Board of Trustees

Principal Williams presented the committee with an update on Lower School academic progress, instructional initiatives, and end-of-year priorities. The report highlighted the successful completion of ELA and Math MCAS testing, with Science and Civics assessments forthcoming, as well as a range of STEM-focused field trips, end-of-year celebrations, student presentations, and upcoming events including the Service-Learning Fair and Lower School Capstone. The committee also reviewed progress toward end-of-year proficiency goals, noting increased staff ownership of student achievement through data analysis, targeted interventions, reassessment opportunities, and small-group instruction. Key next steps include strengthening progress monitoring, family communication, and intervention planning to support students approaching proficiency and inform summer school decisions.

Principal Williams also provided updates on the Accessible Education (AE) and Multilingual Learner (MLL) programs, highlighting stronger collaboration between specialized support staff and general education teachers, increased use of inclusive instructional practices, and improved service coordination. Areas of focus moving forward include consistently implementing accommodations and language supports, strengthening documentation practices, and expanding staff capacity in differentiation, sheltered instruction, and data-driven progress monitoring.

The report further reviewed progress on the school’s strategic instructional priorities, including Intellectual Prep 2.5, Advisory, and Amplify Science implementation. Notable successes included more consistent lesson planning and instructional rigor, stronger coaching and teacher preparedness, enhanced advisory structures supporting attendance, academics, and student relationships, and successful implementation of the Amplify Science high-quality instructional materials. These initiatives have strengthened instructional alignment, increased student engagement, improved communication with families, and provided more personalized support for students.

Blake Cullimore knows charter schools. In his position as Vice President-Senior Analyst for Moody’s Ratings, his specific area of focus within U.S. Public Finance is charter schools. He works with more than 100 schools nationwide and manages more than $2 billion in loans, the largest portfolio of charter school debt in the country. Nearly a decade of other charter school-related experience adds to Blake’s unique perspective as a member of our Board of Trustees.

While charter schools may be similar in some respects, each has its own problems and challenges, as he has found as a trustee and a member of the Finance Committee. For Blake, what really makes Salem Academy different is that his daughter is a student here. As a Salem resident with a son at Salem High School, he is also attuned to how the city is changing and alert to how it will respond educationally. He and his wife Christine, a former special ed teacher, have always been strong supporters of schools and attentive to their kids’ education.

Active in the Appalachian Mountain Club, Blake is very much an outdoor guy. This isn’t surprising, once you know his undergraduate degree was in landscape architecture. Finding the large-scale projects on which he worked were actually very data driven, he later earned a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University. The data/financial parallels between architecture and charter schools make sense, but they’re not the only ones. Both also deal with unique locations and buildings, for instance.  We do, indeed welcome Blake Cullimore’s perspective.

Few come to the Salem Academy Board of Trustees as well versed in charter schools as Chris Graham. He has been a charter school teacher and a school administrator. With an undergraduate degree in Political Science and a Master’s in Education & Curriculum Development, Chris will become a “triple eagle” when receives his MBA from Boston College this spring. He currently serves as Director of Finance and Operations for BC’s Lynch Leadership Academy, which provides teachers with the enhanced management and strategic skills that can help them improve their schools and fuel student success.

At one time Chris thought he’d be a lawyer but found the profession adversarial as opposed to the collaboration inherent in teaching. He knows firsthand that charters are learning labs, eager to innovate and able to adapt to change. He understands school communities, strategic issues, and various stakeholder concerns. Currently on the administrative side of education, he is eager to get back in touch at ground level with students, teachers, and families.

If there is such a thing as an education gene, Chris Graham has it. His great grandfather was a teacher in Kentucky, and his grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Indiana. His mother instilled in him a belief in education as the great equalizer. Chris received the Boston College Distinguished Student Teacher Award. He and his wife were both teaching 5^th grade math (in different schools) when they met. It’s too soon to tell about their son—he has to learn to walk before entering the classroom.

In the meantime, Salem Academy welcomes Chris to the Board of Trustees, where he serves on the Finance Committee.

As the principal of her own firm, Danvers-based Gienapp Architects, Imelda Barkhurst brings welcome expertise to Salem Academy, both in overseeing our current facilities needs and in planning for the school’s future. Even better, her firm has worked with schools, which means she understands such things as school trends and financial costs     . She also knows firsthand the balancing act required to plan construction around school schedules.

Managing a business and a family—she has two young sons—is also a balancing act. That Imelda worked with the Boston Club to find a nonprofit organization where she could add value and that would dovetail with her other commitments speaks to her commitment to community service as well as work and family.  Luckily for us, that organization is Salem Academy. We are delighted to have Imelda on the Board of Trustees and the Facilities Committee. Lucky as well that she has such relevant architectural experience.

As a school for which facilities are a special concern—all charters must provide their own facilities—Salem Academy welcomes Jeff Whitmore’s building knowledge and expertise. Not only is he the owner of Whitmore Brothers Construction Company, which specializes in custom residential and commercial projects, Jeff brings serious experience serving on the Board of The House of the Seven Gables, where both immediate construction projects and long-term sustainability of the campus are major concerns.

But Jeff Whitmore is not a one-trick pony. He welcomes learning experiences and serving in capacities unrelated to his construction background, as his membership on our Governance Committee indicates. A graduate of Boston University, Jeff doesn’t make commitments lightly. When he does so, he gives it his all. We welcome him as an active participant in our school community; we are fortunate to have his perspective and energy at work on our behalf. And we promise to make sure he has time for one of his other passions: sailing.

