Meet Your School Committee Members
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David A. Pearlman (he)
Chair617-894-6893David Pearlman, Chair, was elected to the School Committee in 2018. He works as a child welfare attorney in the private counsel division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, representing indigent parents and children at the Trial and Appellate levels. Mr. Pearlman has been elected three times to Brookline Town Meeting, where he continues to serve. He also volunteers his time to several Brookline neighborhood associations.He earned his B.A. in American Studies from Brandeis University and his J.D. from Boston University. A near life-long resident of Brookline, Mr. Pearlman is a product of the Brookline Public Schools. He attended the Pierce School for pre-school, the Lincoln School for grades K-1, the Devotion School for grades 2-8, and Brookline High School for grades 9-12. Mr. Pearlman's present term expires in 2024.
Andy LiuVice Chair617-797-8726Andy Liu, Vice Chair, was elected to the School Committee in 2020. He holds a BA in philosophy from Harvard University and a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Liu is a neuroscientist and works as a research fellow in neurobiology at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he does experiments to understand how cells in the eye sense light and communicate with the brain.
Dr. Liu is a former Town Meeting Member, and he has a son who is a fifth-grader at Pierce School and a graduate of BEEP. Dr. Liu’s present term expires in 2026.
Helen Charlupski was first elected to the School Committee in 1992. She holds a BA and Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan. She was a member of the Early Childhood Advisory Council of the Massachusetts Department of Education from 1994-2004 and has been the Massachusetts Association of School Committees representative to the Department of Early Education and Care since its inception in 2005.Ms. Charlupski was the Chair of EDCO (Education Collaborative, which Brookline belongs to along with 17 other communities west of Boston) from 2009-2012. Ms. Charlupski is married to Dr. Joseph Biederman and has three children who graduated from the Runkle School and Brookline High School. Ms. Charlupski’s present term expires in 2025.Steven Ehrenberg (he/him)
Member857-576-0779Steven Ehrenberg was elected to the School Committee in 2021. Dr. Ehrenberg is an international educational development professional and has spent most of the past 15 years designing and directing education programs for global nonprofits, including FHI 360 and RTI International. Dr. Ehrenberg holds a BA in English literature from Williams College, an MS in Journalism from Columbia University, and an Ed.D. in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University.
He and his wife have two daughters attending Lawrence School. Dr. Ehrenberg’s current term expires in 2025.
Suzanne Federspiel (she/her/hers)Member617-738-9434Suzanne Federspiel was first elected to the School Committee in 2017. She has been an educator for more than thirty years in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Most recently she served as a special education teacher, a literacy coach, and then as an elementary school principal for the Boston Public Schools. She is currently a teacher mentor in Boston.
In addition to her degrees in education from U-Conn, Storrs, and U-Mass, Amherst, Suzanne has an MBA from Boston University. She and her husband have lived in Brookline since 1985. Their two children attended Pierce School and Brookline High School. Ms. Federspiel’s current term expires in 2026.
Valerie Frias (she/her/hers)
Member617-270-8946Valerie Frias was appointed to the School Committee in July 2021 and then elected to a three-year term in 2022. She is an attorney and nonprofit leader with over 20 years’ experience leading organizations serving marginalized populations. She has advised school districts on policy and legal matters related to special education, LGBTQ issues, and other issues related to civil rights and youth advocacy. She served as a PTO Co-Chair for Driscoll School, was a member of Brookline SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council), and served on the Driscoll School Principal Search Committee. Ms. Frias serves as Co-Chair of the Driscoll School Building Advisory Committee. She is mother to two PSB students and coaches therapeutic sports.
She earned her Juris Doctor degree from the Northeastern University School of Law and her B.A. in History and German from Tufts University. Her term expires in 2025.
Nancy Rhei Gorer (she/her)
Member917-991-4178
nancy_gorer@psbma.orgNancy Rhei Gorer was elected to the School Committee in 2022. Mrs. Gorer is a retired VP and Director of Brand Marketing and Communications for financial institutions in New York City and holds a BS in Marketing and Management from New York University's Stern School of Business. She is an avid supporter of teachers and education and is a current Town Meeting Member.
Mrs. Gorer and her family moved to Brookline in 2008. She and her husband have a son who is a graduate of BEEP and the John D. Runkle School. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, entertaining friends and family and is a prolific baker. Her current term expires in 2024.
Natalia Linos (she/her)
Natalia Linos was elected to the School Committee in 2023. She is the Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard and previously worked for over a decade at the United Nations. In Brookline, she is a Town Meeting Member (Precinct 6) and serves on the Advisory Council on Public Health. Natalia grew up in Greece and first came to Massachusetts to attend Harvard College.
She has a BA in Anthropology, and a masters and doctoral degree in social epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She and her husband have three children at Pierce. Dr. Linos’ term expires in 2024.
Mariah Nobrega (she/her/hers)Mariah Nobrega was elected to the School Committee in 2020. She holds a BA in Political Science from NYU and an MBA from Northeastern, where she works in the College of Engineering. A near life-long resident of Brookline, Ms. Nobrega attended BEEP at Lynch Center, Lawrence School, and Brookline High School. She and her husband have three children at Brookline High School and Lawrence School.
She served as a Town Meeting Member 2009-2022, Brookline Advisory (finance) Committeee member 2015-2020, Brookline Commission for Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations member 2019-2021, and Pierce PTO Treasurer 2014-2019. Ms. Nobrega’s present term expires in 2026.