Our Team

The School & Main team includes our full-time staff, a devoted cadre of faculty from around the country and our board members. 

STAFF & FACULTY 

Chantel Devaughn, President and Executive Director

Chantel Devaughn is the President and Executive Director of School & Main Institute. She joined the SMI team in 2019 as both a technical assistance liaison and a member of the Board of Directors, before being appointed to her current role in May 2023.

As a seasoned leader in policy and program management, and as a passionate advocate for youth empowerment, Ms. Devaughn brings over 27 years of experience in skills-based training, capacity building, and workforce development. Her previous work includes serving as a National Technical Assistance Expert and Advisor for various community-based organizations and federal/state funded programs. She has also overseen more than $100 million in federal and state grant dollars and has represented a host of Fortune 500 companies including CVS, The Home Depot, and UPS in the development of their workforce initiatives.

Andy Beck, Founding Director Emeritus

Andy is the former Executive Director of School & Main Institute. He has retired, but is continuing to support key SMI activities and partnerships as our Founding Director Emeritus.  He has over 30 years of experience creating community-wide strategies that impact young people, their families, and the communities in which they live. Andy has been involved in efforts that range from educational leadership and teaching to workforce, youth and community development. At SMI, Andy has facilitated collaborative work at the federal, state and local level and is known nationally for his ability to bring systems that support youth (education, workforce, human services, juvenile justice, housing, etc.) together to achieve meaningful outcomes for youth and greater effectiveness and efficiency for the systems that support them. Andy has worked as a teacher, a building principal, and an instructor at the graduate level and is a former president of the Alternative School Alliance based in Massachusetts. When Andy’s not working, you might catch him at a basketball game or at a music concert.

Estelle Archibold, School & Main Institute Coach

Estelle Archibold is the former Director of Family Engagement, Culture and Community at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.  She is a Senior Research Fellow with the Center for Restorative Justice in Boston, Massachusetts. Estelle has been engaged in restorative practices work across schools and communities for more than 15 years in the United States and abroad.  She began her teaching practice as a DC Teaching Fellow teaching high school mathematics in District of Columbia Public Schools in Washington, DC.  She has continued in her practice in professional development and consultant roles in the U.S. and abroad in places such as Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and West Africa.  Estelle is a graduate of Spelman College, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and Boston University, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Bertha-Elena Rojas, School & Main Institute Coach

Dr. Bertha-Elena Rojas is the President of Humanity Advanced, LLC.  She focuses on the capacity building of diversity, equity, cultural and racial literacy across multiple dimensions within schools and organizations, through innovative frameworks that integrate Neuroscience, Education, Psychology, Social Justice, Equity and Wellness paradigms.  She also uses her experience in school leadership and management to support school districts with English Learner and Dual Language Education, Social-Emotional Learning and Family and Community Engagement in multiple capacities, including program evaluation, professional development for teachers and school leaders, and capacity building strategies.  Dr. Rohas is a Board Member and the Advocacy Chair of the Multistate Association for Bilingual Education-Northeast (MABE), and a Board Member of the Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University.

Sue Brown, Director of Finance and Operations

Sue is School & Main Institute's financial manager. The co-founder of a local School-to-Career partnership in Summit County, Colorado, Sue is was also a member of the Colorado Tech Prep/School-to-Career Advisory Board. She brings almost 20 years of financial management and small business ownership experience to the organization. Sue’s travels span the globe and she loves the Rocky Mountains, and her extended family. She is a star!

Kathy Flynn Woodland, Director of Field Services

Kathy brings over 25 years of extensive experience in the fields of education, youth development, workforce development, and community mobilization. Her work includes being a trainer, technical assistance provider, facilitator and strategist with PK-12 schools, districts, higher education, state and federal agencies, and community partners to build successful collaborations targeting education improvement and school to college/career transition initiatives. Kathy currently serves as a coach and technical assistance provider working with MA “turnaround” schools on the implementation of strategies related to improving climate & culture and the development of strong internal and external wraparound student support systems geared to improving graduation rates. She recently helped develop Rhode Island’s statewide interagency collaborative case management model for the state’s “highest risk” youth – dropouts, pregnant & parenting teens, foster care youth, and court-involved youth. Prior to working with School & Main Institute, Kathy was the Director of Partnership Development for the Massachusetts Office for School-to-Work Transition helping to mobilize and build the capacity of community partnerships by providing technical assistance in strategic planning, system benchmarking, program operations, sustainability planning, and continuous improvement/change management methods. Kathy’s professional experience also includes both local and statewide management of at-risk and out-of-school youth programs, administration of youth and adult local workforce development efforts, administration of a non-profit rehabilitation center, and as an archaeologist in the Hudson River Valley and Guatemala. 

