Specialists

Ms. Newman
Coordinator of Special Education

Hello Otis Family - My name is Jane Newman and I am brand new to the Otis School. I am so excited to be an "Owl". I look forward to getting to know the parents/guardians and students in our school community. I have been a BPS employee for the past 16 years in a special education classroom and now I am the coordinator for special education here and another elementary school in East Boston. I have two boys, John and Joey. I also have 3 cats, Champ, Oreo, and Cecil. I have a dog who keeps me on my toes named Mugsy. In my free time, I like to walk Mugsy, bake and hang out with my family in friends.

Ms. Brunner

Ms. Katamaraja

My name is Ms. Brunner and I have had the pleasure of being the Bilingual (Spanish-English) and Monolingual Speech-Language Teacher at the James Otis for 18 years. I have expertise in diagnosing and treating students with a variety of communication disorders from Preschool age through Grade 5 . I have expertise in working with children who have language-based learning disabilities, and those students who are English Language Learners.
In my free time, I enjoy being with my family and friends, traveling, cooking, and spending time outdoors.

pbrunner@bostonpublicschools.org

Ms. Pignone

My name is Bernadette Pignone and I have taught at the Otis School for over 20 years. This year, I will be the math specialist and work with students in either small groups or other settings. I truly enjoy watching children learn math and manipulate numbers in a way that works for them. In my spare time, my passion is playing with my almost 6 year old son and 3 year old daughter.

bpignone@bostonpublicschools.org

Ms. D'Amore

Hello, my name is Mrs. D'Amore and I am the ESL teacher at the James Otis School.This is my 15th year at the James Otis School. I work with students on their English language development We spend time talking, listening, reading and writing.

adamore2@bostonpublicschools.org

Namaste!
My name is Swapna (pronounced as Swap- Nuh!) Katamaraja (Cart- uh- Muh- Rajah). I am ESL/Resource interventionist and am really excited to be helping out students at the Otis become great readers and mathematicians. Watching students grow into confident and enthusiastic learners is such a pleasant feeling! I enjoy my time teaching and simultaneously learning from my students. They inspire me to be a better person and also give me ideas for my books. Otis Elementary is “ the” place to be as we have very kind and caring teachers who want to give their best to the students. When not at school, I spend time listening to my favorite books, traveling, spending time with my husband and two wonderful kids and working on my books which are yet to be published! While this is my first year at the wonderful Otis school, I have been teaching in Boston since 2006. Before that, I had taught in California as well as in India. I have my Masters in Psychology, Special Education and am currently working on my reading certification.

sbolleboina@bostonpublicschools.org

Ms. Pellicio