Welcome New Faculty

We are excited to welcome a number of new faculty members, who arrived on August 22^nd for orientation:

Mrs. Batsheva Atlas will teach Upper School Study Skills and will assume the role of Dean of Students in the Middle School.  Mrs. Atlas was most recently Assistant Principal and Director of Special Education at Yeshivat Rambam in Baltimore.  Mrs. Atlas’s professionalism and evident love for children will make her a great addition to the MJBHA family.

Mrs. Meenu Chopra joins the Middle School faculty as a science teacher.  Mrs. Chopra has taught Biology and Chemistry at both the Middle and Upper School levels and has considerable experience in working with students through differentiated instruction.  She is excited about the 8^th grade interdisciplinary science fair that will take place this year.

Ms. Rina Cohen joins the Middle School and Upper School faculty as a Hebrew teacher.  Mrs. Cohen has more than 30 years of experience instructing and tutoring all levels of the Hebrew language, and has also taught the NETA Hebrew curriculum that MJBHA uses.

Mr. Benjamin Foote joins the Upper School faculty as a teacher of English and Sports, Health and Fitness.  Mr. Foote formerly worked at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School as a history and Jewish history teacher.  He has also worked as a writing instructor in an emerging writers’ institute and college admissions prep camp and has engaged in extensive and ongoing professional development.  He has a great deal of experience coaching basketball, ultimate Frisbee, and soccer.  

Mrs. Naama Freedman joins the Middle School Hebrew faculty while continuing to teach in the Lower School. Mrs. Freedman is a certified literature teacher in Israel and has over a decade of experience teaching literature, fiction, drama and poetry as well as helping students prepare for the “Bagrut”, or matriculation exams in Israel.  
Mrs. Ayala Gotlib joins our Upper School Ivrit department while also continuing in our Lower School Special Services department.  Mrs. Gotlib also teaches classes in the Potomac community as part of the Torah Mitzion Kollel.
Mr. Robert Hynes will be teaching art to our Middle School students.  In addition to having taught in the Helene Berman Seidenfeld Visual Arts Center on and off since its inception, he has been focused on illustration about nature for both children and adults for decades.  During this time, he has created more artwork for the National Park Service, National Geographic Society and Smithsonian Institution than any other illustrator in the United States. Middle School students will also enjoy the opportunityof working in the Visual Arts Center in the Upper School wing with Mr. Hynes.

Mrs. Barbara Hancock joins our Upper School faculty as our new College Counselor after having worked as a private college counselor in Bethesda.  She is a member of several national associations for college counseling, and has conducted multiple college essay and college application workshops for local students.  In addition to regularly traveling to colleges to meet with admissions staff, Ms. Hancock has researched trends in college admission and tracked application requirements and score reporting policies.

Rabbi Jeffrey Kuperman joins the Upper School faculty as a Judaics teacher and will also serve in MJBHA’s newly created role of Educational Technologist.  Rabbi Kuperman has worked in Kohelet Yeshiva High School in Lower Merion, PA, the Kushner Yeshiva High School in New Jersey and Beth Tefiloh High School in Baltimore. He was the recipient of Kohelet’s Educator of the Year award in 2009.

Mr. Moishe Mittelman will teach Judaics courses in the Middle and Upper School this coming year.  He is currently learning in the Friedman Kollel of Metropolitan Washington in Olney, MD where he delivers weekly shiurim to teens and adults as well as learning individually with members of the community.  Mr.  Mittelman is also the Family and Youth Director of the Olney congregation where he engages teens from all backgrounds in NCSY programming and volunteer work.

Mr. Edward O’Mahony joins the History faculty of the Upper School from the Phillips School in Howard County where he taught government, U.S. history, and world history. He has been published in a scholarly journal and, while at Phillips, helped his students achieve the highest passing rate on the HSA in Maryland.

Ms. Suzette Tanen returns to the Middle School English faculty after having taken a break for the past several years. We are excited for the return of Ms. Tanen’s dynamism in the classroom and her obvious passion for teaching.

Mrs. Shira Tuchman comes to MJBHA with 22 years of teaching and educational administrative experience in middle and upper schools.  Mrs. Tuchman most recently taught and served as an administrator at Yeshivat Rambam in Baltimore.  She will teach Chumash and Navi in our Upper School.

Ms. Pamela Wachutka has taught study skills and English in public school.  She most recently worked as an educational assessment consultant and project manager for an educational management and evaluation company. We look forward to having Mrs. W teach Middle School English.