Jean Hammes, Project Manager

Jean, has been a member of the School & Main Institute team since 2004 working on School-to-Work/School-to-Career efforts in Colorado, workforce development efforts in our statewide Texas Initiative and as a faculty member and TA provider in our national Institutes, Summits and capacity building sessions. She has been active in the field of project management and partnership development for many years, with experience in teaching, education reform, workforce development, community development initiatives, and program administration.

Born, raised, and educated in Iowa, Jean began her career teaching at a small Iowa high school. An opportunity to work on school-to-work partnership initiatives took her to California for 5 years working as Project Director for the Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) in Emeryville, California, where she managed the workflow across multiple large-scale projects located in four states, and worked with the team in conducting research to support projects and remain on the forefront of policy and practice. In 2004, Jean started working and collaborating on education and workforce development initiatives with School & Main Institute in several states and localities. Jean has provided training and technical assistance supporting educational reform, partnership skills building, and strengthening workforce development linkages to support youth investment and community youth development systems.

Jean has also served as the Program Director for the Alpine Agency on Aging, a program of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments.  She was responsible for a wide range of functions related to advocacy, planning, coordination, inter-agency linkages, contracting, evaluating and program development.  She administered and coordinated the delivery of services, including evidenced-based programming, for a five-county area. She successfully provided and managed federal and state programs and funds where she kept everyone in line and on task.

Meg Mayo-Brown, School & Main Institute Coach

William Rodriguez, School & Main Institute Faculty and Coach

Willie has been part of the School & Main Institute team for over 15 years. He has contributed to our work on the Roxbury Youth Network, Boston Campaign for Proficiency and “Reimaging Juvenile Justice” partnership effort we are building with the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  Willie has served in a variety of leadership positions such as executive director of La Alianza Hispana, the Boston Campaign for Proficiency, the Crime and Justice Institute and as Project Director to Bail Alternative and Alternative Sentencing Projects at The Vera Institute of Justice.  He also has served as Special Assistant to the President on Latino Affairs at Northeastern University.  In that capacity he co-founded the Latino Cultural Center, Latino, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program and helped develop Latino retention scholarships.

Willie is a passionate and zealous advocate for human rights, social justice, and democratic equity for youth. He is a recognized and influential leader in the Latino community in Massachusetts. He is a pre-law advisor to students and co-advisor to the Latino student organization La Herencia Latina at Wheelock. He also was a research and writing contributor to the Boston Bar Association Task Force on Justice Report on Corrections (1990), Bridging the Public Safety Gap- Prisoner Re-entry report for the Crime and Justice Foundation (1998). Both reports led to a level of criminal justice systemic reform and new program development in Massachusetts. Presently, co-principal investigator on a comparative study between Turkey and the United States on violent video games and its effect on aggressive behavior among high school students.

Fran Roy, School & Main Institute Faculty and Coach

Fran Roy is an educator’s educator who has worked in schools in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wisconsin -- and is ready to tackle achievement gaps wherever she finds them. She started as a middle school math teacher and later served as an assistant professor of education and district administrator. As assistant superintendent of the Fall River Public schools, her most recent position, Fran worked closely with teachers and district staff to boost student achievement using a combination of curriculum, school climate, and social emotional learning innovations. She combines a knack for data analysis with a deep understanding of how the brains of different students tick and how to adjust teaching and learning to fit their needs, interests, and hopes. She has provided a variety of school improvement support to public schools across Massachusetts including support for middle school redesign in New Bedford, math curriculum redesign work in Barnstable and Southbridge, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) planning support in Framingham, New Bedford, and West Springfield. She also serves on the state’s Mathematics Curriculum Refinement Panel charged with gathering stakeholder input and identifying possible refinements to the Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks. Dr. Roy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, a master’s degree in mathematics from Rhode Island College and a doctorate in education in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Naeemah Smith, Associate Project Manager

Naeemah has dedicated her entire career to helping the most vulnerable people in our society get access to the opportunities that will allow them to thrive. She’s worked with people who suffer from mental illness at Dimock’s Transitions of Boston, and was a counselor at St. Mary’s Bridge Home shelter for abused or neglected children. Starting in 2010, Naeemah worked at Roxbury Youthworks’ G.I.F.T. program in service to young girls victimized by commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) as well as youth identified at high risk for entering CSE or other forms of exploitative relationships. The majority of the G.I.F.T girls are system involved and have experienced significant amounts of trauma.

Naeemah has a “gift” for building genuine and long lasting relationships with even some of the hardest to reach girls at G.I.F.T.  During her time at G.I.F.T., Naeemah implemented numerous programs and cultivated partnerships from all different sectors, while also earning a BA in Sociology from UMASS, and a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Suffolk University.

In 2019, Naeemah decided to leave her role as G.I.F.T.’s Assistant Director and embark on a new challenge as an Associate Project Manager at the School & Main Institute, where her experience navigating systems and developing programs will be used to support programs all around the world.

