Athletic Directory

A certified athletic trainer and EMT, Ackerman served as an assistant athletic trainer at Union College for 10 years. He was responsible for preventing, evaluating, treating, and rehabilitating student-athlete injuries. He specializes in the unique care of diabetic athletes.

Kata studied cellular and molecular biology at Connecticut College and has enjoyed sharing her love of these topics by teaching biology, chemistry and human anatomy and physiology at KO. She has also studied community psychology, abnormal psychology, and family therapy at the University of New Haven. Kata has worked in the Dean’s Office at KO for over a decade and loves the work she does to support students in their personal growth and development and engagement in the community. Kata also serves as head coach of the varsity swimming and diving team. She lives in West Hartford with her husband (and fellow KO faculty member) David Baker, their two children, and their dog Dobby. 

Josh Balabuch is a true believer in the benefits of athletics. Not only does it provide a healthy lifestyle, but it also teaches sportsmanship, collaboration, and most importantly, “a mental release from everyday life.” He feels that sports can reinforce learning in the classroom, especially for those learners who are more hands-on. A college athlete, Josh was the goalie of his university’s soccer team. He is still an avid sportsman, playing golf, ice hockey, soccer, and basketball. In his free time, when he’s not playing sports, he loves to watch college and professional sports on t.v., spend time with his family, and even mow the lawn.

Nicole Baratz establishes a deep rapport with her students and is personally committed to helping them succeed. She enhances students’ confidence in themselves so they are able to reach the high expectations Nicole sets for them. Her small group settings lead to a more individualized approach. With energetic and outgoing nature, her class is a place of vibrant learning.

Cameron grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and attended Brunswick, an independent school, for 14 years. He hopes to help students build the kind of supportive, growth-oriented environment that he experienced as a student. As an English teacher, he hopes to encourage students’ empathetic engagement with the new perspectives we find in literature. He studied comparative literature in college and has lived in Poland, Italy, and South Korea for brief periods as both an ESL teacher and a student. He loves playing squash, and he looks forward to helping student-athletes take charge of their own personal development on the court. He also enjoys traveling and learning languages.

For Eugene Cassidy, teaching is a calling. He responds to the individual needs of each student with warmth, encouragement, and respect so they can surpass their own expectations. He focuses on honing analytical and writing skills, helping his students think synthetically and write persuasively. His class is full of lively discussions where students actively participate.  For Gene, teaching can change lives. “This is why I am called to teach in a high school, where the intimate connections with my students that I need to have a real impact can be built,” he said.

Kyle Chapman received his undergraduate degree at the University of Connecticut, where he also played on the basketball team. Go Huskies!

A 2003 KO graduate, Kathleen worked as a structural analyst on both military and commercial projects for five years. She taught physics at Xavier High School in Middletown, CT, before returning to Kingswood Oxford to teach. “I work to foster a productive, supportive, respectful, and fun environment in which to experience physics,” she said.

Ron received his B.A. in history and Latin American studies from Oberlin College.

Jeffrey Gonzalez has taught science for 18 years in both public and independent schools. He creates an intellectually stimulating and engaging curriculum for students, and he has an innate ability to relate to students, so they achieve their very best, often with great humor. “I expect high-quality work from all of my students. My classes are always challenging, and I make them that way to push the student to his maximum effort, in order to show the students that he/she can handle the work,” he said. While encouraging his students to move out of their comfort zone, he makes himself readily available through email or during office hours to ensure the student that they are never going it alone.

A 1980 graduate of the school, David is entering his 30th year on the KO faculty and 39th year as a private secondary school teacher/coach/advisor. He’s taught all levels of English, coached football and lacrosse, and served as Dean of Students or as a Form Dean almost every year he’s been at KO. He teaches because he “loves working with kids,” and trying to instill positivity into their KO experience.” He’s shared his classroom daily since the onset of Covid with Cali, his golden retriever.  

When not at school, he enjoys reading, running, paddleboarding, cheering on the Red Sox and spending time with his wife, two sons (both KO graduates), and grandchildren.  He also helps his wife, Susan, in the running of Camp Merriwood, a girls’ summer camp in Orford, New Hampshire, which hosts KO’s Form 3 Trip each September.

