President – Todd Wallingford

Having served on the board for several years, Todd now serves as MCSS President. For nearly three decades, he’s been an educator in the Hudson Public Schools, having taught social studies for fifteen years and served as the Director of Humanities for the past thirteen. As a classroom teacher, Todd’s key area of focus was civic education, where he worked closely with colleagues to develop a freshman course that combined instruction in US Government, service-learning and Holocaust studies. Since 2010, he has worked with English and Social Studies teachers across schools to support the development of curriculum and instructional practices.

Treasurer – Jon French

Jon is a teacher at Nashoba Regional High School where he has taught nearly everything but focuses on AP U.S. Government and Politics.  He supports the Political Awareness Club and Model UN clubs at Nashoba.  He enjoys running, hiking, skiing, and is a huge fan of Arsenal F.C.  He lives in New Hampshire with his wife, daughter, and dog.  

Program Director – Gorman Lee

A graduate of Boston University (SED ‘92), Gorman Lee taught middle and high school Social Studies for the Medford Public Schools and later became Coordinator of Social Studies for the district. In 2007, Gorman accepted the position of K-12 Director of Social Studies for the Braintree Public Schools in Braintree, Massachusetts, where he continues to serve today. Gorman served on the committee to revise the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework in 2001 and again in 2018. Since 2013, Gorman has been involved with Mass Council for the Social Studies, including as president in 2014 and has continued to offer and host professional development workshops and conferences for teachers across the Commonwealth and New England. Gorman  will be reprising his role as co-chair of the local arrangements committee for the NCSS Annual Meeting and Convention as it returns to Boston in late fall 2024.

Webmaster – Nate Everett

Nate currently teaches history at Sandwich Middle High School and lives in Plymouth. In his 31st year of work in public education, he will teach Modern World History and AP World History and represent teachers as department chair. He also has been a debate coach for over 30 years and is an advisor for the school’s National Social Studies Rho Kappa Honor Society. Nate recently finished a Masters Degree in American History through the Gilder Lehrman Institute program through Gettysburg College. He loves to read, bike and hike, play chess, Xbox, and exercise. He reads and collects comic books and loves science fiction and fantasy.

Digital Marketer – Alexander Uryga

Alexander Uryga graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Valparaiso University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history. After graduating from Valpo he served at a community learning center through AmeriCorps. Alexander Uryga currently works in the field of education and holds a Master of Education in teaching and curriculum from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. During his career Alexander has earned countless prestigious fellowships, including from the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, and has won numerous curriculum grants as well as scholarships to attend NCSS and NCHE conferences. He has been recognized for his teaching over the years, including from the Lynch Foundation in 2021 with the Carolyn & Peter Lynch Award for teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and from the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies in 2022 with the Richard Aieta Promising Teacher Award.

Casey Cullen

Casey teaches Civics, Psychology, Social and Criminal Justice, World History and United States History at Westborough High School. He is a past president of the MCSS and now works as their director of advocacy and outreach.  An original member of the Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalition, he serves on their Teaching and Learning committee.  In 2020 he was awarded a DESE fellowship to help teachers implement the new civic engagement project initiative throughout the Commonwealth.  In 2021 Cullen launched Civic Ed Solutions, which partners teachers with districts and non-profits seeking support in civic education.  In 2023 he received a Fulbright fellowship to travel and teach in India.

Jenn DiFrancesca

Jenn is currently the Director of Social Sciences at Shrewsbury High School. She also teaches 9th grade World Civilizations, serves as the advisor to the school’s National Social Studies Honor Society and teaches Strategies for Effective Teaching to new teachers at the high school.  Jenn loves to read, hike, watch BBC mysteries, and attempt The NY Times games.

Janice Fairchild

Janice is a retired social studies teacher and team leader, who worked for over 36 years at the Hanscom Middle School located on Hanscom AFB within the Lincoln Public Schools. She earned a BA from Boston College School of Education in 1978 and an MEd from Harvard School of Education in 1991. She has been a member of MCSS since 1995 and has served on the board and as president, NERC coordinator and presenter at many NERC and NCSS conferences. In 2019, she received the John Reilly Award for Excellence in Teaching Geography, and in 2007 Janice was recognized as a finalist in the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year program. She continues to enjoy serving on the board for MCSS, substitute teaching at Hanscom Middle School and working to promote the importance of geographic literacy within middle school social studies curriculum.

Mike Feeney

Mike Feeney is the current social studies department head (7-12) at the Falmouth Public Schools located on Cape Cod. Before moving into his current administrative position he served as a social studies teacher at Falmouth High School for 14 years. Mike has a passion for supporting history educators along with administrators where he currently co-teachers a course on teacher evaluation. Lastly, Mike has a passion for dogs and fun historic beard styles and is excited to serve on the MCSS board.

Jany Finkielsztein

Jany is originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Jany has built a career in education, serving as a middle school teacher, curriculum coordinator, and instructional coach in charter, public, and private schools across Massachusetts. She brings extensive experience in designing and leading professional learning opportunities for K–12 educators. Jany has also taught pre-service teacher preparation courses as an adjunct faculty member at Boston University and Simmons University. She is certified as a “Train the Trainer” through the Ethnic Studies Program of the California Department of Education. Currently, Jany serves on the board of the National Education Association’s Jewish Affairs Caucus (JAC) and sits on advisory boards for organizations focused on children’s and young adult literature, where she contributes to educational programming and outreach.

Celeste Reynolds

Celeste Reynolds has been teaching at Mashpee Middle High School for twenty four years. She primarily teaches AP Human Geography as well as the coordinator for Senior Seminar Projects.  Over the years she has also taught US History, Women’s Studies, World History, Current Events, and AP Psychology.  Celeste is very passionate about geography education and works on the TeachOSM US team and American Geographical Society to promote geographic education.  She lives in Sandwich, MA with her husband, two daughters, and her dog Maple. 

Kristen Tabacco

Kristen is currently the Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction for History PreK-12 for the Lynn Public Schools. Prior to that, she taught middle and high school social studies for 10 years in Lynn. Kristen earned her BA in History from UMass Boston, M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from UMass Lowell, and C.A.G.S. in Educational Leadership from American International College. She is excited to join the board officially for the 2023-2024 school year. She is passionate about involvement in NCSS and MCSS, elevating the importance of civic education, genocide & human rights education, teaching ALL of the history of our nation and world, and putting students first by putting teachers first.