Instructor Biographies
Meet Our Very Accomplished Staff!
We are college professors, award-winning educators, published authors and district leaders.
See why we are so proud of our wonderful staff of instructors!
See why we are so proud of our wonderful staff of instructors!
Professor Judi Weissman, Director and Instructor jweissmanCORE@gmail.com
Judi is entering her fourth decade as an educator and her passion for teaching is as strong now as it was when she first began her career. For thirty-four years, Judi taught English and Drama at Brentwood High School. During her time there, Judi was twice nominated for New York State Teacher of the Year and, in 1998, was named NYS Teacher of the Year First Runner Up. She was also the Hofstra University/News 12 Educator of the Month in 1999 and was three time Brentwood High School Teacher of the Year, in 1983, 1993 and 2004. In 2007, Judi received the Suffolk County Women’s Services Special Honoree Award and, to recognize the writing accomplishments of her students, the “Judi Weissman Award” was created for outstanding writers in Suffolk County public schools. Judi was a nominee for New York State Holocaust Educator of the Year and continues to provide Holocaust education. Judi is presently an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University and has been an adjunct at Brooklyn College. She has taught graduate level courses on topics including Writing and Literature, Leadership, Teacher-Student Relationships, Mental Health Issues in Children and Adolescents, Ethics and Education, Multiculturalism and Project Seminar. Judi mentored new teachers in Brentwood and has taught professional development courses for over twenty years. As CORE Director and an instructor, Judi is eager to work with teachers in ways that will enhance their own teaching and encourage them to maintain the enthusiasm and passion that led them to become educators.
Howard Block blockart91@gmail.com
Howie has been a secondary art and computer animation teacher in the Brentwood School District for thirty years. He has written curriculum for the NYS Studio Art and Cartooning Animation courses. While most of his experience has been at the high school level, Howie also taught at the middle school level where he was also the student council advisor and yearbook faculty editor. He has mentored new art teachers that come into the district and provided guidance for instruction and classroom management. In addition to his teaching career, Howie has been a martial arts instructor for over ten years. He has been studying jiu jitsu for more than twenty years, earning his first Black Belt in 1998 and currently holding a 4th Degree Black Belt. Howie worked summers as the Assistant Art Instructor at USDAN Camp For The Arts. Howie is eager to work with teachers as a way of encouraging them to bring more creativity to their instruction in all subject areas.
Cindy Combs crcombsCORE@gmail.com
Cindy has been a Social Worker in the Brentwood School District for over twenty years. Cindy has provided individual and group counseling as well as drug and alcohol prevention services. She has done assessments, interventions and referrals for youth at risk and special education students and collaborated with parents and faculty to ensure that students received appropriate services. Cindy is also responsible for training staff about child abuse identification and reporting. She has been a Career Counselor and Field Placement Coordinator for the Urban League of Long Island and worked for the Town of Islip as a drug and alcohol counselor. Cindy also served as a facilitator and counselor for the Structured Educational Support Program at Wyandanch Memorial High School. She was on the Board of Directors for the Suffolk Network for Adolescent Pregnancy/E.O.C. of Suffolk. Cindy received the Award for Distinguished Service from the Town of Islip for Women’s History Month, a Service Appreciation Award from S.N.A.P. and a Brookhaven Town Unsung Hero Award for Black History Month. Cindy Does a great deal of public speaking and has been a presenter at numerous educational forums. Cindy has taught professional development courses on topics related to student issues and is looking forward to her work at CORE and the opportunity to share her knowledge with educators.
Kara Cosolito kcosolitoCORE@gmail.com
Kara has almost 10 years of experience in education. Born and raised in East Meadow, Kara now has the privilege of teaching in the very town in which she was raised. Having taught children as young as Kindergarteners and as old as 5th graders, Kara has diverse teaching experiences. Always striving to make learning more engaging, there isn't a committee she has not been on. Currently, Kara is a member of the 5th grade Writing and Reading Committee along with facilitating curriculum writing over the summer for reading and writing.
Kara earned her undergraduate degree at Southern Connecticut in Psychology and a Masters degree at Hofstra University in Early Childhood and Childhood Education. Kara got married in 2019 to a New York City elementary school teacher and just recently, they welcomed a beautiful daughter to the world.
