Meet RBERN Staff

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Nicole Bell, Coordinator

Nicole Bell began her career in education as a music teacher before she decided to get her masters in TESOL at Nazareth College. Following grad school, Nicole was an ENL teacher for several years as a WFL BOCES Itinerant teacher and several years in the Sodus Central School District. She served as the coordinating teacher for the WFL ENL teacher consortium and was very committed to family engagement practices with ELLs and their families. She continues to spend her summers working with the Oswego Migrant Education summer program as lead teacher/program coordinator. Additionally, her interest areas include culturally responsive teaching, bilingual techniques in the classroom, the Latinx student experience, and migrant education. Nicole is currently pursuing her Ed.D in the leadership for diverse learning communities program at Molloy University.

Anna Stukes, Professional Development Specialist

Anna Stukes has ten years of experience as an ENL and Spanish educator serving in roles ranging from ENL teacher, mentor, Instructional Coach, and now Professional Development Specialist and Local PRHYLI Coordinator for Mid-West RBE-RN. She has done extensive work with educators and families of English language learners in providing and supporting them with the resources needed in language and literacy development. She strives to continue to aid families and educators with the resources and knowledge needed in developing language and literacy skills to ensure access to a quality and equitable education. Along with providing youth with a platform to develop transferrable and sophisticated language skills and leadership experiences through PRHYLI. Anna holds a Master degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and Spanish; Bachelor’s degrees in Communications Studies, Spanish Language and Literature, and International Studies.

Jennifer Raponi, Professional Development Specialist

Jennifer Raponi is a Resource Specialist and the senior member of the Mid-West RBERN team. She was a preschool speech therapist before deciding to get her Masters in TESOL at the University of Rochester. Jennifer worked as a K-12 ESOL Teacher in Geneseo and started the original GV ESOL Teacher Cohort to support ELL education in rural districts. She is passionate about the equitable education of English Language Learners. Jennifer’s particular areas of interest and expertise are Students with Interrupted Formal Education, Literacy Development for English Language Learners, and collaborating with Districts to create effective and responsive programming for ELLs.

Cori Smith, Professional Development Specialist

Cori Smith joined the Mid-West RBERN team as a Professional Development Specialist in 2022. Before that she taught K-12 ESOL in New York State for 22 years. She also has experience teaching English in Asia and in Latin America. Cori helped to develop the regional ESL Summer School program and co-lead this program for several years. She is passionate about ENL instruction and advocating for students. Cori enjoys supporting educators and she finds ways to connect with and engage all learners. She facilitates the Genesee Valley BOCES ENL Teacher Cohort and leads the CTE ENL Champions group (for instructional support) at WeMoCo CTE. Some of Cori's favorite topics to teach about are oracy, quality instruction for ELLs/MLs, social emotional learning, and culturally responsive and sustaining education. She has been known to bring dancing, rock painting, and a singing bowl to her PD sessions. Cori holds a Master of Education degree in TESOL and a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.

Christopher Bethmann, Professional Development Specialist

Christopher Bethmann joined the team at Mid-West RBERN at Monroe 2 BOCES as a Professional Development Specialist in 2024. He has 10 years of teaching experience in secondary education and holds a B.A. in international relations and Spanish and an M.S. in adolescence education and TESOL from the University of Rochester. Christopher is passionate about curriculum, instruction, and advocacy for multilingual learners in schools. His research interests include translanguaging, culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy, curriculum and programming design, and indigenous pedagogy.

Gia Callari, Department Support

Gia Callari came to Mid-West RBERN in 2022. Gia is from the Rochester area and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from St John Fisher University. She provides administrative support, financial and technological assistance, as well as guides the day-to-day Mid-West RBERN office operations.