Board Bios

Nancy Poliseno

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President  - OMLA
Teacher Grade 8
Orange Middle School, Lewis Center, Ohio

Nancy has over 20 years experience as a middle level teacher.  She has served on the OMLA Executive Board for over ten years as the newsletter editor and an associate regional representative. Nancy also serves on the National Middle School Association Executive Board as the Teacher-Trustee for the North/West Regions. She received her Bachelor's of Education degree from Kent State University and her Master's degree in Technology from Walden University. 

Nancy has received the following commendations for her implementation of middle level practices in the classroom and community:

• State American Legion Teacher of the Year 2004
• Commendation Ohio House of Representatives 2001, 2004
• Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers 2002
• Ohio Middle School Educator of the Year 2001
• District Teacher of the Year Nominee 1997-2005

 

Tom Burton

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Past President  - OMLA

Tom Burton is presently the principal at Cuyahoga Heights Middle School.  Prior to CHMS he was principal at Willowick Middle School and taught and coached in Cleveland Heights at Monticello Middle School. He currently lives in Bainbridge with his wife Franca and three children.

 

Thom Jones

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President-Elect

Thom Jones graduated in 1992 from Marietta College with a degree in Political Science. Thom is currently the principal at Grizzell Middle School in Dover, OH. He was principal at Dover Middle School and Garaway Middle School. He has a wife, Debbie, and three children; Ally, Jack, and Anne.

 

Paul Destino

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Vice President

Paul Destino is currently the Principal at Mayfield Middle School.  Prior to Mayfield, Paul served as an assistant principal at Wiley Middle School and a  teacher at Monticello Middle School, both in the Cleveland Heights University Heights City School District.  Paul is a true advocate for the middle level child and has spent the past 12 years in middle level education.  Paul has been active with OMSA on both the regional and state level, most recently serving on the OMSA executive board.

Dona Gardner Klein

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Executive Secretary

Joining the OMSA Executive Board in 1998 as a Southwest Regional Rep, Dona has served three terms as Vice-president and is currently the Executive Secretary. Her professional experiences include local, state, and national conference presentations, Principal of Nagel MS in the Cincinnati area, Vail MS Prinicpal, Secondary Curriculum Coordinator, and high school assistant principal in the Middletown City School District, and middle level science teacher in the Hamilton City School District.

Shannon Federinko

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Secretary

Shannon Federinko teaches 7th and 8th grade science at Claggett Middle School in Medina, Ohio. She has been Secretary of the OMSA Board for five years and a member of the board for seven years. She serves on the Science Support Team for her district and various committees at Claggett Middle School. She has her Master's Degree in Educational Administration and is currently completing coursework to obtain her Master's Degree in Integrated Science.

 

Ed Vittardi

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Treasurer

Ed Vittardi is presently the principal of North Royalton Middle School and also serving as treasurer of OMSA. Previously he was principal at Medina Claggett Middle School and Twinsburg Dodge Middle School where he previously was an assistant principal, guidance counselor and teacher. He is a past president and vice president of OMSA and is also the Northeast Regional Representative. He lives in North Royalton with his wife Jackie and children Holly and Eric.

 

Jim Wilson

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Northwest Region

Jim Wilson is currently the Principal of Wayne Trail Elementary School in Maumee, Ohio. Jim has been on the board since 2006 representing Northwest Ohio. He began his teaching career in 1987 at Meadowbrook High School in southeast Ohio. He then moved his wife, Nanette and daughters, Amanda and Erin to Virginia for a year and then to southwest Ohio. There he was the head wrestling coach at Turpin High School. He is a graduate of Marietta College (BA), The United States Sports Academy (MSS), and The University of Cincinnati (M.ED.). Jim serves as the website coordinator for the OMLA.

Kirk Pavelich

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Northeast Region

Kirk Pavelich currently serves as the principal at North Royalton Middle School, a position he has held since 2009. He previously served as the principal at Main Street Intermediate School in the Norwalk City School District for five years. Prior to that, Kirk was an assistant principal at Norwalk High School and a teacher and coach in the Stow-Munroe Falls and Jefferson Area School Districts. He resides in Norwalk with his wife and three children.

 

Kathy McKinniss

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Central Region

Kathy McKinniss currently serves as the principal at Bunsold Middle School in the Marysville Exempted Village School District. Prior to this position Kathy has worked in the middle level as a social studies and history teacher, a guidance counselor, an assistant principal and an athletic director. Kathy currently serves as the editor of the OMSA newsletter.

