Curriculum

Teachers and Staff

(pictured L to R:) Laura Coleman, Dean Conway, Marsha Feinberg, Robert Greene, Sally Baker, Cindy Laba, Mervan Osborne

Cindy Laba, Founder and Head of School
claba@beaconacademy.org
For the past 20 years Cindy Laba has devoted her professional life to the education and development of young people. She started by doing prevention work with middle and high school age students from the D Street Public Housing Development and the Boys & Girls Club in South Boston. Upon completing a Masters Degree in Social Work, she worked with emotionally disturbed adolescents who lived at Harbor Schools in Newburyport. Cindy spent most of her career at City Year, one of America’s leading national service programs, where she developed and implemented enterprise-wide recruitment, fundraising, and intranet systems. When she was named a Vice President, she turned her focus to development and producing major national events both in the US and South Africa. In 2004–2005 she served as Vice President of City on a Hill Charter School in Boston and is now Founder and Head of School of Beacon Academy.

Marsha Feinberg, Founding Chair Emerita, Board of Trustees; Director of Strategic Planning & Development
mfeinberg@beaconacademy.org
Marsha Feinberg is a social entrepreneur and consultant who has been active in urban youth programs for over 25 years. Marsha has played a major role in helping launch many leading non-profits by providing strategic planning, fundraising and community building expertise. She founded and directed the JFK Library Corps in 1983, was the Founding Chair of the Board of Citizen Schools in 1998 and served for 10 years in that role, growing Citizen Schools from a Boston based program to a national network of after school programs. Marsha worked at City Year during its early years and five years ago helped launch the Clinton Democracy Fellows Program in South Africa. A graduate of Columbia Business School, Marsha serves as a member of a number of non-profit boards of trustees, including the New England Board of Directors of Facing History and Ourselves.

Sally Baker, Director of Alumni and Community Service Learning
sbaker@beaconacademy.org
Sally Baker is a graduate of Smith College, with an Ed.M. from Tufts University. After teaching middle school English and social studies in Newton, she worked at The Park School in Brookline. Over the course of 25 years at Park, she was deeply involved in the development of community service learning. In addition to her administrative roles as Assistant Head, she also coached girls’ basketball and served as a seventh grade advisor. Her interests also include gardening, swimming, quilting, and participating in local politics.

Laura Coleman, Director of Volunteers & Co-Curricular Program
lcoleman@beaconacademy.org
Laura organized and manages Beacon’s tutoring, mentoring and co-curricular programs and recruits volunteers to participate in Beacon’s co-curricular activities. Laura comes to Beacon most recently from the marketing and service management departments at Harvard Business School, where she conducted primary research and wrote cases. Prior to her work with Harvard, Laura spent 12 years as a marketing and retailing executive with Clairol, Macy’s New York and May Department Stores. Laura earned her BA in international studies from Barnard College and an MBA from Columbia Business School in marketing. Laura is currently Parent Co-Chair for Community Service in the upper school at Winsor and serves on the Leadership Council with Horizons for Homeless Children.

Dean Conway, English Teacher
dconway@beaconacademy.org
During 17 years at The Park School in Brookline, Dean taught English and Latin and acted as Head of the Upper School. He left Park to work as State Coach and Director of Coaching for the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association for six years, and then gravitated back to teaching. Inspired by Beacon’s mission and philosophy, Dean helped design this school during the planning phase and now is our full time English Teacher.

Matt Dunkel, Math Teacher and Dean of Students
mdunkel@beaconacademy.org
Before coming to Beacon Academy, Matt Dunkel taught at both independent and charter schools. He began teaching at the Arbor School of Arts & Sciences, a progressive K-8 independent school in Portland, Oregon, where he eventually chaired the Math Department. Upon moving to Massachusetts, Matt taught Math at Prospect Hill Academy (P.H.A.), a charter school in Somerville. At P.H.A., Matt was able to significantly raise students’ state test scores. But he also saw that his charter school students were not benefiting from the same types of intellectual, creative, and personal growth opportunities that their private school peers enjoyed. At Beacon, Matt is thrilled to do rich, holistic work with students who deeply need and deserve an education of the highest quality. He earned his B.A. from Yale University and his Masters in Education from Lesley University and the Teacher Training Course at Shady Hill School. Before entering education, Matt worked in policy, both for the federal government and for the state government in his home state of Kentucky.

Lora Farkas, Director of Coaching/Placement Associate
lfarkas@beaconacademy.org
Lora launched and serves as the Director of the Beacon Academy Coaches Program — an innovative project connecting parents who have children in independent schools with the students and families of Beacon Academy. The goal of the program is to provide support to the Beacon families and to help them navigate the secondary schools application process. Lora also serves as Co-chair of Parent Annual Giving and the Host Family program at the Winsor School. She is a past Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee of the Shady Hill School Board of Overseers. Formerly, Lora was a Commercial Lender specializing in Project Finance. She is a graduate of Wellesley College.

Mervan Osborne, Director of Admissions and Secondary School Placement
mosborne@beaconacademy.org
Mervan Osborne, Director of Admissions and Secondary School Placement, comes to Beacon Academy after spending eleven years at The Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, where he taught English and Drama, coached several sports and served as an admissions officer. During his first 3 years at BB&N, Mervan also served as resident director of A Better Chance House in Winchester, MA. Prior to coming to BB&N, he spent two years as a member of the inaugural 1990 Teach for America corps in Compton, CA. Mervan has a passion for education, and for filmmaking. For the past three summers, he has taught filmmaking at the Shady Hill School, at the Steppingstone Foundation and the Creative Arts at Park program. Mervan was born in London and moved to New York City when he was eleven years old. After several years of public schools in the Bronx and in Lower Manhattan, he received a scholarship to attend St. George’s School in Newport, RI. He earned his B.A. at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and his M.F.A. at Boston University.

Patty Hager, Director of Studies
phager@beaconacademy.org
Patty Hager has spent her career in independent school leadership both in Massachusetts and in California. She served as Associate Director of the Winsor School, Director of the Upper School of Polytechnic School in Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California, and most recently as Academic Dean at Concord Academy. She has led various professional meetings, including the Summer Institute for Ethics sponsored by the Council for Religion in Independent Schools. Patty’s work has included responsibility for admissions to independent schools, college counseling, and curricular development. At Beacon Academy, she works to support the academic program. She is a graduate of Smith College.