pursuing deeper, meaningful thinking while having fun, of course!”

Jessica Rabine
One of the new teachers is a guidance counselor, Mrs. Jessica Rabine. Mrs. Rabine attended Pennsylvania State University. Mrs. Rabine currently is a 6th grade counselor and will continue to move up with them next year, and the following.

She loves and enjoys helping kids. “I am a school counselor because I wanted to make a difference in the world. I believe the students are our future and the best way to invest in our future is to support the young people in all aspects of life. I like to think of it as teaching students about themselves,” said Mrs. Rabine.

For this year, Mrs. Rabine’s goals include, making sure that the 6th grade class feel that they always have support at Bedford, additionally, she would like to help them learn how to advocate for themselves, gain self-awareness academically and socially/emotionally.
She would also like to help them make goals for themselves, and teach them to stick with their goals.

Kelly Siegrist
Ms. Kelly Siegrist is a psychologist for the 6th grade. Before she came to Bedford this year, she was a middle school psychologist in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Ms. Siegrist attended Franklin and Marshall College, and then Columbia University. “My goal is for all students to feel supported in middle school,” said Ms. Siegrist.

Emily Stanevich
Ms. Emily Stanevich earned her master’s in reading and special education and her bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
She comes to Bedford after working at Coleytown Elementary School.
Ms. Stanevich said, “I’m very excited to be at BMS. I really love helping kids learn and become leaders. It’s great helping kids make progress and learn new and tricky concepts.”