Kara has a true passion for working with children! Helping each child progress in all areas of their development—academic, social, language, and motor—is a challenge that she is honored to accept
daily. Kara strives to create a community of learners that nurtures this growth in a positive and
dynamic environment.
Caryn Drezner cdreznerCORE@gmail.com
Caryn teaches middle school and high school Spanish in West Islip and has also taught ENL at the secondary level and to adult learners. Caryn recently completed her Educational Leadership studies through Stony Brook University, with a focus on School District and School Building Leadership. As an administrative intern, Caryn led a new peer mentor program and collaborated with department chairs to run a collegial circle about cultural inclusivity in the classroom. She has also worked with students in environments outside of the classroom; she has coached golf and softball and served as a co-advisor for student council. Recently, Caryn has begun providing professional development within her district to help teachers understand the technological tools the district provides with the goal of helping educators tailor formative and summative assessments. Caryn looks forward to working with the educators taking CORE classes and giving them a meaningful and relevant professional development experience.
Dana Driscoll ddriscollCORE@gmail.com
Dana is a teacher in the Hauppauge School District and has taught grades K-4. For the past ten years Dana has also been a district-wide Intermediate Literacy Collaborative Coordinator for Hauppauge Schools. She has received extensive professional training enabling her to teach and coordinate staff development workshops and presentations in literacy. Dana is responsible for the creation of a leveled library in her district for grades K-5 for use with Guided Reading, Read Alouds and Shared Readings. As a CORE instructor, Dana wants to provide rigorous and quality courses to help educators strengthen the skills needed to teach to the Common Core Learning Standards.
Maryanne Edwards medwardsCOREpd@gmail.com
Maryanne spent ten years as a Special Education Teacher, Level III (Self-Contained, 15:1) in the Brentwood School District where she taught U.S. History and Government classes. Prior to that, Maryanne was the Director of Education and a classroom teacher for twelve years at the Copiague Christian Academy where she had classes in grades K-8. Maryanne’s area of expertise is taking the complicated subject matter and complex concepts of U.S. History and Government and breaking it down in ways that enabled her learning disabled students to pass the state Regents Exam. Maryanne is an adjunct instructor for Brooklyn College where she has taught courses including Moral Development and Moral Education and Teaching in Least Restrictive Environments. Maryanne is presently involved in the administration, evaluation and interpretation of standardized testing for Special Education students. She has been teaching professional development courses for over six years and looks forward to continuing her work at CORE, helping educators in all subject areas understand the needs, challenges and opportunities inherent in working with special education students.
Andrew Frisch andrewfrisch1107@gmail.com
Andrew is an adjunct professor in the Computer Science Department at Farmingdale State College and a math and computer science teacher in the Northport-East Northport School District. He also spent two years as an adjunct professor at Adelphi University and, from the same university, earned an Advanced Certificate in School District Leadership. His academic success at Adelphi led to receiving Adelphi’s “Dean’s Award” in 2012. At Northport, Andrew has accomplished his goal of increasing enrollment in computer science courses and has used his technology skills to help teachers as well as students. He is very involved in promoting the use of technology in instruction and that is something Andrew intends to share with the participants in his CORE classes.
Stacey Kimbell kimbellCOREpd@gmail.com
Stacey has been a secondary English teacher in Brentwood for over twenty years. After ten years as an executive in the business world, Stacey began her true calling as an educator. She has taught Advanced Placement Literature and Composition for the past sixteen years and has been an AIS specialist for fifteen years. Stacey is an adjunct professor at CUNY Queens. At both the district and BOCES level, she has written curriculum that has been implemented in her own school as well as in other Suffolk County districts. Stacey was chosen to write the Advanced Placement Scope and Sequence for Literature and Composition and that remains in place today. As an Evening High School teacher, Stacey worked with at-risk students helping them develop the skills needed to pass state assessments. Stacey has extensive experience in writing, developing and teaching professional development courses and has continued to expand her instruction to include the most pressing issues in education today. These include critical thinking, Common Core lesson implementation and formative assessments, all topics Stacey will cover in her CORE classes.
Debra Kiriewsky, Web Designer
Debra is the extremely talented and great appreciated designer of our entire website and all social networking connections. We are very proud of how beautiful our website looks and we have Deb to thank for its visual appeal and user-friendly nature! Debra brings this same level of skill, talent and commitment to her work as an educator.
