NELMS Presenters

Eunice Taylor, Teacher in Residence, NELMS, email: eltaylor@nelms.org
Eunice Taylor has been the NELMS Teacher in Residence since her retirement in 2004. In this capacity she has led numerous professional development workshops, presented at many conferences, and conducted on-site classroom coaching in both urban and suburban districts. Eunice joined NELMS after a career as a public school teacher in MA and CT for 37 years. Since 1980, she has taught mathematics in grades 6-8 and prior to that she taught all subjects in grades 5, 3 and kindergarten. Eunice has had many years of leadership experience as an administrative assistant, a mathematics department facilitator, a cooperating and mentor teacher, and as a leader of a variety of middle school interdisciplinary teams.

Eunice enjoys presenting on a variety of middle level topics including: the fundamentals of middle level schooling, differentiating instruction, teaming, team leadership, instructional strategies for math and other content areas, organizational strategies for teachers and students, strategies for content literacy, and student motivation. She is passionate about young adolescents and the middle schools and teachers that serve them and her association with NELMS has allowed her to continue this important work.

Mary Jean Fawcett, Co-Administrator in Residence, NELMS,
Mary Jean began her career in education as an elementary/middle school teacher, spending nineteen years teaching grades 5, 6 and 8. She has a M.Ed. in Reading and Language Acquisition form UMass Lowell and a M.Ed. in Educational Management from Lesley College. She also did post graduate work in Educational Leadership at UMass-Lowell.

An administrator for 17 years, she was a Middle School Associate Principal (5-8), a Middle School Principal (5-8) and a Grammar School Principal (PreK-8).

Now retired, in addition to her work at NELMS, Mary Jean is also teaching for the Northeast Consortium affiliated with Salem State College and supervising student teachers for Fitchburg State College.

Sue Dumas, Co-Administrator in Residence, NELMS,
Susan Dumas has worked in middle level education for twenty-six years and as principal of Mystic Middle School in Stonington, CT from 1994 through 2007. Under her leadership, Mystic Middle used feedback from a NELMS assessment as a roadmap to school improvement, resulting in the selection as Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) 2002 Middle School of the Year and recognition as a NELMS Spotlight School.

Susan is a past member of the NELMS Board of Directors and a member of several NELMS committees. She was also a member of the Connecticut Association of Schools Middle Level Board. Additionally, she has been a member of the CAS’s Middle Level Professional Studies Committee since 2002. Susan Dumas was the 2005 NASSP MetLife Connecticut Middle Level Principal of the Year. In addition to her work for NELMS, she is working as an executive coach for CAS in schools identified as "in need of improvement" by the Connecticut State Department of Education.

Susan has been the facilitator of NELMS Leadership Academy for the past three years. In addition, she presents on a variety of middle level topics such as scheduling, data driven decision making and data teams, using protocols to look at student work, and other best middle level practices.

NELMS Educators in Residence