Linda Nathan, Ed.D. Co-Headmaster Linda Nathan is the founding headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy, the city’s first and only public high school for the visual and performing arts. Under her leadership, the school has won state, national, and international recognition and awards. These include a Massachusetts Compass Award, a “Breaking Ranks” award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and a Mentor School award from the Coalition of Essential Schools. BAA sends well over 90 percent of its graduates to college—all residents of the city of Boston.
Linda was instrumental in starting Boston’s first performing-arts middle school, and was a driving force behind the creation of Fenway High School, recognized nationally for its innovative educational strategies and school-to-work programs. She is also a co-founder and board member of the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston, a nonprofit education reform organization dedicated to creating more equitable and democratic schools.
She was named 1990 Teacher of the Year by Channel 5 “Chronicle” in Boston. She has served on the National Academy of Science’s Commission for the Science of Learning. In 2003, Linda received the Nadia Boulanger Educator’s Award from the Longy School of Music for her work in arts education. In 2006 she received the first Fidelity Inspire the Future Award given to community leaders who inspire the next generation of artists and arts advocates. She was named a 2007 Barr Foundation Fellow, and spent June 2007 in South Africa and Zimbabwe as part of this fellowship. The Barr program honors the contributions of the most gifted and experienced leaders in the Boston area.~
Linda’s articles have appeared in Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, Horace, and other publications. Fluent in Spanish, she has worked on issues of school reform in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. In 2006, she presented to the first UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education in Lisbon, Portugal. Linda is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she teaches the course, “Building Democratic Schools.” She is also writing a book about urban education and the arts.
Linda Nathan earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in education administration at Antioch University, a master’s of performing arts at Emerson College, and a doctorate in education at Harvard University.
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Carmen Torres Co-Headmaster Carmen Torres is a product of the New York City public school system. She came to the New England area to attend Brandeis University, where she earned her B.A. She then returned to the Heller Graduate School at Brandeis to earn her Masters Degree in Human Services Management.
Ms. Torres was instrumental in establishing the Health Careers Program at Brighton High School. She comes to the BAA from Fenway High School, where she developed and managed all aspects of the school-to-career collaboration with the CVS Corporation. She worked extensively on the development of curriculum that integrated science and career concepts and prepared students for the challenges of careers in pharmacy and science. She has had the opportunity to present her work at several national conferences.
Ms. Torres has served as a lead teacher and mentor for beginning teachers for several years. Her passion is helping teachers develop strategies that foster excellence and achievement for all students, regardless of their backgrounds. She has also served as a member of several visiting teams for the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges. Most recently, Ms. Torres was one of only three Boston high school science teachers to complete the rigorous process for National Board Certification.
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Danny Wilcox Dean of Students and Healthy Transitions Educator Danny grew up in California’s San Francisco Bay Area where attended Saint Mary’s College of California on a Football Scholarship. At Saint Mary’s, Danny had his first classroom teaching assignment in 1998 at John F. Kennedy High School in Richmond, California where he lead a leadership class in creating a “Zine” and brainstorming ideas for a monument for the women shipbuilders of World War II Richmond.
In 1999, Danny then attended the Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) in Andover, Massachusetts where he realized that his future was in education. In 2001, Danny entered the MAT program at Tufts University and interned at the Boston Arts Academy. After working closely with the his mentor Morgaen Donaldson, Danny took a job in Oakland, California. At The Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, Danny was a founding Humanities Teacher and aided in the opening of the school. In 2003, Danny signed on to help start Discovery High School in The Bronx, New York. At Discovery, Danny was a founding Global Studies Teacher and accepted an informal role as an Administrator. In New York, Danny gained valuable school leadership skills that would prompt a move to Seattle, Washington to aid in the start of Global Connections High School. He would play a similar History teacher and administrator role at this new conversion school as well. After a year in Seattle, Danny decided to take the plunge into administration.
In 2006, Danny is back in Boston at the Arts Academy as a PRNer (Principal Residency Network). Danny currently does administrative work and works closely with the Student Support Team at the Boston Arts Academy. |