Jessica Liakonis jliakonisCORE@gmail.com
Jessica has been teaching for fourteen years and is excited to share her experience, knowledge and enthusiasm with other educators. She is a teacher at the Willets Road School in the East Williston School District where she has taught 4th and 5th grades. Before that, Jessica taught elementary school in the William Floyd and Levittown districts. Jessica is currently in her second year co-teaching 5th grade. She has also completed training on designing and teaching professional development courses. In addition to her undergraduate degree in elementary education and psychology, Jessica earned her Masters in Literacy and brings this knowledge to her classes at CORE P.D. She was also part of Stony Brook University’s Educational Leadership Program and earned 125 post-graduate credits. Jessica has been a presenter at multiple Superintendent Day Conferences and led a workshop at St. Joseph’s Middle Grade Conference titled “Guided Reading Using Modern Literature.” She has co-taught using parallel teaching, station teaching, alternative teaching and teaming. Her expertise is in the areas of guided reading and writing, classroom management, reading workshops, using mentor texts to teach writing and providing strategies for educators to get their students excited about literature. Jessica is passionate about these topics and about the opportunity to work with educators in her CORE P.D. courses. Jessica wants to encourage teachers to use their own strengths and passions to benefit their students and create a dynamic learning environment. Her courses will provide teachers with exciting and current pedagogical strategies aimed at enhancing all areas of instruction.
Rosa Malley rosamalleycore@gmail.com
Rosa was born and raised in Puerto Rico to parents who taught her the importance of hard work, education and respect. As a native speaker of Spanish she is proud to teach her language to students and seeks as many opportunities as possible to share her culture with them as well. Rosa recognizes that the ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming more important in the increasingly integrated global business community. Because of this, her main objective is to develop cultural awareness and to help learners become cross-culturally competent in a society where Spanish speakers are the fastest growing minority group. Rosa graduated from Queens College and is certified to teach Secondary Spanish. She works in the Glen Cove School District for the past eleven years, teaching Spanish at the Robert M. Finley Middle School. Prior to that she taught at Deer Park High School. She is also a language translator and Spanish tutor and is a member of Long Island Language Teachers (LILT). Rosa strongly believes in the benefits of professional development and continues her own learning in order to provide her students with the newest and most exciting ways to learn languages. Rosa helps her students to understand that when we speak another language, we can perceive a different world.
Margaret Mavros mmavrosCORE@gmail.com
Margaret has been an extremely successful educator for over thirty years. In 2021, she retired from the Manhasset Public School District where she taught Special Education and Reading Classes at both the middle school and high school. Prior to that, Margaret taught in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. She is currently an Educational Consultant working with The Green Vale School and private clients. She has extensive experience in the professional development field as both a teacher and as a trainer. To broaden her own skills as a professional development instructor, Margaret participated in "Workshops That Work: Delivering Powerful Professional Development." This was part of the online faculty training at Connected University that enabled Margaret to refine the management, organization and online communication skills necessary to successfully facilitate online learning. From 2003-2021, Margaret taught a broad and impressive variety of online and hybrid courses at the Manhasset Teacher Resource Center. She has authored and implemented her own courses for over a decade and brings with her to CORE a great deal of experience, dedication, competence and knowledge.
Danielle Milazzo dmmilazzo@gmail.com
Danielle is a New York State certified educational technology specialist as well as a certified social studies teacher. Currently she is the instructional technology resource teacher at Northport High School. She also serves as the coordinator of Northport’s Academy of Information Technology. In 2014 Danielle was recognized as a "Bright Light" by the Association of Suffolk County Supervisors for Educational Technologies and presented a project involving professional development in blended learning environments including online webinars. As a result, her project was awarded a generous grant and she was able to purchase software for her district to present online PDs. Danielle has also served as an instructor at the LYC/PATCH summer institute at Touro Law School in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Over the past
six years, she has presented over 300 hours of technology related professional development for the Northport-East Northport School District. Danielle is passionate about blended learning, social media integration and digital citizenship and hopes to share her enthusiasm for educational technology in her CORE courses.
