Sarah Asbell
sasbell@heronfield.org

Sarah joined the faculty at Heronfield in 2009 and now teaches seventh-grade Spanish. She is a University of New Hampshire graduate with a degree Spanish and a minor in Sustainable Living. She has nearly 15 years of Spanish-teaching experience, both in classroom settings and through private tutoring. Sarah trained at Dartmouth in the Rassias Method, and employs an active communicative and project-based approach to learning Spanish in her classroom, coupled with individualizing learning through differentiation and performance-based assessment. As one of her Spanish class projects, Sarah started the school butterfly and vegetable gardens at Heronfield Academy. During her free time she often can be found in a garden somewhere, enjoying a long dog walk with a pack of pups, or playing soccer with her family. Sarah lives in Dover with her husband, her young son, and sweet old dog, Seamus.

According to the Handbook of TX Online, in 1940 the War Department began to use Camp Hulen “ Camp Hulen's short, unpaved runways were adequate for occasional pre-war Texas National Guard use, By the time of the July 1945 San Antonio Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

Kendall Berton
kberton@heronfield.org

Kendall is a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After completing her undergraduate studies in communication from James Madison University in 2013, she was determined to pursue her passions of education, travel, and athletics. From 2015 to 2017, Kendall was an Assistant English Teacher at a primary school in Madrid, Spain. For the past five years, she has been a member of the Leadership Team at Camp Wicosuta in Hebron, NH as an Athletics Activity Head and a Head Counselor. In addition to her camp experience, she has coached soccer, ski-racing, and winter and spring track. Most recently, she was a Paraprofessional for Special Education at the high school level. This summer, Kendall began a Dual M.Ed in Spanish Language and Culture from James Madison University and The University of Salamanca. She is excited to be a part of the Heronfield community!

Scott Bleakley
sbleakley@heronfield.org

Scott is the School Counselor at Heronfield Academy and joined the staff in 2014. He earned his Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of New England in Biddeford, ME. Scott has been treating children, adolescents, and families within his private practice in downtown Exeter since 2002. He has adapted his specialized treatment modalities of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and solution-focused counseling in working with school-based students. In addition to his work at Heronfield, Scott has been the head counselor of the Phillips Exeter Academy summer program since 2014. It is within the academic settings that Scott most appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with parents, faculty, and staff, and adhering to the idea that “it takes a village to raise a child” in working with the Heronfield students. Scott resides locally in Exeter with his partner, Beverly and has three children. Scott is a long-time active baseball coach, previously founding and managing a summer collegiate team and currently coaching his son and other local youth for a Seacoast club team.

Don Clark
dclark@heronfield.org

Don teaches humanities and joined the faculty at Heronfield Academy in 2009. He also serves as our Director of Technology. In 2017 he received the James Madison Fellowship, America’s most prestigious award in Constitutional history and government for secondary teachers, and is currently in pursuit of an MS in Political Science at the University of Nebraska. Don is a graduate with highest honors in Political Science from the University of Maine. He has also studied British pre-history and European history at the University of North Wales. Don is trained in discussion-based learning, or Harkness method, and has studied at the Humanities Institute at Phillips Exeter Academy. Don lives in Maine with his family, including three graduates of Heronfield Academy.

Hannah Clark
hclark@heronfield.org

Hannah teaches seventh- and eighth-grade science, and also serves as our Coordinator of Student Life. She joined the faculty in the fall of 2012. Hannah holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Maine, and she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Davidson College in North Carolina. Her research has included acoustic monitoring and behavioral studies of breeding grey whales in Baja, Mexico and grey seals in the Gulf of Maine. Before coming to Heronfield, Hannah spent several years working as an outdoor educator with Chewonki, leading several week-long canoe and backpacking trips for girls in Northern Maine, and teaching ecology and natural history to school groups. Hannah resides in Maine with her husband and sweet puppy Luna. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, camping and exploring the outdoors.

Meggie Donovan
mdonovan@heronfield.org

Meggie teaches sixth-grade English and humanities, and also helps coach the cross country and track teams. She joined the faculty in the fall of 2019. Meggie attended Dartmouth College where she majored in English with a focus in Victorian literature. She holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Education from Antioch University NE, and is spending her summers working on her Master of Arts degree in English from Middlebury College. Before coming to Heronfield, Meggie spent time as an outdoor educator in Connecticut where she taught ecology and natural history to school groups. Meggie resides in Newmarket, NH with her rabbit Levin (named for her favorite Tolstoy character). In her free time, she enjoys running, climbing, and going to the theater.

Amy Gard Green
agreen@heronfield.org

Amy is our Front Office Manager and Assistant to the Head of School. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Lehigh University, and the London School of Economics with a focus on Anthropological Economics. After graduating, she moved to San Francisco where she worked at several start-ups, including Odwalla Juice and Direct Language Communications in their strategic marketing departments. After returning to the East Coast, she worked for LionBridge Technologies as their VP of Integration while they were on a fast-paced mergers and acquisition push. She lives in Rye Beach with her husband and three children, two of whom are graduates of Heronfield Academy.

Deborah Hobbs
dhobbs@heronfield.org

Debbie is our math teacher and a founding faculty member at Heronfield Academy. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics Education, and has taught mathematics and computer science at the high school and middle school level. After five years of teaching, she went to work for Liberty Mutual where her programming skills earned her the prestigious RISE award. She is proficient in several programming languages, including: Fortran, Pascal, COBOL, C, FOCUS, and SQL. After her two daughters were born, she worked for St. John’s Church in Portsmouth, where she was the Religious Education Director for ten years. Debbie is a certified math teacher in middle school and high school. She resides in Portsmouth with her husband, Harry, who is a mathematics teacher at Exeter High School.