Naeemah is also a mom to four boys (three humans and one cocker spaniel), and so her favorite thing to do is take a peaceful nap in a clean house which she hopes to actually experience again one day…

Patricia Spradley, School & Main Institute Faculty and Coach

Pat has worked with School & Main Institute on School-to-Career / School-to-Work efforts all the way back to the late 1990’s. She was a key component in the development of the Springfield Parent Academy – an SMI capacity building effort that helps parents and families develop effective partnerships with the public schools, while also helping caring adults develop skills and employment opportunities. Pat is the Chief of Parent and Community Engagement for Springfield Public Schools, in Massachusetts.  As Chief Officer, reporting to the Superintendent, she strategically engages key parents, community, and political and institutional partner support to assist with student achievement.  She currently has direct responsibility for Workforce Development, School Volunteers, Parent Facilitators & Family Education, the Parent and Community Engagement Center, the Springfield Parent Academy, Student Assignment Services, Homeless Educational Services, Migrant Refugee Support Services, Home Schooling, METCO and School Choice/Charters. 

Pat was born in Philadelphia, PA and is married to Willie L. Spradley, Jr.  They are the proud parents of four grown children, Sean, Tara, Dwight and Derek and four grandchildren.    In her free time, she enjoys reading, listening to jazz, sewing, watching basketball and vacationing.  Pat holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources/Personnel Management, a Master’s degree in Organizational Development and a Massachusetts State Certification in Educational Administration. She was nationally recognized by Education Week as a 2015 “LEADER TO LEARN FROM”.

Ephraim Weisstein, School & Main Institute Faculty and Coach

A longtime associate and School & Main Institute collaborator, Ephraim has extensive experience helping school districts and communities in New England and across the nation make strategic investments based on analyzing student data and current and missing resources. While Vice President at the Commonwealth Corporation, Ephraim helped lead and design the Massachusetts’ Pathways to Success by 21 (P-21) initiative where he worked closely with state and local district leaders to implement resource mapping as a key method to identify gaps and duplication in available resources and the implications for strategic planning and policy development. He worked with the New York City Department of Education on a similar process for NYC’s large disconnected youth population. As a SMI associate, Ephraim has worked closely with both New York State officials in the Depts. of Education and Labor, as well as key leadership from several Alabama rural communities on the development and implementation of a shared vision for youth with the purpose of deepening collaborations—whether at the state or local level—and helping partners gain a better understanding of available youth services and resources and how to strategically maximize their use and foster new opportunities. Ephraim also developed Schools for the Future, a fully performance-based school model designed to serve students old enough to enter high school but who have been held back two or more times, with significant gaps in basic reading and math skill development.

Sam Williams, School & Main Institute Faculty and Coach

Mr. Sam Williams has been in the non-profit sector for over twenty years. He is a native Bostonian and a graduate from Boston University with a Master's degree in City Planning. Sam was formerly the Senior Program Director for Summer Search Boston and Senior Program Manager for the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) at the Commonwealth Corporation. Sam has been instrumental in various local and statewide initiatives, including the Prison Yoga Project (PYP), Restorative Justice, Racial Profiling, Youth Development, and Public Safety. He is currently the co-chair for Community Advisory for Northeastern University Institute of Race and Justice. Sam was honored in 2019 by the City of Boston (City Council) for providing Men's Healing work in the community.   

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ellen Panarese Gibson, School & Main Institute Board Member

Ms. Ellen Panarese Gibson is the Interim Executive Director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.  This position offers the opportunity for Ms. Gibson to use her knowledge of SEL policy along with skills and experience in policy development and legislative advocacy in the broader context of issues that impact women and girls locally, across the state, and nationally in a variety of spaces.   Prior to this new position, she was the Director of Policy & Advocacy for the Social Emotional Learning Alliance for MA (SEL4MA) and remains a member of their Steering Committee and Board of Directors.

Ellen has been a parent and community activist for over 22 years, bringing together stakeholders and decision makers to build grassroots coalitions that advance educational and social emotional learning initiatives and policies at the local and state levels. Ellen was elected to the Newton School Committee in 2014 where she served for two terms until 2017. She remains active in Newton and was recently appointed by the Mayor to a three year term on the Parks, Recreation and Culture Committee. 

Ms. Gibson is a graduate of Vassar College with a B.A. in English and received her Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law where she focused on Family Policy and Law. She was an Associate at the Boston firm of Taylor, Anderson & Travers specializing in family law, custody issues and domestic relations.  