Mario Nardiello mnardiellocore@gmail.com
Mario has been a secondary math teacher in the Glen Cove School District for 17 years, serving as the AP Calculus teacher for 16 of them. Upon entering the district, he spearheaded the initiative to integrate SmartBoard technology into the classroom, and became the entire district’s trainer for its wider release. As a direct result, he was asked to be a trainer for the Inter County Teacher Resource Center, where he continued to train teachers from districts spanning all of Long Island. In addition to his Masters in Education, Mario holds a degree in Architectural Engineering, and has taught several college courses as adjunct faculty at both NYIT and Adelphi colleges. These past courses included titles such as “Exploring Math through the Arts and Architecture,” “Introduction to Space Planning and Interior Design,” and “3-Dimensional Computer Aided Drafting.” Mario enjoys bringing his unique background into the math classroom, weaving in his past professional experiences to bring life into what can typically be mundane math instruction. He looks forward to sharing his perspective on learning and collaborating with others, and genuinely believes that in life, we all have something to teach one another.
Thomas Sheehan tsheehanCORE@gmail.com
Tom has been a teacher in the Floral Park-Bellerose School District for the past six years. He is currently the 4th grade general education teacher in an inclusion class and the department’s grade chairperson. Prior to that, he taught briefly in the Locust Valley School District and the Rockville Centre School District. Tom also has his degree in administration, which he uses to lead and to utilize the knowledge and experience he gained. Through his years of teaching, Tom has taught Kindergarten through 4th grade. His teaching style is to create engaging lessons where his students are constantly moving, active and involved. Tom always encourages his students to follow their dreams and, fun fact, Tom competed in and won “Survivor, Season 39” which was his own personal dream. Of course, his fourth graders were quite impressed with this very exciting accomplishment! He is grateful for the opportunity to be a role model to his students. Tom believes students should be excited to come to school and he wants to help teachers develop lessons that excite and build relationships with their students. He looks forward to working with educators in his CORE Professional Development course!
Christopher Smith csmithCORE@gmail.com
Christopher is a technology education teacher in the Northport-East Northport School District. His skills in all areas of technology enable him to work with both students and teachers in his district. Christopher has taught both middle and high school technology class at Northport and worked in a Computer Program for three summers teaching K-8 students how to use technology safely and responsibly. At Northport Middle School, Christopher revised and rewrote curriculum for a technology elective; since his revisions were implemented, there was a measurable and dramatic increase in student enrollment and interest. Before becoming a teacher, Christopher worked as a software engineer for a small company. While there he designed and developed a program that was picked up by Siemens and eventually distributed worldwide. Christopher’s software enabled companies to more efficiently manage employee communication. As a CORE instructor, Christopher’s main goal is to improve educator proficiencies in instructional technology in ways that are in line with Common Core and NYS Education Department initiatives.
Loni Stein lonisteinCORE@gmail.com
Loni is entering her fourth year as a Special Education Teacher at the Willets Road School within the East Williston School District. Prior to working in East Williston, Loni worked as a Behavior Consultation Teacher for the Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism (NSSA) within the Commack School District. Loni continues her work with NSSA as a Parent Trainer for individuals with Autism. In this role, Loni works alongside students and their families both in the home and within the community. In an effort to provide her students with the most appropriate and comprehensive education available, Loni has dedicated herself to the integration of technology in her classroom as a means of support and engagement. In recognition of her success, Loni received the 2020 Bright Light Award for her Outstanding Achievement in Classroom Technology. She presented at the NYSMSA Conference on “Using Technology to Leverage Instruction in a Special Needs Classroom.” Loni recently began teaching courses through her district’s Teacher Center on the implementation of technology programs within the classroom to support all learners. Loni has a passion for raising awareness about individuals with disabilities. One of her main goals as a CORE instructor is to help the teachers and counselors in her class better understand and appreciate the diversity that exists within the special education community.
Dr. Bernadette Weltsek MbweltsekCORE@gmail.com
Bernadette Weltsek is a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership. She wrote a pioneering study on the "High School Experiences of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Young Adults." CORE Professional Development is extremely fortunate to have Bernadette teaching a course on these issues and sharing her expertise with educators. Bernadette has been a social studies teacher in the Comsewogue School District for over twenty-five years. She has taught social studies core classes and electives in grades 7-12 and served as the Subject Leader for the Comsewogue Social Studies Department for ten years. In the position, Bernadette was responsible for working as a liaison with administrators and overseeing textbook requisitions. Bernadette has extensive experience in curriculum writing and development in the areas of Global History and Geography. She has been a facilitator at several Superintendent’s Day Conferences, doing presentations for the Social Studies Department. Bernadette’s primary goal as a CORE instructor is to share her love of teaching and strong belief that all educators must find ways to instill in their students a love of learning.
