The School of Education Dean’s Advisory Board

Joseph Sciame, Vice-President for Community Relations at St. John's University since 1994, and graduate of the School of Education as of January 1971, has been a seasoned administrator in higher education, having been a vice-president in several areas, namely, enrollment management for admissions and financial aid.  He commenced his studies at the University and transferred to evening classes while working at the University in 1962 in the registrar and admissions offices. A staunch believer in consensus building, he has been a major force in sound community relations at St. John's, as he helped to guide the community during the years of transforming the University from a day hop school to on-campus living, and was therefore involved in community meetings that brought about a greater respect for the growth and ongoing development of a university that celebrates this year its 150th Anniversary.  Sciame is a founder in 2010 and immediate past chair, as of June 30, 2020, of the Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings High School and a former chair of the Futures in Education foundation of the Diocese of Brooklyn founded for the preservation and fund raising of Catholic Schools.  He has been the National Chair of the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators and is currently the President of the Sons of Italy Foundation, having been its National President.   Joseph Sciame has been honored by St. John's University with the President's, St. Vincent de Paul, Pietas and Outstanding Administrative medals on various occasions.  Born in East New York, he is a resident of New Hyde Park since 1955.

Education Administrator/Professor/Mentor

Dr. Weedens E. Blanchard is an experienced Education administrator with 21+ years of combined experience in academic management, project management, information technology, training & development, and mentoring. Woody, as he is often referred to by his family and friends, was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Dr. Blanchard was announced the eleventh principal of Holy Cross High School as of July 1, 2023. Prior to this appointment, he has served in various Education leadership roles such as: Assistant Dean, Senior Learning and Development Consultant, and Interim Director. He also works as an Adjunct Assistant Professor for the School of Education at St. John’s University, where he teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate education courses. He also served as the Academic Dean of an innovative program called the Advantage Academy Program, which prepared underprivileged New Yorkers for success. He served as 2006 Technology Committee Member for the Middle States re-accreditation process of St. John's University to identify how the enhancement of technology has impacted teaching and learning.

In addition, Woody serves as a Dean’s Advisory Board Member for the School of Education at St. John’s University and he also served on the Executive Board of the PDK 161 - St. John's University, NYC Chapter from 2010 to 2012 where he helped to coordinate and promote numerous educational workshops, mentor programs, and seminars.

Dr. Blanchard’s academic credentials include an AS degree in Electronic Data Processing, BS degree in Computer Science, MBA in Executive Management, PD in Instructional Leadership and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration & Supervision from St. John’s University. He is also a COMPTIA A+ Certified Professional and a Licensed Business School Teacher.

While he is not working or teaching, he loves traveling to the Poconos and Florida, going to the movies, and catching up with close family and friends.

Dr. Fino M. Celano has been Superintendent of the Herricks Public Schools since 2015. Prior to coming to Herricks, Dr. Celano served for 10 years as an Assistant Superintendent in the Garden City Public Schools. He has also served as the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in the Roslyn School District. Dr. Celano began his career in education as a high school social studies teacher was a middle school Assistant Principal, and served as Principal of Grand Avenue Middle School in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. Dr. Celano is a Past-President of the Long Island Association of School Personnel Administrators and the New York State Association of School Personnel Administrators. He holds a B.A. from Marist College, an M.A. from Manhattan College, a Certificate of Advanced Study in educational administration from Hofstra University, and a Doctor of Education degree from St. John’s University. In addition, Dr. Celano has participated in professional development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Dr. Celano’s research interests include new teacher mentoring, trust and teacher efficacy. His research on these topics has been presented at national conferences, including the American Educational Research Association, and has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Celano has also presented a variety of professional development workshops at school district, state and regional conferences. He has been the recipient of many honors and awards throughout his career, including the St. John’s University Leaders in Education Award (2013), St. John’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2017), the New York State P.T.A. Distinguished Service Award, and membership in Kappa Delta Pi National Honor Society in Education. Dr. Celano currently serves as a member of the St. John’s University School of Education Leadership Committee and the Hofstra University School of Education Advisory Board.