Jim Gross, School & Main Institute Board Member

Jim was born in Syracuse, New York in 1950 and attended the University of Rochester and thereafter received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1976.  After law school, Jim moved to Washington D.C and worked for two years at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Subsequently, he moved back to Boston and served as law clerk to Thomas Lawless, Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.  Jim then became a partner at the Boston law firm of Friedman & Atherton, where he concentrated in the area of bankruptcy and Chapter 11 reorganization work.  In 1989, Jim left Friedman & Atherton and became a founding member of the law firm, Klieman, Lyons Schindler and Gross in Boston, where he served as the managing partner for twenty years. For the last ten years, Jim has served in an of counsel position with the law firm of Madoff & Khoury LLP in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

In addition to his employment, over the years, Jim has been involved with various causes and non-profit organizations.  He served as a board member and then as the President of Compassion & Choices of Greater Boston, Inc. and was one of the petitioners in the unsuccessful death with dignity referendum in Massachusetts in 2012. The referendum had sought to allow terminally ill patients, whose suffering had become intolerable, to be allowed to obtain medication from their physicians to bring about an earlier and more peaceful death.  Jim is a member of the Newtonville Local Historic District Commission and has served as chair of the Commission for the last ten years.  Since 2009, Jim has been a volunteer at Community Servings, a food and nutrition program located in Jamaica Plain, which provides food to families living with critically or chronically ill family members.   For the last six years, Jim has volunteered as a teacher at the Welcome Project teaching English as a second language to adult immigrants in Somerville. 

Kay Khan, School & Main Institute Advisory Board Member

State Representative Kay Khan has represented Newton in the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 1995. She was originally appointed by Speaker Robert DeLeo in 2009 to serve as the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities and has served in this capacity ever since. Chair Khan is the founder and Co-Chair of the legislative Mental Health Caucus, the first of its kind in the country, and founder and Co-Chair of the Task Force on Justice Involved Women and Their Children, under the aegis of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. The Chair earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University School of Nursing. Her first job as a nurse was at Boston Children’s Hospital. Following this, she became an instructor for Boston University School of Nursing undergraduate students on a pediatric rotation. She went on to earn a master’s degree in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing from Boston University, graduating with honors and worked in a private group practice in Newton for close to 20 years. Representative Khan has lived in Newton for more than 40 years where she and her husband raised their three children and now enjoys her seven grandchildren.

Dr. Girard Melancon, School & Main Institute Board Member

Dr. Girard Melancon is the Vice Chancellor for Workforce Solutions at Baton Rouge Community College, the latest stage in an over 20-year career of developing sector-based workforce training programs that effectively serve the needs of Louisiana’s working residents and businesses.  During his time at Baton Rouge CC, he has grown its workforce education department from serving 350 students to over 2500 students annually while generating over $2 million in annual revenue, with new industry-based initiatives in the areas of allied healthcare, IT and Cyber Security.

Prior to his work at the college, Girard served in state government as an advisor to Governor Bobby Jindal, and at the Louisiana Workforce Commission and the state’s Office of Juvenile Justice.  In these positions he leveraged state and federal funding to provide educational reform and workforce development opportunities to at-risk and disadvantaged populations in the State of Louisiana.

Girard has also been an active advocate for the need to expand education and training options for a range of working people.  He is the outgoing Board President of the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE), a 700-member network of workforce service leaders at our nation’s community colleges.  And he has been a regular leader in National Skills Coalition’s efforts to press federal officials from both parties to bring greater priority to workforce education informed by a sector-focused, business engagement strategy.

Robert Sainz, School & Main Institute Board Member

Robert Sainz serves as the City of Los Angeles' Assistant General Manager responsible for the Workforce Development Division (WDD). Through his work, he annually manages over $70 million in public agency grant funds.

Under Robert’s leadership, he established the City of Los Angeles YouthSource System and Performance Partnership Pilot Initiative (P3), is a founding partner for LA:RISE – an innovative model serving formerly homeless and re-entry populations and has increased substantially the number of young adults serviced in HIRELA and other employment programs.

Robert has nearly 20 years of public service experience, specifically in local government. Throughout his public service career, he has addressed many difficult social problems facing our community’s low-income residents, including the challenges of juvenile delinquency, youth and adult unemployment, and poverty. He has personally been engaged in policy development, program development and program implementation of a number of youth and community intervention programs.

Robert has over 28 years of public service experience, specifically in local government. He was previously the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement for the City of Los Angeles and worked as the Assistant Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families. Robert began his public service career in the Los Angeles County Probation Department in 1992, and as Probation Director managed the Department’s Community Relations and Communications Office.

Robert is the past Chairperson of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Los Angeles and past Chairperson of Helpline Youth Counseling, a community-based organization. He is a Board Trustee and past president of U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Workforce Development Council. He has received numerous awards and recognition for his work including the Durfee Foundation’s Stanton Fellowship.

He received his BA degree from UC Santa Cruz, MPA from Columbia University, and post-graduate work from the University of Southern California.