Kara McLaughlin comes to the Salem Academy Board with the unique perspective of having been born and raised in Salem, served as the CEO of two organizations, taught and tutored K-8 math, and been a Salem Academy parent. All of these experiences, plus a BA from Wellesley College, an MBA from Northeastern University, and a Master’s in Education from Lesley University, make her a superb addition to the Salem Academy Board.

Kara is well known locally as the former Executive Director of the House of the Seven Gables, whose mission embraces community involvement and educational opportunities for immigrants. It is less well known that she served as the President of The Survey Group, a human resources consulting firm, and that she taught and tutored math in both Salem and Danvers.

Education is clearly important to Kara. She is also passionate about educating people on the little known but devastating aspects of Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Lyme Disease and led a parents’ support group for for seven years. This multi-faceted trustee has recently added Spartan races (demanding obstacle course races) to her list
of accomplishments, including discovering she has a previously unsuspected talent for spear throwing.

We are gratified to have a true development professional on board in Laurie Kennedy. In addition to 25+ years providing strategic fundraising, program development, and community engagement expertise to nonprofit organizations, Laurie brings the added benefit of extensive charter school experience. To top it off, she is already familiar with Salem Academy, having volunteered on the Development Committee for several years.

After graduating from Empire State College with a degree in Human Services Administration, Laurie worked for mission-driven organizations, including Special Olympics New York and KIPP Massachusetts. She is currently the Director of Development for Youth Guidance, which provides school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles to their success.

Laurie more or less grew up on ice, figure skating and many hours playing hockey in the backyard with her siblings. When her children were young, she ran a skating school with a friend. Skating has morphed into a major volunteer commitment, coaching with the Special Olympics for 20 years and now—one of her most rewarding experiences—as Director of the USAH National Development Camp for USA Hockey’s paralympic team each summer.

Laurie’s parents taught their 13 children to be appreciative of what they had, to give back accordingly, and to bring passion to everything they did. She does. Her career, her extensive volunteer involvement, and her own family of seven boys and 10 grandchildren speak to just how well she learned those lessons. She is passionate about ensuring that students and their families have access to the resources and opportunities that will enable them to thrive, and we are glad to have her passion on our Board of Trustees.

Parents of our students always bring an important perspective to the Salem Academy Board of Trustees. As the mother of a 2015 graduate, current high schooler and middle schooler, Nohara has experienced Salem Academy’s impact firsthand and over time. Dominican by birth and married to a Nigerian, she reflects the diverse backgrounds of our school community and supports the Board’s ongoing commitment to fostering meaningful connections with families and the broader Salem Academy culture.

Nohara was originally drawn to Salem Academy for its strong structure and the opportunity for students to lead by example. The school’s values align with her belief that education is empowerment—something she has seen clearly in her eldest daughter, who went on to earn two graduate degrees, and in her own life. Nohara holds both a BA and an MBA from Suffolk University and recently concluded her position as Associate Registrar there, where she was responsible for compliance reporting, data collection, and analysis.

Free of the long daily commute, Nohara saw Board membership as a meaningful way to become more involved in her children’s education and to advocate for equitable access to quality learning opportunities. As a native Spanish speaker and a Salem Academy parent, she is a welcome addition to the Development Committee.

Back on the home front, Nohara is exploring entrepreneurial ventures. She enjoys traveling with her family, relaxing at the beach, and gardening.

As a former Spanish teacher, principal, and educational psychologist, Rich Cowdell was about as prepared as you can be when he signed on as Salem Academy’s interim Lower School Principal for the 2022-23 school year. That background, now enriched by familiarity with our school and its culture, makes him a superb addition to the Board of Trustees.

Rich joined Salem Academy at a time of transition, just as we were resuming in-person schooling, dealing with post Covid issues, and simultaneously introducing new academic positions. This gave him a unique exposure to the many strategic and behind-the-scenes operational issues most people never see. It also gave him firsthand understanding of our culture and commitment to our students, an understanding that carries over to his role as a trustee in charting Salem Academy’s future and preparing our students to be successful adults.

Outside of school, Rich enjoys walking in the woods behind his home. Now that he’s retired, he and his wife, Irene, hope to go farther afield. Recent trips to Barcelona and Italy, plus a Caribbean cruise have whetted their appetite for travel. Travel represents a big change for Rich as, beyond school, much of his life been all about kids and the out of doors. He and Irene (a former principal) have raised two daughters (both teachers). Rich has been a basketball referee and a Little League umpire, and, for the past 32 years, he has been the director of Camp Rotary in Boxford. To his campers’ amazement, he umpired at the Little League World Series. Yes, he tells them, the one on TV.

Robert Rogers has been passionate about sustainability since childhood. He is that smart and fortunate person who has managed to channel his passion into his professional life. For much of his career, he has deployed his analytical talents as a data integrator and database architect on behalf of companies addressing climate change issues. He is currently a data architect at
Generate Capital.

As a member of our Board of Trustees, Robert has once again brought his skill set to bear on something he cares about: the Salem community and, more specifically, Salem Academy,
where both his sons are students. He serves just as the school celebrates its 20th anniversary, a time when clearsighted analysis of our future options—our own sustainability, as it were—is
essential.

With his strong environmental and technical orientation, Robert took a 180º career turn from his theatre-professional parents. But genes run true. He recently sang his way across the stage as King George from the musical “Hamilton” in the YMCA’s fundraising cabaret. We’re not surprised to learn of this hidden talent…and we’re delighted he doesn’t have a jot of the king’s
madness.