Judi is entering her fourth decade as an educator and her passion for teaching is as strong now as it was when she first began her career. For thirty-four years, Judi taught English and Drama at Brentwood High School. During her time there, Judi was twice nominated for New York State Teacher of the Year and, in 1998, was named NYS Teacher of the Year First Runner Up. She was also the Hofstra University/News 12 Educator of the Month in 1999 and was three time Brentwood High School Teacher of the Year, in 1983, 1993 and 2004. In 2007, Judi received the Suffolk County Women’s Services Special Honoree Award and, to recognize the writing accomplishments of her students, the “Judi Weissman Award” was created for outstanding writers in Suffolk County public schools. Judi was a nominee for New York State Holocaust Educator of the Year and continues to provide Holocaust education. Judi is presently an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University and has been an adjunct at Brooklyn College. She has taught graduate level courses on topics including Writing and Literature, Leadership, Teacher-Student Relationships, Mental Health Issues in Children and Adolescents, Ethics and Education, Multiculturalism and Project Seminar. Judi mentored new teachers in Brentwood and has taught professional development courses for over twenty years. As CORE Director and an instructor, Judi is eager to work with teachers in ways that will enhance their own teaching and encourage them to maintain the enthusiasm and passion that led them to become educators.
Howard Block blockart91@gmail.com
Howie has been a secondary art and computer animation teacher in the Brentwood School District for thirty years. He has written curriculum for the NYS Studio Art and Cartooning Animation courses. While most of his experience has been at the high school level, Howie also taught at the middle school level where he was also the student council advisor and yearbook faculty editor. He has mentored new art teachers that come into the district and provided guidance for instruction and classroom management. In addition to his teaching career, Howie has been a martial arts instructor for over ten years. He has been studying jiu jitsu for more than twenty years, earning his first Black Belt in 1998 and currently holding a 4th Degree Black Belt. Howie worked summers as the Assistant Art Instructor at USDAN Camp For The Arts. Howie is eager to work with teachers as a way of encouraging them to bring more creativity to their instruction in all subject areas.
Cindy Combs crcombsCORE@gmail.com
Cindy has been a Social Worker in the Brentwood School District for over twenty years. Cindy has provided individual and group counseling as well as drug and alcohol prevention services. She has done assessments, interventions and referrals for youth at risk and special education students and collaborated with parents and faculty to ensure that students received appropriate services. Cindy is also responsible for training staff about child abuse identification and reporting. She has been a Career Counselor and Field Placement Coordinator for the Urban League of Long Island and worked for the Town of Islip as a drug and alcohol counselor. Cindy also served as a facilitator and counselor for the Structured Educational Support Program at Wyandanch Memorial High School. She was on the Board of Directors for the Suffolk Network for Adolescent Pregnancy/E.O.C. of Suffolk. Cindy received the Award for Distinguished Service from the Town of Islip for Women’s History Month, a Service Appreciation Award from S.N.A.P. and a Brookhaven Town Unsung Hero Award for Black History Month. Cindy Does a great deal of public speaking and has been a presenter at numerous educational forums. Cindy has taught professional development courses on topics related to student issues and is looking forward to her work at CORE and the opportunity to share her knowledge with educators.
Kara Cosolito kcosolitoCORE@gmail.com
Kara has almost 10 years of experience in education. Born and raised in East Meadow, Kara now has the privilege of teaching in the very town in which she was raised. Having taught children as young as Kindergarteners and as old as 5th graders, Kara has diverse teaching experiences. Always striving to make learning more engaging, there isn't a committee she has not been on. Currently, Kara is a member of the 5th grade Writing and Reading Committee along with facilitating curriculum writing over the summer for reading and writing.
Kara earned her undergraduate degree at Southern Connecticut in Psychology and a Masters degree at Hofstra University in Early Childhood and Childhood Education. Kara got married in 2019 to a New York City elementary school teacher and just recently, they welcomed a beautiful daughter to the world.
Kara has a true passion for working with children! Helping each child progress in all areas of their development—academic, social, language, and motor—is a challenge that she is honored to accept
daily. Kara strives to create a community of learners that nurtures this growth in a positive and
dynamic environment.
