Dear Brown School Family,

The first day of school will be here in four weeks! I hope everyone has been able to enjoy their time away from school and that you remembered to slather on plenty of sunscreen when you were outside. The heat and sun this year have been unforgiving. My husband and I went for a short weekend trip to Savannah, Georgia to visit a friend, and the rest of my summer has been spent mostly at school hiring staff, building a new school website, and watching all the renovations come to fruition. Speaking of new staff, be sure to check out the section below to see who has joined our family and who has transitioned to a new position. It really is going to be a great year!

Don't forget that you can find all the info you need in last week's Back To School Special Edition! I hope to see all our amazing students in class at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, August 10th!

Love,

Dr. Angela

As I reflect on my twenty-four years in education, I know how lucky I am to work at the BEST school with the most talented staff and students. I have been a Brown Bear for eighteen years, and I am thrilled to be the new Elementary Assistant Principal. Most recently, I’ve worked to help make technology accessible for our students and staff as the Instructional Technology Coach, and before that I taught science and computer classes. I have a degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University Southeast, and a masters in Instructional Technology from University of Louisville. In 2011, I earned an Educational Specialist degree because of my love of curriculum design and school leadership from the University of Louisville.

My husband and I have been married for 22 years, and we live with our three sons and our spoiled dog Daisy in southern Indiana. Watching our kids grow up has been my greatest joy. I enjoy spending time with my family, reading, traveling, and exploring new restaurants. I have many ideas of how we can work together to help our students grow into happy members of our community that love to learn. Here’s to making this the best school year!

I started teaching music in 2002 at Eminence Independent Schools after graduating from Western Kentucky University in 2002. I received my Master's Degree in Educational Leadership in 2008. I then moved to Brown to teach music in 2013. Now, I am the School Safety Administrator for Brown! I am currently the First Sergeant for the 100th Army Band and have been a member of the Army Reserve since 1998. I was an instructor on the M1A1 Tank, a Drill Sergeant, and ran Training and Operations for the 100th Army Band before being promoted in 2020.

I can often be found on the golf course. You may also find me fishing with my son, Noah, and wife Jennifer. Our Golden Retriever, Winnie, will be nearby. We are members of Shelbyville First Baptist Church and live in Simpsonville. In my new role, I am looking forward to having more positive relationships with students outside of the music room and helping everyone feel safe at Brown.

I have been the Brown School Attendance Clerk for nearly 5 years. Brown was a big change for me professionally. I worked in a long-term care and rehabilitation facility as a care giver as well as in administration for 22 years. During that time frame I had the opportunity to work from home on projects and stay home with my 4 children for 7 years. I currently have a senior and a freshman at Brown and 2 Alumni-Class of 2015 and 2022. As a family we love being outside and going on adventures. We love animals and have a house full! Brown has been such a perfect fit for our family and I am very grateful that I have been able to work where my children go to school.

As the Attendance Clerk in the lobby, it has been a pleasure welcoming our students every morning as they come in to start their day! I am so excited for the opportunity to work more closely with students in my new position in the library but will miss all the parents that I have had the pleasure to get to know over the years.

I am thrilled to be joining the Brown Bear family as your middle school counselor. Last year I was an elementary counselor at McFerran Preparatory Academy, and before that I was the fifth and sixth grade counselor at Hazelwood Middle School in New Albany, Indiana. I started my career as a middle and high school orchestra teacher. I went to Indiana University Southeast for my Masters in School Counseling degree and the University of Louisville School of Music for my MAT in Music Education with an emphasis in Violin Performance.

When I’m not empowering and engaging with brilliant young minds at school, I’m living the boy mom life at home with my two joy boys Ricky Theo and Reggie Langston. I have the world’s best husband, Jamie Pickerill, and a very old dog named Gabby. I am a proud alum of Brown School and look forward to enhancing the magnificent work of the students and staff and making sure the community at large sees how awesome it is to be a Brown School Bear.

Hello, my name is Jason Hesley. I have been working at JCPS as an ECE teacher for 12 years. I started at a resource teacher and the past 4 years I have worked in an LD self-contained classroom at Tully Elementary.

I am married to the wonderful Sarah Braun. I have a 5 year old daughter named Athena and a 6 week old son named Alexander. As a family we spend a lot of time at Churchill Downs and travel quite often.

I looked forward to my time ahead working as an Implementation Coach at the Brown School and assisting colleagues and parents with the ECE process.

Hello Brown families! I am Amy Noon, YOUR new music teacher!

My life path includes being a parent to one daughter and grandmother to one grandson in my adopted city of Louisville, KY. I am originally from Henderson, KY and grew up in the public schools where I learned much about music, which molded my path to becoming a music teacher. My dad was a music teacher and my formative years were filled with all different kinds of musical experiences. Ultimately I decided to go to college to pursue a degree in music education and that was the best decision I ever made! After completing my undergraduate degree (BM Ed.) from Cumberland College, I had the opportunity to teach in San Pedro Sula, Honduras for four years where I combined my love of travel, culture and language into one experience. I learned conversational Spanish and how to live and thrive in an unfamiliar society. I sought out ways to immerse myself in Latin American society by traveling throughout Central America. I am inquisitive about other societies and their languages as well as the artistic contributions they bring.

