Our staff empower educators to handle the challenges of teaching at-risk students, such as low-performing readers, migrant youth, English language learners, and students with disabilities, through dynamic training sessions, on-site coaching, and network building.
You can read more about our staff by following the links below to individual bios. Or, for a list of staff contacts by Areas of Expertise, select one of the links here:
As Director of the Eastern Stream Center, Bob Levy has managed many projects and programs that provide technical assistance and other support to states and school districts across the country on a variety of educational issues as they pertain to migrant and other at-risk children. Over his 25 year career in migrant education, Bob has conducted several important nationwide studies researching dropout rates and retention strategies for migrant students.
Expertise: program and budget management, migrant education, secondary education
Email: boblevy@escort.org
Tom Hanley coordinates all programming activities conducted by ESCORT and the Eastern Stream Center. He supervises professional staff as they work in the field providing technical assistance, workshops and presentations to states and districts. Tom is the liaison to our work with the Regional Comprehensive Centers and service to state departments of education. This work focuses primarily on assisting state education agencies, regions and school districts to evaluate and improve educational services to low income, at-risk children. Tom also provides technical assistance to migrant education programs in the areas of: program assessment, administration, identification and recruitment, and evaluation. He has been with the Eastern Stream Center since its inception.
Expertise: program administration, comprehensive needs assessment, migrant education
Email: tomhanley@escort.org
Terrie Anne Bennett is a creative and energetic teacher committed to providing educational opportunities for students of all ages to become world citizens and prepare for a diverse growing global economy.
Bennett has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, a master’s degree in administration and leadership from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and a Certificate of Advanced Study in curriculum, assessment and instruction from the University of Maine, Orono.
She is certified to develop K-12 curriculums for modern languages & ESL in the State of Maine. She currently is the ID&R Coordinator, Maine Department of Education in the Migrant Education program.
Bennett serves on the Board of Directors of Mano en Mano, a not for profit organization meeting the needs of the Latino community in Washington County. She is also a proud alumnus of Leadership Maine - Lambda Class, Maine Development Foundation.
Bennett is originally from Montreal, Quebec, and is fluent in English, Spanish and French. She now lives in Portland, Maine.
Expertise: Curriculum development, program management, English language learning, multicultural issues
Email: terrieannebennett@gmail.com
Michele Sloan Cheney has more than fifteen years experience in the education field. With a background in ESL and Reading, she has taught kindergarten through university levels; provided professional development to teachers and administrators; and, served on state committees consulting on program and product design. As a Senior Education Specialist with the Eastern Stream Center, Michele works closely with SEAs and LEAs to ensure that English Language Learners and migrant children have equitable access to a high quality education where practices and programs are grounded in scientifically based research so that all children can meet the academically rigorous standards established under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Expertise: English language learners, literacy
Email: michelecheney@escort.org
Margarita (Margot) Di Salvo provides administrative support to the Center’s staff in such areas as conference and meeting planning, preparing materials used at these events as well as other training sessions, recording minutes, and maintaining registration data. Margot serves as the office manager for the ESCORT regional office in Tampa, FL. In addition to these duties, she is also involved with the National Migrant Education Hotline by providing back-up support in receiving calls to the hotline.
Expertise: office management, professional support, conference/meeting planning
Email: mdisalvo@escort.org
As the ID&R Trainer for Florida, Jorge Echegaray provides technical assistance and professional development for Florida’s Migrant Recruitment Staff. Such assistance include: the most effective and appropriate strategies to identify migrant families, interview techniques, and collaborating with school districts and community based agencies.
Jorge has many years of experience working with and advocating for migrant and bilingual students and their families. Until 2005, he had been an ESL Teacher in the Allentown School District, in Allentown, PA. There he also served as an Adult ESL Instructor and assisted in the development of a community based after school program. In 2006, he served as the Fiscal Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Migrant Education Program. During this time, Jorge became aware of MEP program guidelines and regulations with emphasis on Recruitment and Identification efforts, as well as current guidance by the Office of Migrant Education. Most recently, Jorge worked at the Florida Department of Education, as a Grant Specialist.
Jorge holds a Human Development and Family Studies degree from the Penn State University.
Expertise: migrant education, identification & recruitment
Email: jorgeechegaray@escort.org
Alma Hinojosa is the primary project specialist for the National Migrant Education Hotline. Her areas of expertise include coordinating services to assist migrant farm worker families, acting as a liaison to school systems and migrant programs in the United States on farm workers' behalf, and translating information between Spanish and English. She manages cases involving educational, legal, health, transportation and other issues. Alma conducts presentations on the Hotline at national, regional and local conferences in the US and Mexico. She is also a liaison to Mexico for the Eastern Stream Center and interacts with governmental agencies there at the federal, state and local level.