Jerome M. Davis

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North Central Region

Jerome Davis is currently the principal of Durling Middle School which is a part of the Clearview Local School District. I have been in education for the past 16 years. I now serve as an associate representative for the North Central region.

 

Nicki Bertke

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West Region

Nicki is a 2003 graduate of the University of Dayton in Middle Childhood Education with concentrations in Math & Science. She is a 7th grade math teacher at Troy Junior High School.

 

 

Carol Yost

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Northeast Region

Carol earned an undergraduate degree in Education from Louisiana Tech University and a masters degree in Administration from the University of Akron. She taught middle school in louisiana and Ohio from 1991-2001, and has been the Principal for Brunswick City School since 2001.

 

Rebecca Reese

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Northeast Region

Rebecca has been teaching since 1992. She is currently teaching 6th grade science in the NE Region at Hudson Middle School. She has served on the Ohio Middle Level Association board since 1996.

 

 

 

Dean Janitzki

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North Central Region

Dean has been an educator for the past 32 years, and has been a middle level educator for the past 20 years. During his middle school years he has also been the middle level rep to the OASSA Board from 2006-2008. He has served on the OMLA Board since 2004.

 

Robert Sehlhorst

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Southwest Region

Since 1982, Bob Sehlhorst has been a teacher, coach, athletic director, and principal at the elementary and middle school levels. He currently serves as prinicpal of Rapid Run Middle School, a National and Ohio "School To Watch" and a National PTA "School of Excellence"

 

Tim McCrate

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East Region

Tim is a graduate of The Ohio State University in Social Studies Education in 1995, and Ashland University in 2006. Tim taught Social Studies and coached at Dover H.S. from 1995 to 2006. Since 2006, Tim has been Middle School Principal at Tusky Valley. Tim currently lives in Dover with his wife Karie, who is also a Prinicpal, and their three children, Will, Meghan, and Bridget.

 

Jay Clark

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Northwest Region

Jay Clark earned his Bachelor's in Music Education from Bowling Green State University and Master's in Educational Administration from BGSU. He is currently serving as principal at Van Buren Middle School in the Van Buren local district and has help positions in the Finlday City and Carey Exempted Village districts. He lives in Findlay with his wife and four children.

 

Dustin Sabo

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Collegiate Liaison

Dustin is the current Collegiate Middle Level Association (CMLA) Liaison, representing CMLA members and college students across the country. He is currently attending Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.

 

 

James Harbuck

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Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators Liaison

James joined the staff of The Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators in July 1997 as Associate Executive Director and served in that capacity until July, 2008 when he became Executive Director. He began his career in education as an English teacher and coach in the Cleveland City School District at Thomas Edison Occupational High School. He later moved to the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School district and spent the last 26 years of his career at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School (BBHHS) where he taught all grades and levels of English courses and was the varsity wrestling coach for 12 years before moving into building administration. He worked as an assistant principal from 1984 through 1990, and principal of the building from 1990 through 2007, when he retired to join OASSA. During his time at BBHHS, he was on the OASSA Board of Directors as Zone 7 Director and later was elected to be President of the organization.

 

Mark Doebrich

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Southeast Region

Mark is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. Mark has been an educator for thirty years, having taught Science at the middle and high school levels in addition to having served as an administrator in the middle and high school levels. Mark resides in Marietta with his wife, Lynn. Mark’s three adult children attend college in his hometown of Cincinnati.

 

Tammy Darrow

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Northwest Region

Tammy earned her undergraduate degree from Baldwin Wallace College and a Masters degree in Educational Administration from Bowling Green State University.  Teaching Health, Physical Education, and Business classes from 1995 - 2001, she became Assistant Principal and Athletic Director at Hicksville Middle School/High School and served in this role for 7 years. Currently, Tammy serves at the Curriculum Director for Bryan City Schools and has served on the Board since 2008.

Kerry Steffani

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North Central Region

Kerry Steffanni graduated with her BA from Ashland University and earned her master’s from BGSU. She has been teaching 5th grade language arts and science at Main Street Intermediate School in Norwalk since 2004. She enjoys spending time with her family, playing/watching sports and listening to music. She resides in Norwalk with her husband Sean and their five children.