24 New Teachers Begin Their Brewster Journey!

Twenty-four new teachers gathered at Brewster High School for a two-day orientation designed to welcome them to the Brewster Central School District and introduce them to the people, programs, and values that make Brewster special.

The group includes new kindergarten teachers, a new performing arts teacher at Brewster High School, Wells teachers, science teachers, an NJROTC instructor, educators joining the district’s dual-language program, C.V. Starr teachers and new occupational and speech therapists among others. They come to Brewster from communities across New York and Connecticut. As always, a handful have come back to work for the district they attended as students.

“Welcome to the Brewster family,” Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Stephen Hancock told the group. “Your success is our success as a district.”

“I am biased,” said Superintendent Dr. Michelle Gosh,” but I am going to say emphatically, no one does public school education like Brewster.”

She pointed to Brewster’s multiple pathways to student success and the district’s Vision 2030 strategic plan, which provides a framework for putting the district’s beliefs into practice.

Board of Education Vice President Cynthia Fox was there along with other members of the BOE encouraging the new educators to embrace their role in the district.

“You are our greatest investment in our kids,” Fox said. “Dive right in. We want you to enjoy the ride!”

Throughout the two-day orientation, administrators and veteran staff members offered practical advice and encouragement.

Just like new students do on the first day of school, teachers took part in activities designed to help them connect with one another. In one icebreaker, they selected cards describing different first-day-of-school feelings—from “totally overwhelmed” to “excited for a fresh start” to “trying to find the copier”—and shared their thoughts with their new colleagues.

The orientation also included an introduction to Vision 2030 and a bus tour of the Brewster community led by Artie Campbell and Deborah Oswald, Director of Education at the Southeast Museum, giving the new teachers a broader sense of the community and its history.

As the two-day orientation came to a close, the message was clear: these educators are not entering their new classrooms alone. They are joining a district with colleagues ready to help, administrators committed to their success, and a community invested in its schools.

And now, they are ready to meet their students.

“Be that first smiling face your students see,” P-Tech Director and Assistant Principal at Wells Dave Carpanzano told the group.

A new school year—and a new chapter for twenty-four Brewster educators—has officially begun.