Brass City Charter School

Academic Staff 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Barbara Ruggiero, Ph.D., a founder of Brass City Charter School whose varied career demonstrates a lifelong commitment to children’s academic success, comes most recently from Children’s Community School, where she acted as Executive Director/Principal, and before that from Chase Collegiate School. Dr. Ruggiero is a former licensed child psychologist and an experienced school leader with curricular, personnel, community relations, budget, management, and fundraising experience. She has a master’s degree from Harvard University and a doctorate from Boston University.  

Email: bruggiero@brasscitycharter.org

ADMINISTRATION

Jeanine Pocoski, Ed.D
 was the school's first principal, left for a few years during which she completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership, and returned as Principal of BCCS. During that time she remained connected to the school by serving on its board of directors. As Dr. Pocoski said herself, there was a part of her that never left. She is deeply committed to the mission of the school and has always appreciated just how special BCCS is.                                                                                                   Email: jpocoski@brasscitycharter.org


Kristin White assumed the new position of Coordinator of the Upper School after originally joining BCCS as a sixth-grade teacher. Kristin had spent many years at Westover School in positions which included teacher, Dean of Students, and Director of Admissions and has taught in both public and private schools in grades K - 12 during her career.  Ms. White has demonstrated a deep commitment to student growth and to establishing strong partnerships with parents. Students will benefit as she grows the upper school culture including the advisory program and the high school admissions process.
Email: kwhite@brasscitycharter.org


Carrie Skaggs 
has joined BCCS as the Dean of the Lower School. Ms. Skaggs has served in various positions including dean of academics and assessment, improvement coach, professor, and teacher. She has a wealth of experience and we feel very fortunate to be able to welcome her to our community. 
Email: cskaggs@brasscitycharter.org


CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Nancy Landona, a founder of Brass City Charter School, has had a varied career in grant writing, volunteer coordination, bookkeeping, teaching, curriculum writing, and much more. She earned a degree in early childhood education from Southern CT State University and MEd in instructional design from Western Governor's University.
Email: nlandona@brasscitycharter.org

Heather Byron, Executive Assistant: Operations
Diane Wasilewski, Attendance Clerk / Operations Assistant


Director of Student Culture and Family Engagement

Danielle Gaynor oversees the social-emotional program at BCCS. In addition, she supports and encourages parental involvement in the life of the school. 
Email:dgaynor@brasscitycharter.org

Marilyn Buckle, Student Support
Latisha Crutchfield, Student Support
Geoffrey Williams, Student Support


OFFICE COORDINATOR

Sylvia Montes: The first person who greets you when you visit the school, Ms. Sylvia is the best source of answers for any questions your family might have. She relays information between school personnel and parents both in the office and on the phone.
Email: smontes@brasscitycharter.org


PRE-K TEACHERS

Elese Montambault, 
emontambault@brasscitycharter.org
Parisa Amiri, Assistant Teacher

Roxanne Clarence, rclarence@brasscitycharter.org
Nadia Dennis, Assistant Teacher

Carla McBean-Williams, Floater

KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS

Emily Bees, Teacher, 
ebees@brasscitycharter.org
Melanie Stephens, Assistant Teacher

Jillian Pizzo, Teacher, jpizzo@brasscitycharter.org
Brittany Santos, Assistant Teacher

Allege Hill, Floater 

1ST GRADE TEACHERS

Melissa Gibran, Teacher, 
mgibran@brasscitycharter.org
Ruth Bach, Assistant Teacher

Sara Naber, Teachersnaber@brasscitycharter.org
Lynn Wilczewski, Assistant Teacher


2ND GRADE TEACHERS

Sandra Davy, Teacher, sdavy@brasscitycharter.org
Gris Gutierrez-Barrientos, Assistant Teacher

Olivia DeGennaro, Teacher, odegennaro@brasscitycharter.org 
Alexus Templeton, Assistant Teacher


3RD GRADE TEACHERS

Becca Bremerbbremer@brasscitycharter.org
Renell Clarence, Assistant Teacher

Miranda Malizia,
mmalizia@brasscitycharter.org
Kanisha Malloy, Assistant Teacher


4TH GRADE TEACHERS

Taylor Webb, twebb@brasscitycharter.org
Kiara Nunez-Riley, Assistant Teacher

Katherine Georgetti, kgeorgetti@brasscitycharter.org

Hannah West, Assistant Teacher



5TH GRADE TEACHERS

Alana Contreras, acontreras@brasscitycharter.org
Matthew Capece, Assistant Teacher

Joanna Vann, jvann@brasscitycharter.org
Shannon Byrd, Assistant Teacher

6TH GRADE TEACHERS

Tina Monteleone, tmonteleone@brasscitycharter.org

Kevin Ugalde, kugalde@brasscitycharter.org



7TH GRADE HOMEROOM TEACHERS

Jonathan Gotterer, History, jgotterer@brasscitycharter.org

Kristian Rose, Math, krose@brasscitycharter.org


8TH GRADE HOMEROOM TEACHERS

Jason Burger, ELA, jburger@brasscitycharter.org

Sandra Frimpong-Aninakwa, Science, sfrimpong-aninakwa@brasscitycharter.org 



MUSIC

Theo Nield, tnield@brasscitycharter.org


PHYSICAL EDUCATION 

Dylan Riedl, dreidl@brasscitycharter.org


SCIENCE 

Courtney Bauknecht, cbauknecht@brasscitycharter.org


CODING

Marissa Morin, mmorin@brasscitycharter.org


INTERVENTION TEAM

Amber Armack, aarmack@brasscitycharter.org

Shaneik Duffus-Blair, sblair@brasscitycharter.org

Stephanie Ferrara, sferrara@brasscitycharter.org

Arthur LaBonte, alabonte@brasscitycharter.org

Carrie Scalzo, cscalzo@brasscitycharter.org


SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES

Cassandra Reilly, creilly@brasscitycharter.org

Martin Augelli, maugelli@brasscitycharter.org

Julia Longo, jlongo@brasscitycharter.org

Sandra Weston, bruggiero@brasscitycharter.org




Select Special Education Services and School Nurse are provided by the City of Waterbury.