In July of 2007, Karina Costantino became the Community Superintendent of District 20 in Brooklyn, serving the children of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Borough Park.

Prior to being appointed District 20 Superintendent, Ms. Costantino was the Principal of P.S. 22 in District 31 from 1992- 2007.

Upon assuming the Superintendency of District 20, Ms. Costantino began to develop a strong relationship with the variety of communities the district serves with a focus on their specific needs.

Working side by side with the Community Education Council, her emphasis has been to explore new programs to bring into the District and to provide training and resources to empower parents enabling them to to be true partners in their child's education. Ms. Costantino's focus has been

• to bring transparency to the variety of programs offered for special needs children, so that parents may make informed choices when exploring programs and making selections.
• to explore the Renzulli School Enrichment Model for all schools to provide challenging and cutting edge curricula which will address the many talents of our children and also introduce curriculum compacting for our gifted youngsters throughout the District.
• to give our English Language Learner parents additional options for programs being offered within the District for their children to address their specific needs.
• to provide all members of the school community-namely, administration, staff, students and families training in Social Emotional Intelligence. To that end, in 2017. Ms. Costantino formed an Immigrant Advisory Council calling upon the various immigrant constituencies in the District to develop a deeper understanding of the various challenges our immigrant families are facing.

A strong advocate for After school and the creation of a seamless school day, Ms. Costantino is also actively involved with CBO's in the community to create the best possible project-based learning environment for the children of District 20 after school from three to six. p.m. Currently, all 39 District Schools have a Seamless Day hosting various community-based organizations in their schools.

As the most overcrowded school district in New York City, as well as the district with the largest immigrant population, District 20 is one of two Districts in the city that is in good standing with N.Y.S. The District is most proud of this accomplishment since they test over 23,000 students, with

20% of them being English language learners taking the state test for the first time. Ms. Costantino credits this success to her strong team, principals and teachers who focus on collaborative teacher inquiry to understand all of their student needs, as well as the implementation of Advanced Literacy strategies and a strong Social Emotional Intelligence base.

A former candidate for the New York State Assembly in Staten Island in 1984, and again in 1986, Ms. Costantino was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo to the Governor’s Commission on Domestic Violence in 1988. She served as a member of the Commission, traveling across the State addressing the concerns of the Commission until it became a State agency in 1990. In addition, Ms. Costantino has been an adjunct professor at Touro-College, St. Francis and CITE.

Her strong beliefs around leadership, which she models in her day to day

practice can be best expressed in the following quote:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams.

Recipient of the following awards:

• 1988 Pietas Award: St. John’s University
• Educational Leadership Award presented by the
• Bay Ridge Real Estate Board, December 2007
• Professional Achievement Award Presented by the National
• Federation of Italian-American Societies, Inc. 2008
• Women of the Year Award 2011 presented by PS 186, April 2011
• Grand Marshal of the Brooklyn Columbus Day Parade,
• October 8, 2011 sponsored by the Federation of Italian Americans
• Woman of the Year 2012 Award presented by The Shorefront Democratic Club, March 2012
• Honorary Chair, 2013 Relay for Life, June 22, 2013
• Grand Marshal, 2013 Bay Ridge Ragamuffin Parade, October 5, 2013
• Special Congressional Recognition in Honor of Women’s History Month Presented by Congressman Michael Grimm, November 2014
• Honoree at the “10th Annual Fight Against Hunger Benefit” sponsored by Reaching-Out Community Services, Inc. April 11, 2019

Tanairy Fernandez is the Founder and Clinical Director of Balance Mental Health Counseling located in Huntington, New York. She is a bilingual Licensed Mental Health Counselor specializing in Anxiety Disorders. Tanairy has extensive experience counseling clients with Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) and Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder (Pregnancy and postpartum). She has completed her graduate education from St. John’s University, and right after graduate school she began her postgraduate training. One of her greatest goals in life is to never stop learning. As a result, she has completed Postgraduate clinical training from International OCD Foundation, Beck Institute, Postpartum Support International, The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, The Gottman Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Women’s Mental Health. She serves as a Clinical supervisor for the Graduate Mental Health Counseling internship program at Balance Mental Health Counseling. Tanairy has a passion for helping clients decrease their fears, and gain control of their life again. She proudly sits on the Dean's Advisory board of St. John’s University School of Education. In her free time she is cooking, reading, enjoying her family, exploring the historical sights of Long Island, and traveling. 

