State Liaisons
The New England Secondary School Consortium state liaisons are our in-state representatives and spokespersons. In collaboration with each state’s department of education, they lead Consortium programs and support on-the-ground activities, from providing technical assistance to participating schools and working with state partner organizations to delivering presentations and coordinating events. If you are interested in learning more about Consortium activities in your state, reach out to your state liaison.

Janet Garagliano, Connecticut Liaison

Janet served as principal of Wamogo Regional High School and Jonathan Law High School in Connecticut, and as an assistant and associate principal at Hamden High School and a social sciences teacher at Hamden High School. She is currently an associate executive director at the Connecticut Association of Schools and works on a variety of projects all designed to support principals as they implement the Connecticut Plan and integrate 21st-century learning. She is former vice president of the Connecticut Association of Schools, which represents K–12 administrators in the state. Janet's professional interests include secondary innovation and the role of collaboration and data analysis in educational program design.

Janet holds a BA in sociology from Albertus Magnus College and a MA in sociology and history from Southern Connecticut State University. She also holds a certificate of advanced study in educational supervision from Southern Connecticut State University.  >> email Janet


Mark Kostin, Maine Liaison

Mark is a senior associate with the Great Schools Partnership, where he coaches several high schools in Maine and provides professional development to principals and teachers. Mark’s professional interests include collaborative school improvement, the role of schools in a democracy, the educational challenges facing boys, and equitable access to knowledge for all students.

Mark earned his BS in chemistry and a DipEd in secondary education from McGill University in Montreal, in addition to a MEd in administration and planning and an EdD in leadership and policy studies from the University of Vermont. He has served on local, state, and national boards and has been involved in supporting teaching and learning since 1989, when he began teaching science in a large high school in Toronto, Canada. Mark was formerly associate principal at Middlebury Union High School and an assistant professor of secondary education and director of partnerships and field experiences at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. He lives in Yarmouth, Maine, with his wife and three children.  >> email Mark


Skip Hanson, New Hampshire Liaison

Skip worked as a teacher, coach, athletic director, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent in the Maine public school system for thirty-four years, before he became superintendent of School Administrative Union 16 in New Hampshire for the next eleven years. After he retired in 2008, the Arthur L. Hanson Center for the Performing Arts, a 1,000-seat performing arts center at Exeter High School, was named in his honor. While superintendent of School Administrative Union 21, Skip oversaw the construction of a 1,500-pupil middle school, a 1,700-pupil high school, and renovations to six of the elementary schools. He also cofounded two alternative public charter schools—the Great Bay learning Charter School and the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School. From 1993–1999, Skip also served as an assistant professor of education at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine.

Skip earned his BS in education from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, a MEd and certification of advanced study in education leadership from the University of Maine, and an EdD in educational leadership from Nova Southern University.  >> email Skip 


Marcia A. Cross, Rhode Island Liaison

Marcia has been an educator for more than thirty-four years, and she has taught at the elementary, middle and secondary levels in both private and public schools. Marcia spent twenty-two years in the Johnston School District, where she held a variety of leadership roles, including reading consultant, department chair, standards coach trainer, school-improvement chair, district professional development instructor, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Learning district-level trainer, curriculum coordinator, and district instructional leader for secondary literacy. She is also a former Johnston Teacher of the Year. Her private school experience in a CES school, St. Xavier Academy, began her long romance with secondary reform and blazed the path for a career of innovation.

In her last years before retirement, Marcia was an education specialist in the Rhode Island Department of Education’s Office of Secondary Redesign, where she supported a variety of secondary work, including the development of policy and guidance for district implementations of Rhode Island’s Secondary Regulations, the creation of the instruction and assessment sections for the Basic Education Program, the provision of technical assistance to districts, and several grant initiatives, panels, summits, and statewide projects. She has worked closely with the Rhode Island Association of School Principals and the Rhode Island Association of Curriculum Development, and she is also a member of the Providence Advisory task force and a cadre trainer and executive board member of the Rhode Island Middle Level Educators. Marcia holds a BA in English and a MEd from Rhode Island College. She resides in North Scituate, Rhode Island, with her husband and frequently visits her daughter in Florida.  >> email Marcia

Greg Young, Vermont Liaison

Greg has worked in public education for the last ten years. In addition to being a high school science teacher with a propensity for fire and breaking things in the name of science, he taught, coached, and advised in Big Picture Learning schools around the country, including the MET, a network of six small public high schools in Rhode Island. Greg's professional interests include the STEM disciplines, using technology to enhance teaching, and real-world, student-centered, experiential learning.

Greg is a passionate lifelong learner who earned his BA in Earth science teaching from the University of New Hampshire and an MS in ecological teaching and learning from Lesley University. He is currently completing his PhD in education from the University of Rhode Island.  >> email Greg