Bromfield has a new look, new faces in 2024–25 school year

Note: This article reports new staff members at Bromfield.
For new personnel at HES, see "New faces at Hildreth Elementary"
    

When students returned to classes at the Bromfield School on Wednesday this week, they found changes to the building and also met several new teachers.

On Monday before school began, Superintendent Linda Dwight guided several School Committee members through the Bromfield School to see the improvements that had been completed—or nearly so—over the summer. “Wow!” was the reaction to the new flooring in the hallways. Light gray with a woodgrain pattern, the flooring will need no waxing or stripping for maintenance.

The school office has a new layout, with the main desk facing the front door. It is both more welcoming to visitors and also safer, giving the staff a better view of the entrance. Elsewhere in the building, the girls locker room is nearly complete.

The biggest impact for students, however, will not be the changes to the building, but the arrival of new teachers for some classes.

Catanese and Weiss join science department

Eric Weiss and Sara Catanese are joining the Bromfield High School science department. Weiss will teach physics and chemistry, Catanese biology and chemistry.

– Eric Weiss –

Weiss majored in biochemistry at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan and began his career as a technologist and then a business analyst with major pharmaceutical companies. But in 2010 he switched to teaching high school science. In a brief interview with the Press, Weiss said he made the career change because he wanted a schedule similar to that of his children and because he enjoys mentoring students in the sciences.

Weiss taught multiple science classes at Natick High School from 2010 to 2014, and then at Nashoba Regional High School until 2022. In 2022, he became associate project director for a science education fellowship program at UMass Boston.

Over the course of his career, Weiss has earned advanced degrees in both education and business administration. He said in his classes he often makes the connection between the science students are learning and the research work he did in private industry.

“The kids are the best thing about teaching,” Weiss said. “They’re still curious, but old enough to start making decisions about the future.”

– Sara Catanese –

Catanese began her teaching career shortly after earning a Bachelor of Science from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. She taught small groups of students at City on a Hill Charter Public High School in Boston and then earned a master’s degree in psychology at Boston University.

After working for several years in mental health support services, Catanese taught science at Up Academy Oliver in Lawrence and then became STEM coordinator and science teacher at Tremont School in Concord. Most recently, she taught biology at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica.

Catanese said she likes to weave a lot of inquiry into her teaching. She said it’s important to model “comfort with uncertainty,” so as to avoid jumping to conclusions in science. “Science is provocative,” she said. And learning extends beyond the classroom: “Learning informally as well as formally is also important,” she pointed out.

Burokas teaches Spanish in middle school

– Kevin Burokas –

Burokas comes to the Bromfield Middle School as a Spanish teacher for grades 6 and 7, having taught the language from 2014 to 2019 at the South Shore Charter Public School in Norwell. After the COVID-19 pandemic struck, he became a Spanish tutor.

Burokas earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Sacred Heart University, as well as a diploma in Spanish from the Universidad de Granada. He also has a Master of Arts for Teachers from Western New England University. As an undergraduate, he minored in music and has continued to give lessons both in person and virtually on violin, viola, and cello.

Music, Burokas pointed out, is itself a language, and he uses music to help students learn Spanish. “We do a lot of singing—it’s great with learning language,” he said. Singing, dancing, and similar activities are used in a teaching method for learning vocabulary and language called total physical response (or TPR).

Rutkiewicz to teach chorus, theater

– Sarah Rutkiewicz –

Rutkiewicz will be teaching chorus for both the middle school and the high school students at Bromfield, from grade 6 to grade 12. She will also be teaching theater courses for grades 7 and 8.

Rutkiewicz earned her bachelor’s degree in music at UMass Amherst and her master’s degree at UConn Storrs. She noted that all three music teachers at Bromfield are UMass Amherst alums.

She has served as chorus director at the Oxford Middle School since 2004. While there she was music director for 19 musical theater productions. In 2015 she became chorus director for Oxford High School as well, leading students in two annual concerts and numerous other school and community performances.

Rutkiewicz says her mantra is “quality over quantity.” She explained she would always choose in a concert to do fewer musical pieces that the students can do really well, rather than have a longer list of pieces that are not so well done. No kid should be asked to go in front of an audience to give a performance that is less than their best, she explained.

While she will be facing a much longer commute than before, Rutkiewivz said, “To travel to a place where I’m happier, … where it seems the arts are valued and appreciated, … it’s worth it.”

Editor’s note: With 18 new faculty and administrators in the district as a whole, the Press began introducing the new hires last week and will continue the coverage in its Sept. 6 edition.