Jodie Cohen

Principal, James Madison High School

Brooklyn, New York

Fellow

Jodie Cohen has dedicated much of her life to creating and sustaining an inclusive culture at James Madison High School. As a student she led the boosters and was a captain of her SING team in each of her years at Madison, bringing the student body together under her vision. She returned four years later as an English teacher in Madison’s bourgeoning Humanities House and built it into the largest of all of Madison’s houses, building bridges between English and Social Studies curricula to better meet students’ needs. In 2008 she became the APO of Madison and continued her work of building bridges throughout the school and the community.

When she assumed the principalship of Madison in 2013, it was not long before her vision for an inclusive, closely-knit community became manifest. With student achievement at the forefront of every decision, she interwove support at every level for students, parents, and teachers, empowering them to answer for themselves the question that drives Madison: What’s Next?

Magdalena Moroz

Peer Collaborative Teacher, James Madison High School

Brooklyn, New York

ALLY

Magdalena Moroz received her LEAP and District Superintendent Certification from Banks Street College. She is a Peer Collaborative Teacher and has worked as an English Teacher at James Madison High School since 2004.

Magdalena believes that providing equity is an integral part of education and that students need to be empowered and given opportunities for success. In recent years, Magdalena created an Equity Team for both students and teachers, where they explored issues of discipline, rigor and disproportionality. Addressing disproportionality in Advanced Placement classes has also been one of her missions. She has worked to provide access to AP Classes through AP Fairs and by streamlining the AP Application Process.

As a Peer Collaborative Teacher, Magdalena provides teachers with professional development opportunities where teachers are given tools that aid them in making distance learning a success. She realizes that the pandemic has brought on a new set of challenges but at the same time has brought us closer together as new learners.