Member of Anti-Racist Committee

Erica Herman, Principal

I have been engaged with the Gardner community for the last twenty one years.  For the past fifteen, I have served as the very proud principal.  Other roles included serving as the after school coordinator, the director of extended services and a kindergarten teacher.  In all these roles, I have worked to ensure equity and access for all students and their families to the educational and social opportunities necessary to thrive in school and in life.  I believe that ARC is critically important in order to deepen the work across the school and to develop sustainable structures so the work continues in future years.

Joe Sara

I have had the privilege of being part of GPA’s community for past 10 years in the role of  Assistant Principal. Prior to working at GPA I worked at another  BPS therapeutic  K -5 base program supporting students/families learning and health needs. Additionally,  I worked at a community base health center for over 10 years with families/students that were managing the many psycho-social stressors which impacted their daily lives. GPA’s core values requires we ensure all students have educational and health access  integral to our work and more critically the role of ARC.

Brittany Finkley-Smith, Teacher

Brittany Finkley-Smith is a 4th grade inclusion teacher at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston, MA. She received her B.A. in Elementary and Special Education from Providence College in 2016. In addition to this, she received an M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from the Donovan Urban Teaching Scholars Program at Boston College. As a child, growing up in the Boston Public School system, she was very much aware of the disparities in education afforded to the children of her community. From that moment, she knew she wanted to be part of the change that was to come.

Jacqueline (Jacquie) Arnold, Teacher

Jacquie is a fifth and sixth grade math teacher at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston, MA.  A social justice educator, Jacquie strives to understand students’ experiences utilizing equitable teaching practices (e.g., rigorous, instruction, math for social justice).   Jacquie has experience teaching elementary mathematics in Boston for three years, and in Worcester for four years.  She is a  teacher leader who serves as a GPA facilitator of the Boston Public Schools (BPS) 10 Girls Initiative, a tier 1 intervention focused on the socio-emotional development of  Black and Latino Girls in BPS.  Jacquie earned her Master of Education degree in Moderate Special Needs at Boston College in 2016, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1985.  In her spare time, Jacquie enjoys hanging out with her husband and their four college-grad children, strength-training, and reading.