Alma has degrees in International Business, Business Management and Accounting and has taught Spanish at all levels for Binghamton University and the State University of New York at Oneonta. She has worked for several governmental agencies in Mexico and managed election campaigns for several mayors and a governor.
Expertise: migrant education, multicultural issues, network building
Email: almahinojosa@escort.org
Having been with the Eastern Stream Center since 1989, Phil Kellerman now works part-time as project specialist on the National Migrant Education Hotline. His areas of expertise include the Hotline, coordinating services to assist migrant farm worker families, and grant/contract writing. Phil also operates the Harvest of Hope Foundation, a private, non-profit organization which raises funds to provide emergency financial aid to migrant families.
Expertise: migrant education, network building, fund raising
Email: kellerhope@cox.net
Jocelyn LeFever arranges travel related logistics for the Eastern Stream Center and other paperwork related to fiscal operations. She works closely with the local office of the University Research Foundation to maintain the Center's budget. Jocelyn also assists in the planning and orchestration of coordination meetings and forums, and has been with the Center since 1996.
Expertise: conference/meeting planning, fiscal management support, travel coordination
Email: jocielefever@escort.org
As a Senior Education Specialist, Ray Melecio provides professional development services to states in the Eastern Stream Center's service areas on identification and recruitment of migrant children, multicultural awareness, second language acquisition, parent involvement and other migrant education program issues. He has worked for the Eastern Stream Center since 1993. Prior to that, he was State Coordinator of Identification and Recruitment for the Pennsylvania Migrant Education Program. He holds a Ph.D. from the College of Education at Penn State University with an emphasis in Bilingual Education.
Expertise: migrant education, multicultural issues, identification & recruitment
Email: raymelecio@escort.org
Steve Perry, Vice President for Student Development, has served as the liaison for all Eastern Stream Center programs with the State University of New York College at Oneonta since 1999. He has been with the College for 17 years in a variety of assignments, including Director of Career Development, Director of Academic Advisement, Interim Director of Admissions, and Associate Vice President for Student Development. Steve holds an Ed. D. from SUNY Albany in Education Administration and Policy Studies.
Expertise: university administration, student development
Email: perrysr@oneonta.edu
Working in migrant education programs since 1979, Bob Thomas joined the Eastern Stream Center in December 1987. He oversees the installation and customization of the hardware and software systems that help keep the Center online, databases compiled, and the National Migrant Education Hotline operating. Bob conducts presentations on using selected software programs and acts as technical consultant for the New York State Migrant Education Program concentrating on their MIS2000 data management program.
Expertise: information technology, migrant education, database management
Email: bobthomas@escort.org
Monica Ulewicz joined the Eastern Stream Center in 2006 and serves as a technical writer and facilitator of comprehensive needs assessments and service delivery planning. She assists state migrant education programs in aligning CNA, SDP and evaluation of program activities. She is also responsible for writing and editing technical papers, proposals, and evaluation reports. She has worked in the field of education for over 12 years, focusing on international issues and serving at-risk students.
Expertise: writing/editing, education policy, evaluation
Email: monicaulewicz@escort.org
Anna provides data support for the ESCORT Tampa office by tackling the immense task of transferring all their COE information onto a database.
email: annavelez@escort.org
Pamela Wrigley is a specialist in English language learning and migrant education. She began her career in education as a secondary Spanish teacher. She taught Spanish for 13 years in public and private schools. In 1987 Pamela became a bilingual Resource Specialist for the Virginia Migrant Education Program and has focused on promoting ELL and literacy programs that address the needs of English language learners, migrant students and their families. She also has an extensive amount of experience training teachers and developing resources in the area of research-based instructional and assessment strategies that boost the achievement of English language learners.
Pamela has conducted workshops and provided technical assistance to special educators, administrators and teachers on strategies and policies that ensure appropriate identification of ELLs for special education services. She has also engaged in technical assistance to SEAs and LEAs in all aspects of ESL and migrant program design, implementation, and evaluation. She has helped to guide six states through the intensive comprehensive needs assessment (CNA) process which has helped them to improve the quality of their data use, service delivery, and program evaluation.
Expertise: English language learners, comprehensive needs assessment, migrant education
Email: pgwrig@worldnet.att.net