My professional career in teaching spans over a period of 45 years. After 12 years as an elementary and junior high teacher, I became an Elementary school principal for 16 years. Upon graduating with a Master’s degree as a reading specialist, I worked part-time as a diagnostician in the St. John’s Reading Clinic for 15 years. My professional career in higher education began as an adjunct instructor teaching graduate and undergraduate classes and then in 1999 I joined the ranks of the full-time faculty at St. John’s University as a member of the Graduate Literacy Program. I served as an assistant chair for several years before becoming the chair of Human Services & Counseling for 8 years. I have written 11 programs for my department and 1 for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Over the past 17 years, I have served on various university and college committees and I am a member of several organizations on campus. My interests are photography, painting, and gardening and sports.

Madeline Larsen has been with St. John's University for 34 years. She has worked as the School of Education's Executive Assistant for 25 years. Her work involves coordinating and overseeing senior-level administrative operations for the Office of The Dean. During her tenure, she has organized numerous programs, conferences, and events and will continue to act as the primary contact person and liaison between the Dean’s Advisory Board and The School of Education.

Currently, the Training Director for a NYS Regulatory Agency, Anna Lukachik’s career as an educational leader spans learning environments in corporations. schools, and most recently, the public sector. Anna has held a variety of positions within Learning & Development in the financial services industry. She has partnered with business leaders to solve performance gaps with end-to-end learning solutions that work across cultures and continents. Anna has directed learning functions responsible for developing and delivering compliance, technical, professional, and management skills for various client-facing and managerial roles.

Anna is a dedicated Red Storm fan since her undergraduate days. Anna has a Master of Science from Syracuse University in the field of Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation.

I am a triple alumna of St. John’s. I received a BS in Elementary Education and an MS in Curriculum and Teaching from the School of Education and a PD in Child Psychology from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I also hold a degree in Administration and Supervision from Long Island University. I taught a multiplicity of grade levels in the North Babylon School District for fifty-one years, have worked as a bilingual psychological/educational consultant for BOCES of Nassau County and Western Suffolk BOCES, and have been an adjunct professor at LIU and Touro College. Presently, I am an adjunct in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching of the School of Education. I have received many prestigious awards throughout my career. One of which I am most proud is the St. John’s University School of Education Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Education.

I never really left St. John’s after I graduated. I have been a member of the School of Education Dean's Advisory Board since the 1990’s, served as its president for many years, and I am a member of the Loughlin and McCallen Societies. I am excited about the many initiatives the School of Education is pursuing, and I am delighted and humbled to be serving on this committee. Hopefully, I can play a part in helping the School of Education achieve its goals and continue as well as expand upon the excellent training it provides its students within the framework of the University’s mission.

Dr. Pellettieri began his teaching career in 1990, in Astoria, New York at William Cullen Bryant High School as a Social Studies teacher. Affectionately known As “Mr P” to students and colleagues,  he quickly rose through the ranks and  went on to  become the Girls Varsity Track Coach, a Dean, the Assistant Principal Organization and ultimately, the school’s principal from 2003 through 2008.

Dr Pellettieri served in Rockville Centre Schools from 2008 – 2020 where he was the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction overseeing all curriculum development in addition to being responsible for all of the District’s Instructional technology. During this time the Rockville Centre Schools were among the first in the state to move to a one-to-one iPad device for grades 6-12 students.  He also helped develop and maintain the district’s grades 1-5 Foreign Language Elementary Program and aided in the development of International Baccalaureate (IB) for All in junior year English and Social Studies classes.

Dr. Pellettieri has been an Education Policy Fellow at NYU’s Teachers College, attended the Harvard Future of Learning Program, is a Past President of Nassau District’s Curriculum Officials (NADCO)  In 2014 he was honored as the Nassau BOCES Fred Podolski Leadership and Innovation in Technology Visionary Award recipient.  Dr. Pellettieri’ s first article, “Don’t Fall in Love with Paper, a piece on leadership techniques, was published in Vanguard magazine in 2009. In addition, Chris has taught as an Adjunct Professor for Molloy College in their Graduate Education Program for future administrators.  In 2018 Chris earned his Doctorate in Instructional Leadership from St John’s University where he currently serves on both the DAIL and the Dean’s Advisory Boards.  