Peter describes himself as a life-long learner and career educator. He strives to impart a passion for learning in his students. After 25 years as head coach of the boys’ varsity soccer team, he hung up his cleats a few years ago, but not before four of his teams reached the New England quarterfinals, four reached the semifinals, one a New England finalist and one the WNEPSSA Class M Championship. Peter enjoys reading, golfing, sailing, and especially spending time with his family and friends.

You can tell that Matt Kocay loves his job. As the assistant varsity football coach and head coach to KO’s middle school football, basketball, and baseball teams, Matt brings warmth, positivity, and encouragement to his athletes. He believes in the transformative power of sports – not only in terms of athleticism – but in teaching life lessons.

Kraus loves the natural energy in the classroom and the pursuit of ideas and problem-solving that is positive and purposeful.“In science, I appreciate making the material clearer for my students,” he said. “The class begins as a big adventure into the vast unknown, and in the last third of the year, the kids get excited by their own understanding. They can absorb this challenging information now. They have a sense of confidence and think, ‘I can handle this. It’s all coming together.’ As an educator, it’s incredibly gratifying to witness that and know that you were a part of the student’s development.”

Recognizing his extraordinary generosity and fairness, The Founders League recently awarded Kraus the M.D. Nadal Sportsmanship Award for 2018. Kraus believes that sports provide an essential pathway for living and learning life lessons: “Here’s how you work hard, here’s how it plays out, here’s how you measure success,” he said.

A 1986 KO graduate, Andy started teaching at KO in 1991, a year after he graduated from Middlebury College, where he majored in history, minored in teacher education, and played four years of varsity soccer and one year of varsity basketball. He spent all his summers from junior year of high school through college working with 12–15 year-olds as a counselor and camp director at Camp Tohkomeupog in East Madison, New Hampshire. “It was this experience that made me realize that working with middle school-aged kids is the place to be,” he said. In addition to teaching history at the KO Middle School, he coaches the Middle School boys’ soccer and the boys’ varsity tennis teams. “Coming back to KO, where I have taught, coached, and advised for 26 years, has been wonderful,” he said. “It is also special to have my son, Sam ’22, attend KO.”

Mr. Matheson is an accomplished independent school educator and diversity practitioner who has worked at some of the leading boarding schools, including Phillips Academy, Millbrook School, and AOF, among others. As a history teacher at Philips, he led Harkness discussions in his history classes and delivered lesson plans that fostered empathy, critical thinking, and cultural awareness. While at AOF, he implemented diversity initiatives and programs and reimagined the curriculum to broaden “the canon” to include historically marginalized voices.

Since he was young, Scott has always been a builder and creator. His early life as a carpenter led him to study sculpture in art school, where he discovered the power of art as a means of expression, connection, and collaboration. Since starting in 1994, his work at Kingswood Oxford as an art teacher, coach, and advisor has allowed him to help young people develop their own unique voice while embracing those of others.

Julie started working as the assistant athletic trainer at KO right after finishing college. She earned her B.S. at Central Connecticut State University and her M.S. at California University of Pennsylvania. “I enjoy working with kids and watching them grow, both on and off the field,” she said.

A native of Avon, CT, Brad is the current head coach of the KO boys’ varsity basketball team. After playing Division III collegiate basketball at Suffolk University, he has coached at the AAU level, at prestigious camps and schools across the Northeast, and is also the owner of Lenny Rich Training where he works with boys and girls from Grade 3 to the professional level. Brad’s approach to coaching is a holistic one as he encourages hard work and maximum effort, both on and off the court, through drills, skills, conditioning, and gameplay.

Mr. Smith establishes positive, healthy relationships with his students and his families and creates a welcoming classroom environment where students are not afraid to be themselves and take risks. At the same time, he instills high expectations from each student and pushes them to tap onto their true potential. With a background in teaching as well as a behavioral specialist, Smith is uniquely qualified to modify any lessons or plans to fit the needs of every student and collaborate with his peers to better engage his students. Smith is a KO graduate and has played semi-professional basketball.

A Latin teacher with over 16 years of experience at the middle school and high school level, Mr. Sullivan employs a pedagogical approach, Comprehensible Input (CI), to deliver relevant, understandable bits of information to his students in the target language. With this method, he has found that students are more engaged, creating a positive and caring class climate where the students have more choice and a larger voice in what they do in the classroom leading to greater success. He develops an inclusive environment where the students learn from each other, and he strives to help them see themselves reflected in modern Latin language texts with diverse characters and plots that represent different genders and races.