Caryn Drezner cdreznerCORE@gmail.com
Caryn teaches middle school and high school Spanish in West Islip and has also taught ENL at the secondary level and to adult learners. Caryn recently completed her Educational Leadership studies through Stony Brook University, with a focus on School District and School Building Leadership. As an administrative intern, Caryn led a new peer mentor program and collaborated with department chairs to run a collegial circle about cultural inclusivity in the classroom. She has also worked with students in environments outside of the classroom; she has coached golf and softball and served as a co-advisor for student council. Recently, Caryn has begun providing professional development within her district to help teachers understand the technological tools the district provides with the goal of helping educators tailor formative and summative assessments. Caryn looks forward to working with the educators taking CORE classes and giving them a meaningful and relevant professional development experience.
Dana Driscoll ddriscollCORE@gmail.com
Dana is a teacher in the Hauppauge School District and has taught grades K-4. For the past ten years Dana has also been a district-wide Intermediate Literacy Collaborative Coordinator for Hauppauge Schools. She has received extensive professional training enabling her to teach and coordinate staff development workshops and presentations in literacy. Dana is responsible for the creation of a leveled library in her district for grades K-5 for use with Guided Reading, Read Alouds and Shared Readings. As a CORE instructor, Dana wants to provide rigorous and quality courses to help educators strengthen the skills needed to teach to the Common Core Learning Standards.
Maryanne Edwards medwardsCOREpd@gmail.com
Maryanne spent ten years as a Special Education Teacher, Level III (Self-Contained, 15:1) in the Brentwood School District where she taught U.S. History and Government classes. Prior to that, Maryanne was the Director of Education and a classroom teacher for twelve years at the Copiague Christian Academy where she had classes in grades K-8. Maryanne’s area of expertise is taking the complicated subject matter and complex concepts of U.S. History and Government and breaking it down in ways that enabled her learning disabled students to pass the state Regents Exam. Maryanne is an adjunct instructor for Brooklyn College where she has taught courses including Moral Development and Moral Education and Teaching in Least Restrictive Environments. Maryanne is presently involved in the administration, evaluation and interpretation of standardized testing for Special Education students. She has been teaching professional development courses for over six years and looks forward to continuing her work at CORE, helping educators in all subject areas understand the needs, challenges and opportunities inherent in working with special education students.
Andrew Frisch andrewfrisch1107@gmail.com
Andrew is an adjunct professor in the Computer Science Department at Farmingdale State College and a math and computer science teacher in the Northport-East Northport School District. He also spent two years as an adjunct professor at Adelphi University and, from the same university, earned an Advanced Certificate in School District Leadership. His academic success at Adelphi led to receiving Adelphi’s “Dean’s Award” in 2012. At Northport, Andrew has accomplished his goal of increasing enrollment in computer science courses and has used his technology skills to help teachers as well as students. He is very involved in promoting the use of technology in instruction and that is something Andrew intends to share with the participants in his CORE classes.
Stacey Kimbell kimbellCOREpd@gmail.com
Stacey has been a secondary English teacher in Brentwood for over twenty years. After ten years as an executive in the business world, Stacey began her true calling as an educator. She has taught Advanced Placement Literature and Composition for the past sixteen years and has been an AIS specialist for fifteen years. Stacey is an adjunct professor at CUNY Queens. At both the district and BOCES level, she has written curriculum that has been implemented in her own school as well as in other Suffolk County districts. Stacey was chosen to write the Advanced Placement Scope and Sequence for Literature and Composition and that remains in place today. As an Evening High School teacher, Stacey worked with at-risk students helping them develop the skills needed to pass state assessments. Stacey has extensive experience in writing, developing and teaching professional development courses and has continued to expand her instruction to include the most pressing issues in education today. These include critical thinking, Common Core lesson implementation and formative assessments, all topics Stacey will cover in her CORE classes.
Debra Kiriewsky, Web Designer
Debra is the extremely talented and great appreciated designer of our entire website and all social networking connections. We are very proud of how beautiful our website looks and we have Deb to thank for its visual appeal and user-friendly nature! Debra brings this same level of skill, talent and commitment to her work as an educator.