Dr. Pellettieri became Superintendent of the Sachem Central School District in September of 2020 (Long Islands second largest school district in terms of student population). The district has seen many advancements under his leadership including the development of their one-to-one K-12 Chromebook initiative.  His goal of increasing dual credit courses where students can receive both high school and college credits at the same time is a model for surrounding school systems.  He was also the President of the Suffolk County Islip Cluster of Superintendents. Dr Pellettieri recently retired from the district this past July 31,2024.  Sachem’s “Culture of Care” and his focus on the “Sachem Family” will certainly be a lasting legacy.

Mary Carole Schafenberg graduated from St. John’s University Schermerhorn Street in 1970 with a B.S. in Elementary Education. A P.D. in Administration and Supervision followed in l980. Ms. Schafenberg is a retired New York City elementary school principal who has worked in the NYC Department of Education for 45 years as a teacher, educational administrator, Assistant Principal, and Principal. Currently, she enjoys volunteering for her village of Steward Manor where she is serving as Deputy Mayor.

In 2010, Ms. Schafenberg received the St. John’s University Presidents Outstanding Achievement Award for her work in establishing the Schermerhorn Street Reunion initiative. Mary Carole is a member of both the McCallen and Loughlin Societies and continues to work on Schermerhorn Street reunion activities.

Kevin Sullivan earned a Bachelor of Arts from St. John’s University in English with a minor in Secondary Education in 1999; he returned to St. John’s University to earn a Master of Science in Secondary Education in 2002. In 2006, he earned a Professional Diploma in Education Leadership and in Administration from SUNY Stony Brook and is currently enrolled in the Hofstra University Educational Policy and Leadership Doctorate program. During his time at St. John’s University, Kevin partnered with the Sewanhaka Central High School District at Elmont Memorial High school as a student teacher in May of 1999 and began his teaching career as an English teacher at Elmont Memorial High School in September of 1999. Kevin taught English for grades 7-12 at Elmont Memorial High for seventeen years; during this time, he served the Elmont learning community as Dean of Students, Interim English Chairperson and coach. In September of 2016, Mr. Sullivan became the Chairperson of English and Library at Floral Park Memorial High School, also in the Sewanhaka Central High School District; he currently serves in this capacity. In 2009, he was named the Elmont Memorial High School Teacher of the Year and was recognized by St. John’s University School of Education as a LEAD Award honoree. Kevin is the youngest of four children in the Sullivan family to attend St. John’s University; all four Sullivan children are currently teachers in New York. Kevin has served on the School of Education Dean's Advisory Board for two years; his work on this board includes serving as a panelist for the Hartigan Forum and assisting with SOE events.

Dr. James M. Sheerin founded Sheerin Associates LLC, to provide expert advice and direction on educational issues facing school districts. He brings nearly 40 years of educational experience to every client.

Since founding Sheerin Associates, Dr. Sheering has serves as an interim superintendent in Lebanon Borough, Monroe Township and Clinton Township, all in New Jersey. Hr has also represented educational software companies, companies marketing computer services to school districts, and non-profit educational organizations as well as lobbying in Washington, D.C. Dr. Sheerin served as an adjunct instructor at Kean University and has consulted for the State of New Jersey on Abbot School Districts

Previously, Dr. Sheerin has served as superintended of schools for the Livingston Public School and Hackettstown Public Schools, as well as principal of East Brunswick High School, all in New Jersey, and Center Moriches Junior-Senior High School in New York. Dr. Sheerun has also taught classes in elementary, middle school, high school and college.

A graduate of St. John's University with a B.S. in Elementry Education/Social Science, Dr. Sherin earned his Masters in Elementary Education/Social Science from Queens College and Doctorate in Education-School Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He is the author of numerous articles on education and has been a frequent workshop presenter in New Jersey and nationally.