Kirsten Johnson
kjohnson@heronfield.org

Kirsten teaches sixth- and eighth-grade Spanish and is our Director of Special Programs. She has over 25 years’ experience working with middle schoolers and their families as a teacher, advisor, mentor, and Dean, the bulk of which she earned at The Meadowbrook School, an independent K-8 school in Weston, Massachusetts. Kirsten holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College in Spanish and Women’s Studies, and a Master of Education degree in Secondary Education, Foreign Language, and English as a Second Language from The George Washington University, Beyond her love of teaching Spanish, Kirsten brings a passion for multicultural education and inclusion, social justice and equity, and the social emotional learning of adolescents. Kirsten lives in Portsmouth with her spouse, Amy, their two children, and Golden Retriever, Booker, and spends as much time as possible on the dock in Belgrade Lakes, Maine.

Arin Jordan
ajordan@heronfield.org

Arin is our physical education and health teacher, as well as our Director of Athletics. He has been on the faculty of Heronfield Academy since 2008. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in physical education. In addition to teaching, Arin has coached hockey, soccer, and basketball, and has experience with outdoor experiential education. He has successfully coached our cross-country team, our basketball teams, and our award-winning track and field team at Heronfield. Arin lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three dogs.

Betsy Kelly
bkelly@heronfield.org

Betsy is Heronfield Academy’s third Head of School. She earned a Masters Degree in Teaching from American University (2000) with a focus on literacy instruction, and a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University (2011) with a focus on non-profit management. Betsy was the Lower School Division Head at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland (grades 2-5) from 2011 – 2014. In 2014, Betsy moved to Boston to join her husband-to-be, Chris Zamore. While in Boston, Betsy was the Lower School Division Head (grades 5-8) at Winsor School where she also taught 8th grade English. In addition to school administration, Betsy was the co-founder of a non-profit, Teachers Institute, in Washington, DC. Teachers Institute partnered with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, and worked with faculty in 23 schools on reading and writing instruction in grades K-8. She also taught courses through American University to the Teach for America cohort assigned to DC Public Schools. Betsy began her classroom teaching career at Horace Mann Elementary School in Washington, DC and she also taught English at St. Albans School for Boys. Betsy and her husband Chris have three grown children.

Ron King
rking@heronfield.org

Ron has taught middle- and high-school English for over 30 years. A published author of a middle-grade novel (The Quantum July, Random House 2007), Ron brings abundant experience in creative writing and YA literature to both his English classes and to Drama. His English classes are rich in a wide variety of reading and writing experiences, including both analytical and creative writing. As a Drama teacher, Ron writes the adaptation and co-directs (with Lauren Stearns) the 7th-grade Shakespeare play, and leads students in 8th grade Drama as, each year, they write, produce, and direct an original play. Ron also serves as our Director of Social Events, overseeing Game Nights and school dances, creating experiences that meet the social needs of students within an environment that is both safe and fun! Ron lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three boys, all of whom are alumni of Heronfield.

Leslie Luneau
lluneau@heronfield.org

Leslie Luneau came to Heronfield Academy in March of 2018 with 25 years of finance experience. She attended Boston University on a full scholarship and graduated with a BSBA in Marketing. During the past fourteen and a half years she has worked in the nonprofit sector. Thirteen of those years were spent with the Sisters of Notre Dame in Ipswich, MA, a teaching order of nuns. It was during those years with the Sisters that she often witnessed the impact that these nuns had had on their former students, with many students still visiting after 50 years! Leslie loves witnessing the teacher/student relationships developing every day at Heronfield! She has a creative side and loves making primitive and folk art dolls. Leslie lives in Massachusetts with her husband.

Kerri Singh
ksingh@heronfield.org

Kerri is the Coordinator of Development, cross-country coach, and track and field coach at Heronfield. She joined the staff in August of 2015 as a Development Associate after chairing the Annual Auction for several years. When she moved to Exeter, Kerri volunteered extensively in the Exeter School District, and the Exeter Junior Football, Baseball and Softball leagues. Previously, she was a Health Care Operations Manager and Consultant for a division of Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. She has a BA from Clark University in Worcester, MA and her MPH from Boston University. Kerri has three children, all graduates of Heronfield Academy, a husband, and a black lab. She enjoys running, traveling, and each year she believes that the Red Sox will win the World Series.

Jo Slavitz
jslavitz@heronfield.org

Jo teaches sixth-grade art and science. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, and joined our faculty in 2017. She has 24 years experience with teaching middle school in 4 different states, including sixth- and eighth-grade science at Glen Urquhart School, and fifth- and sixth-grade math and science at the Nantucket New School. Jo also worked for Teach for America Corp in La Joya, Texas. Jo summers on Nantucket Island, where she grew up, and manages Old Spouter Gallery. She currently resides in Hampton Falls with her son.

Rob Thomas
rthomas@heronfield.org

Rob (stage name RC Thomas) joined Heronfield Academy in 2019 with over 20 years of performing and teaching music. He is a NH native and certified music teacher. Rob earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Education with honors from New York University in 2001. He is also an accomplished singer-songwriter and professional musician who thrives on passing his passion and love of music on to others. Rob is known throughout New England for his solo, duo, and full band performances. He has been featured on NPR’s ‘Word of Mouth’ for his original songwriting and his most recent solo album features his own recording, mixing and mastering in his private studio. Rob has recorded several full-length albums and is well-versed in modern music technology as well as professional audio engineering. In addition to being a seasoned entertainer, Rob has taught K-12 chorus and band, including beginner through advanced guitar, piano, and vocals to students of all ages. He resides in Dover, NH with his wife and son.