Jessica Liakonis jliakonisCORE@gmail.com
Jessica has been teaching for fourteen years and is excited to share her experience, knowledge and enthusiasm with other educators. She is a teacher at the Willets Road School in the East Williston School District where she has taught 4th and 5th grades. Before that, Jessica taught elementary school in the William Floyd and Levittown districts. Jessica is currently in her second year co-teaching 5th grade. She has also completed training on designing and teaching professional development courses. In addition to her undergraduate degree in elementary education and psychology, Jessica earned her Masters in Literacy and brings this knowledge to her classes at CORE P.D. She was also part of Stony Brook University’s Educational Leadership Program and earned 125 post-graduate credits. Jessica has been a presenter at multiple Superintendent Day Conferences and led a workshop at St. Joseph’s Middle Grade Conference titled “Guided Reading Using Modern Literature.” She has co-taught using parallel teaching, station teaching, alternative teaching and teaming. Her expertise is in the areas of guided reading and writing, classroom management, reading workshops, using mentor texts to teach writing and providing strategies for educators to get their students excited about literature. Jessica is passionate about these topics and about the opportunity to work with educators in her CORE P.D. courses. Jessica wants to encourage teachers to use their own strengths and passions to benefit their students and create a dynamic learning environment. Her courses will provide teachers with exciting and current pedagogical strategies aimed at enhancing all areas of instruction.
Rosa Malley rosamalleycore@gmail.com
Rosa was born and raised in Puerto Rico to parents who taught her the importance of hard work, education and respect. As a native speaker of Spanish she is proud to teach her language to students and seeks as many opportunities as possible to share her culture with them as well. Rosa recognizes that the ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming more important in the increasingly integrated global business community. Because of this, her main objective is to develop cultural awareness and to help learners become cross-culturally competent in a society where Spanish speakers are the fastest growing minority group. Rosa graduated from Queens College and is certified to teach Secondary Spanish. She works in the Glen Cove School District for the past eleven years, teaching Spanish at the Robert M. Finley Middle School. Prior to that she taught at Deer Park High School. She is also a language translator and Spanish tutor and is a member of Long Island Language Teachers (LILT). Rosa strongly believes in the benefits of professional development and continues her own learning in order to provide her students with the newest and most exciting ways to learn languages. Rosa helps her students to understand that when we speak another language, we can perceive a different world.
Margaret Mavros mmavrosCORE@gmail.com
Margaret has been an extremely successful educator for over thirty years. In 2021, she retired from the Manhasset Public School District where she taught Special Education and Reading Classes at both the middle school and high school. Prior to that, Margaret taught in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. She is currently an Educational Consultant working with The Green Vale School and private clients. She has extensive experience in the professional development field as both a teacher and as a trainer. To broaden her own skills as a professional development instructor, Margaret participated in "Workshops That Work: Delivering Powerful Professional Development." This was part of the online faculty training at Connected University that enabled Margaret to refine the management, organization and online communication skills necessary to successfully facilitate online learning. From 2003-2021, Margaret taught a broad and impressive variety of online and hybrid courses at the Manhasset Teacher Resource Center. She has authored and implemented her own courses for over a decade and brings with her to CORE a great deal of experience, dedication, competence and knowledge.
Danielle Milazzo dmmilazzo@gmail.com
Danielle is a New York State certified educational technology specialist as well as a certified social studies teacher. Currently she is the instructional technology resource teacher at Northport High School. She also serves as the coordinator of Northport’s Academy of Information Technology. In 2014 Danielle was recognized as a "Bright Light" by the Association of Suffolk County Supervisors for Educational Technologies and presented a project involving professional development in blended learning environments including online webinars. As a result, her project was awarded a generous grant and she was able to purchase software for her district to present online PDs. Danielle has also served as an instructor at the LYC/PATCH summer institute at Touro Law School in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Over the past
six years, she has presented over 300 hours of technology related professional development for the Northport-East Northport School District. Danielle is passionate about blended learning, social media integration and digital citizenship and hopes to share her enthusiasm for educational technology in her CORE courses.
