Alison Kraner ‘14 – Middle School English and Humanities Teacher
10 years after graduating from CESJDS high school, English and humanities teacher Alison Kraner (‘14) is back at the JDS on the middle school faculty. This school year, Kraner teaches sixth grade humanities, eighth grade English and eighth grade Civic Leadership. After growing up in Potomac and attending the Middlebury College, Kraner felt it was only natural to return to the JDS community. Kraner recalls that when she was a student, the middle school as a whole was less emphasized.
“When I went to school here … there were a few things that made middle school different from high school, but there wasn’t as much of a middle school culture,” Kraner said. “For me coming back to it, it’s very different in really positive ways. We do so many lovely things for our middle schoolers to help them feel like they have their own space here and their own culture.”
At CESJDS, she is looking forward to teaching Shakespeare and getting to perform scenes from various plays with her students. Additionally, Kraner is excited to be back in JDS’s Jewish community.
“I don’t think I realized how much I missed being part of the Jewish community,” Kraner said. “…It’s the little stuff, like wishing my kids Shabbat Shalom. It’s nice to be somewhere again where I can say that and get a response, and it’s just part of the culture.”
Larino Pelaosa – Middle School Math Teacher
The newest addition to the math department, Larino Pelaosa, has come from 8,500 miles away to teach in the JDS middle school. Originally from the Philippines, Pelaosa is part of the Greenheart Exchange program, which facilitates cultural exchange programs in the U.S. After teaching in both private and public schools in Manila, Pelaosa is excited to learn about the American education system.
“I’m looking forward to the activities [at JDS] that I have not experienced before,” Pelaosa said. “…I’m also very excited to learn more about the Jewish community in the school and Jewish education.”
Pelaosa loves to travel and hopes to visit all 50 states. After teaching in Baltimore public schools for three years, Pelaosa is looking forward to getting to know the students at JDS. Pelaosa will return to the Philippines when the program ends in 2026 to share what he’s learned about the American school system with teachers back home.
“The students [at JDS] are really nice,” Pelaosa said. “They’re very respectful, they’re very studious. They care about the magic of their education, and that’s what I like the most.”
Patricia Briner – Middle School Science Teacher
Patricia Briner will be joining the JDS science department with experience from Maryland and abroad. After growing up in Montgomery County, Briner graduated from UMD and began work in the Montgomery County public school system. However, Briner then went overseas and began teaching internationally in Turkmenistan. Briner returned and heard about JDS from her mother.
“I was curious [about JDS], and the way she [Briner’s mother] described it,” Briner said. “I didn’t fully believe it to be true, because everyone talks up schools. … I asked if I could come before my interview to visit a couple classes, and I found out that everything they said was true, and it’s an amazing community that I wasn’t expecting.”
Briner likes to play volleyball, swim and paint. She is also looking forward to teaching both physics and chemistry to her eighth grade classes and forming relationships with all of her students.
“I’m looking forward to [every day],” Briner said. “I know it’s going to be a good day, simply because of the people here and their values and the community. It’s really amazing.”
Leah Salkin-Monzon – US Spanish and MS Hebrew
After 7 years of teaching Spanish, Leah Salkin-Monzon has joined the JDS community to teach both Spanish and Hebrew. After growing up in southern California and earning her master’s in Spanish linguistics, Salkin-Monzon attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Salkin-Monzon grew up surrounded by a high population of Spanish speaking families, sparking her interest in the language.
“I’m looking forward to seeing students using [Spanish] in real world ways [at the point] that they can actually communicate with it,” Salkin-Monzon said. “It’s a living language that they can use in the 21st century.”
Salkin-Monzon taught in the public school system until the end of last year. After the October 7 attacks, and a swastika being drawn at the school she was employed at, Salkin-Monzon decided to switch to a different teaching environment.
“For my own mental health, I wanted to be in a place where I would be emotional, emotionally and psychologically safe [being Jewish],” Salkin-Monzon said. “…I love the instant sense of community, which comes from being a school with a mission statement that I align with.”
