Sizer Schools Board of Trustees are responsible for ensuring that the academic program of Sizer School is successful, that the school's program and operation are faithful to the terms of its charter, and that the school is a viable organization.
Each trustee is responsible for actively participating in the work of the Sizer School Board of Trustees and the life of the organization. The Board is responsible for overseeing the vision and mission of the school, supporting the Executive Director, organizational planning, ensuring school resouorces, financial oversight, program oversignt, public and community relations, and ensuring accountability and integrity in all school matters.
For more information on our Board of Trustees, please contact Janet O'Hara at [email protected].
Current Board Members Include:
MICHELLE BRENNAN (Parent Trustee) - joined the Board in 2014. Married to Bruce Brennan and the parents to three sons, two of which are Sizer School students, Mrs. Brennan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the school. With a degree in Human Services from Assumption College, she is currently a Staff Associate with Academic Affairs at Mount Wachusett Community College. She has also worked with the United Way Youth Venture and has run her own business. As an Advocate on Capitol Hill on behalf of children with mental health needs for many years, Mrs. Brennan believes in the Think Care Act mission, that Sizer meets students where they are and that Sizer is an accepting environment for all members of our community.
LARRY CASASSA (Trustee - Community Representative, Chair) has been on the Board of Trustees since 2008 and is the Chair of the Board. In addition, he also serves on the Facility Committee & Development Task Force. Besides having been asked to join the Board in 2008, Larry finds himself drawn to the Sizer School mission as an alternative to the traditional public school and to the sense of depth of commitment of the Sizer faculty, staff and Board. Larry has worked for the city of Fitchburg for over 30 years. His current position as Director of Community Development includes management of several million dollars in federal and state grant programs each year for use in a wide range of community development and housing projects throughout the city. He has experience working with local non-profits, as well as having been a loan officer with municipal credit union. Larry likes to spend his free time relaxing with a good book, running, hiking and biking.
ANN CALCATERRA (Trustee – Teacher Representative) joined Sizer School in 2008 as Librarian. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fitchburg State University with a BS in Elementary and Special Education. She has worked as a substitute teacher in Fitchburg schools and as a director of Boy Scout and Cub Scout camps. The parent of two Sizer/NCCES alumnae, she serves as staff liaison to the Sizer PTO. She and her daughter Antonia have climbed Mount Washington each of the last four years to raise money for the Mount Washington Observatory; in 2011 they hiked in memory of Mr. Phil Bertoni.
FRANK DAUPHINAIS (Trustee – Community Representative, Treasurer) is a seasoned senior executive with broad experience in both public commercial bank/bank holding company and large retail credit union environments. He is currently the Senior Vice President-Finance & Chief Financial Officer of IC Federal Credit Union in Fitchburg. His experience also encompasses time spent in Information Systems with AT&T Bell Laboratories. Mr. Dauphinais holds an MBA from Clark University’s Graduate School of Management, a BA in Computer Science from Clark University and an AS in Computer Information Systems from New Hampshire Technical Institute. He has proven skills in project management and employee development/motivation via successful management of multiple I/T conversions and oversight of facility construction. In addition, Mr. Dauphinais’ background includes a lengthy record of accomplishments managing investments, wholesale funding, asset sales, risk management/insurance, facilities management, human resources, employee/executive benefits, contracts and retail product line management. He and his wife of 25+ years live in Holden, while their two children are off working their way through college. Rejoining the Board of Trustees in June 2015 after having been on the Board previously while his son was a Sizer student, Mr. Dauphinais is currently the Board’s Treasurer, Chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Executive Committee.
COURTNEY HARTER (Ex-Officio)joined Sizer School in July 2015 as the Executive Director. She has worked in education for over sixteen years, serving in a number of positions with pilot, charter, Innovation, and district schools. She has a deep love of the Coalition of Essential Schools and believes in the power of the ten common principles. Ms. Harter is driven by a desire to increase access to quality, engaging, progressive education for diverse students, with a particular passion for North Central Massachusetts. She has earned a BA from Swarthmore College, her Masters from Tufts University and her CAGS from Northeastern. Married with two children, she and her family enjoy being outdoors, reading, and cooking.
MELANIE GALLO (Trustee – Community Representative) of Ashburnham is an experienced educator. She taught for 20 years at Fitchburg High School, serving as chair of the English Department and the Director of Dramatics. She was a founding faculty member at Souhegan High School, and award winning essential school in Amherst, NH, where she was a critical friends coach, directed and developed the graduation by exhibition senior project and helped craft and pilot a portfolio assessment system for teachers. Melanie was the founding school director at North Central Charter Essential School, now Sizer School. She is proud that she had the opportunity to shape the mission of Sizer/NCCES, hire its first staff and help recruit the founding parents and students to this special place. She currently works as an independent educational consultant. In that capacity, she has conducted over forty charter school reviews, numerous district reviews and many staff development workshops. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Fitchburg State University for over ten years. She teaches Advanced Methods and Curriculum and Development at the Secondary Level in the MAT program.
TRACY GAMBILL (Trustee – Parent Representative) joined the Board in 2014 and is a parent of two Sizer School students. Being part of an educational environment is not new to Mrs. Gambill as she has been an elementary school support aide, was a Director of Religious Education for ten years, and has been a substitute teacher for the last seven years. As well, she particularly enjoys writing human interest stories and is a newspaper correspondent. Currently sitting on the Sizer School Academic Excellence Committee and as Secretary on the PTSO, Mrs. Gambill has also served on the school’s Branding Task Force. She has been an active volunteer in her hometown of Winchendon with Friends of the Library, Summer Solstice Celebration Planning Committee, Spirit of Christmas Toy Drives, Habitat for Humanity, United Way Community Builders for Reading Readiness, and A Better Tomorrow Shelter for Cats. Her proudest and happiest moments are spent with her family. She enjoys crossword puzzles, reading, hiking, biking, and swimming.