In 2001 I returned to the U.S. where I furthered my education and obtained my first master’s degree from the University of Southern Indiana (MS Ed.) followed by a second master’s degree in educational technology from Georgetown College in 2017. I have taught in the Kentucky public-schools for 20 years (10 of those in JCPS) and have learned so much about myself and what I have to offer– experience, vision and artistry to name only a few. My experience ranges from arts and humanities to all forms of instrumental and vocal music including string and full orchestra, band, jazz band, choir, studio orchestra and much more! I have the added talent of connecting young minds with the skill and love of music, a connection which is critical between student and teacher.

My hope for the J. Graham Brown school music program is to instill a sense of appreciation and love of music and explore how this binds us all together. I welcome all parents, guardians and students alike, to reach out to me about your musical interests so we can be more connected. Let’s make this centennial year of the Brown school a time to celebrate with music and joy!

Hello folks, I’m Lauren Nichols, a very enthusiastic addition to the Brown Family! Next year, I’ll teach 7th grade ELA, and I’m excited to start this new adventure. I’ve heard wonderful things about the Brown Community, and I’m really looking forward to working with such a creative and engaged 7th grade group. Before Brown, I taught 9th grade Advanced and Honors English at Ballard High School and prior to that taught Advanced 8th grade ELA at Olmsted North Middle School. I also taught college-level English in China and worked in an 11th and 12th combined classroom at Clark Montessori High School in Cincinnati. I attended the College of Charleston for English Literature as an undergraduate and have a Master’s from Xavier University in Secondary English Education with a focus in Rhetoric and Literature. I’m originally from Georgia, but have called Kentucky and JCPS home for the last 11 years.

In my spare time, I like to read the New Yorker magazine with a good cup of coffee. I’m always ready for karaoke and run a film club for friends and family. I also sponsored the film club at Ballard! I like to curate playlists, go to concerts, and I love when students introduce me to new music. I travel whenever I can and am looking forward to spending Christmas in Spain with my family. I enjoy learning about art and design and currently live in Germantown with my husband, Douglas.

My name is Preston King and I will be teaching Physical Education and Health this upcoming school year. This will be the start of my 19th year teaching in JCPS, and for the last 18 years I have been teaching at Valley for 11 years, Iroquois for 2 years, and Western for the last 5 years. I have mainly been a PE and Health teacher during this time, as well as the head football coach at each of those schools, but I also served in course recovery, in school suspension, and administration duties.

I am a graduate of Valley High School (2000) and I attended college at Western Kentucky University where I earned a Bachelors in Physical Education, a Masters in Educational Administration, and a Rank I in Supervisor of Instruction. I am married to my wife Tabitha of 20 years in August who is also a teacher at Greenwood Elementary, and we have 2 boys aged 18 and 15. As I enter the 2022-2023 school year I look forward to getting to know the students, parents, and staff at Brown.

Hello, Everyone!

As an education student at UofL (GO CARDS!), when I had to decide on a content specialty, I reflected on my numerous struggles as a math student and decided to become the patient, understanding math teacher I felt I often did not get. I made it a specific focus of my studies then and while later pursuing my Doctorate to research strategies that would allow me to better help ALL my students see themselves as mathematicians.

I was incredibly fortunate to collaborate with and learn from extraordinary teachers throughout my 6 years at South Oldham Middle School, 5 years at Westport Middle School, and 5 years at Ballard High School. Although I loved my years at Ballard, I realized I’m not built for the more independent structure of high school. I really love being part of the more collaborative team-oriented structure of middle school, and I can’t wait to dive back into it at Brown! As an added bonus, I still get to teach my favorite high school math class, Algebra 1, while I also get to teach my favorite middle school math level, 8th grade. I’m so excited to be a part of the Brown family and can’t wait to meet each of you!

Hello, Brown Community, my name is Alayna Paige and I am the new 6th-grade math teacher. I am a National Board Certified Teacher and have taught middle school math for the last 6 years. I am transferring from Lassiter middle school in JCPS where I was math department chair. I attended the University of Louisville for my Bachelor's in Education and Midway University for my Master's in Teacher Leadership. I am looking forward to integrating the Modern Classroom Project into your child's instruction which will enhance their engagement in math.

A little about me personally. I was born and raised in Louisville and attended JCPS schools. I have been married for five years to my amazing husband Andrew. I have an adorable son Julian who will be two in January, and a tiny dog named Minnie. I enjoy stroller walks with my son, trips to the beach, and spending time with family. I look forward to working with your children next year. I am very excited to join the Brown Community.