Mario Nardiello mnardiellocore@gmail.com
Mario has been a secondary math teacher in the Glen Cove School District for 17 years, serving as the AP Calculus teacher for 16 of them. Upon entering the district, he spearheaded the initiative to integrate SmartBoard technology into the classroom, and became the entire district’s trainer for its wider release. As a direct result, he was asked to be a trainer for the Inter County Teacher Resource Center, where he continued to train teachers from districts spanning all of Long Island. In addition to his Masters in Education, Mario holds a degree in Architectural Engineering, and has taught several college courses as adjunct faculty at both NYIT and Adelphi colleges. These past courses included titles such as “Exploring Math through the Arts and Architecture,” “Introduction to Space Planning and Interior Design,” and “3-Dimensional Computer Aided Drafting.” Mario enjoys bringing his unique background into the math classroom, weaving in his past professional experiences to bring life into what can typically be mundane math instruction. He looks forward to sharing his perspective on learning and collaborating with others, and genuinely believes that in life, we all have something to teach one another.
Thomas Sheehan tsheehanCORE@gmail.com
Tom has been a teacher in the Floral Park-Bellerose School District for the past six years. He is currently the 4th grade general education teacher in an inclusion class and the department’s grade chairperson. Prior to that, he taught briefly in the Locust Valley School District and the Rockville Centre School District. Tom also has his degree in administration, which he uses to lead and to utilize the knowledge and experience he gained. Through his years of teaching, Tom has taught Kindergarten through 4th grade. His teaching style is to create engaging lessons where his students are constantly moving, active and involved. Tom always encourages his students to follow their dreams and, fun fact, Tom competed in and won “Survivor, Season 39” which was his own personal dream. Of course, his fourth graders were quite impressed with this very exciting accomplishment! He is grateful for the opportunity to be a role model to his students. Tom believes students should be excited to come to school and he wants to help teachers develop lessons that excite and build relationships with their students. He looks forward to working with educators in his CORE Professional Development course!
Christopher Smith csmithCORE@gmail.com
Christopher is a technology education teacher in the Northport-East Northport School District. His skills in all areas of technology enable him to work with both students and teachers in his district. Christopher has taught both middle and high school technology class at Northport and worked in a Computer Program for three summers teaching K-8 students how to use technology safely and responsibly. At Northport Middle School, Christopher revised and rewrote curriculum for a technology elective; since his revisions were implemented, there was a measurable and dramatic increase in student enrollment and interest. Before becoming a teacher, Christopher worked as a software engineer for a small company. While there he designed and developed a program that was picked up by Siemens and eventually distributed worldwide. Christopher’s software enabled companies to more efficiently manage employee communication. As a CORE instructor, Christopher’s main goal is to improve educator proficiencies in instructional technology in ways that are in line with Common Core and NYS Education Department initiatives.
Loni Stein lonisteinCORE@gmail.com
Loni is entering her fourth year as a Special Education Teacher at the Willets Road School within the East Williston School District. Prior to working in East Williston, Loni worked as a Behavior Consultation Teacher for the Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism (NSSA) within the Commack School District. Loni continues her work with NSSA as a Parent Trainer for individuals with Autism. In this role, Loni works alongside students and their families both in the home and within the community. In an effort to provide her students with the most appropriate and comprehensive education available, Loni has dedicated herself to the integration of technology in her classroom as a means of support and engagement. In recognition of her success, Loni received the 2020 Bright Light Award for her Outstanding Achievement in Classroom Technology. She presented at the NYSMSA Conference on “Using Technology to Leverage Instruction in a Special Needs Classroom.” Loni recently began teaching courses through her district’s Teacher Center on the implementation of technology programs within the classroom to support all learners. Loni has a passion for raising awareness about individuals with disabilities. One of her main goals as a CORE instructor is to help the teachers and counselors in her class better understand and appreciate the diversity that exists within the special education community.
Dr. Bernadette Weltsek MbweltsekCORE@gmail.com
Bernadette Weltsek is a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership. She wrote a pioneering study on the "High School Experiences of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Young Adults." CORE Professional Development is extremely fortunate to have Bernadette teaching a course on these issues and sharing her expertise with educators. Bernadette has been a social studies teacher in the Comsewogue School District for over twenty-five years. She has taught social studies core classes and electives in grades 7-12 and served as the Subject Leader for the Comsewogue Social Studies Department for ten years. In the position, Bernadette was responsible for working as a liaison with administrators and overseeing textbook requisitions. Bernadette has extensive experience in curriculum writing and development in the areas of Global History and Geography. She has been a facilitator at several Superintendent’s Day Conferences, doing presentations for the Social Studies Department. Bernadette’s primary goal as a CORE instructor is to share her love of teaching and strong belief that all educators must find ways to instill in their students a love of learning.