BILL HARRIS (Trustee - Community Representative, Vice-Chair) joined the Board of Trustees in 2007 but is most popularly known as the grandfather of one of our highly-regarded Sizer/NCCES graduates and Think Care Act Medal recipients. Bill has spent the last four years supporting Sizer School as a Trustee and the Chair on the Facilities committee. In addition, Mr. Harris is also the Board’s Vice Chair. He is particularly invested in the growth of Sizer because of his grandchildren who have attended this school. He has found that Sizer provided a setting of fertile ground where his grandchildren have blossomed. Bill is the founder and president of William W. Harris, Inc. a General Contracting Company established in 1965. He brings many gifts to our Board, some of which is his great business experience, in depth understanding and common sense. In his free time he enjoys going to York Beach, ME with his wife Nancy and his family, also spending time with his rescued Golden Retriever named Gabe.
BRENDA JONES (Director of Finance & Business Operations) who participates in our monthly Board meetings and sits on the Finance Committee, is in her sixth year at the school. Prior to joining Sizer, Ms. Jones spent nine years as the Assistant Comptroller for the Wachusett Regional School District. Previously, she spent ten years as a purchasing agent for the US Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management and served a two-year tour of duty in the United States Army. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Business Administration from Worcester State College and earned an Associates degree in Accounting, Cum Laude from the University of Anchorage. She enjoys reading, camping and traveling to warm Caribbean Islands.
LYNNE MAN (Trustee - Community Representative) is an independent Program and Policy Evaluation consultant and currently teaches at Regis College in Weston, MA. Her prior experience includes both clinical and public health program development in a variety of areas, including obesity and nutrition, teen pregnancy prevention, pregnant and parenting teens and HIV services. Dr. Man strongly believes in innovative, rigorous public education, community coalitions, participatory community action and youth engagement as a means of identifying assets and challenges and in finding solutions to promote health equity and social justice. Having two sons that went to the Parker Charter Essential School from 7th through 12th grades, she is a strong supporter of Charter Essential Schools. Dr. Man has lived in Lunenburg, MA with her family for 20 years and has worked in the Fitchburg area for most of that time. She holds a BS in Nutrition from Montclair State University (NJ), an MS in Clinical Nutrition from Boston University, an MPH in Public Health Nutrition from the University of California at Berkeley and PhD in Social Policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Her dissertation examined organizational decision making around the availably of junk food in public high school.
CAROLYN SELLARS (Trustee – Community Representative) brings to the Board a proven record of making a difference in organizations and the community. She earned her BS (Environmental Education) from Cornell University while working 20-30 hours per week at a dining hall, rising to become the Student Personnel Manager and Student Operations Manager. After college, she was a management consultant providing market analysis and marketing consulting services to companies in the energy and environmental control industries, advancing from Associate to General Manager. In nine years at the Nashua River Watershed Association she served as Water Resources Director, Staff Director of the River Resource Center Capital Campaign, Acting Executive Director and was appointed by Gov. Weld as the Environmental Specialist on the Fort Devens Redevelopment Board. As founding parent and founding staff member at Sizer (2003-2009), she provided instrumental organizational and administrative start-up support and attracted close to $2 million in private and competitive public funding for the school. A long time supporter of the Essential School model, two of her children graduated from F. W. Parker Charter Essential School and a third from Sizer/NCCES. Recognizing the importance of local civic engagement, she has served on her town's Conservation Commission, Board of Health, Capital Planning and Finance Committees. Currently President of the Townsend Library Endowment Fund, she shares her knowledge and love of gardening as a volunteer Garden Mentor with the Growing Places Garden Project and through the MA Master Gardener Association.
JENNIFER SPINGLA (Trustee – Teacher Representative) earned a BS in Horticulture from the University of Maine at Orono and a Masters degree in Middle School Education from Fitchburg State University. She is an avid outdoors person who, before becoming a classroom teacher, spent a decade working as a youth expedition leader and experiential educator. Ms. Spingla earned her certification in General Science and Middle School Math as a participant in the New Teachers Collaborative where she taught at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School. Ms. Spingla, a Leominster native and graduate of St. Bernard's High School, enjoys playing guitar, running in the woods with her dog, and traveling to mountains around the world to hike and backpack. Joining Sizer School in 2004, Ms. Spingla teaches Middle School Science Foundations, Middle School Mathematics, Environmental Science, and Climate and Weather as well as serving as Co-Chair of the Science Department.
Open Meeting Law
As a public school, Sizer is subject to the MA Open Meeting Laws. With that, all of our Board of Trustee Meetings and Board Committee Meetings are open to the public and the minutes to these meetings are as well.
Although our meeting agenda's and minutes have always been available upon request, in the spring of 2014, Sizer School began using an electronic format for managing these documents. If you are interested in reviewing any of our meeting agenda's or minutes that have been approved since January 2014, please visit https://app2.boardontrack.com/public/Zqto1V/meetingsList. If you are interested in obtaining any additional information for older meetings, or in addition to what is available on line, please contact the schools Associate Director of Executive Operations and she will help you accordingly.
Board of Trustee BYLAWS
The Sizer School follows a rigid process and guideline to manage our school as effectively and efficiently as possible, as required by law. To review the Sizer School Board of Trustee BYLAWS, please click on the link below.
