Thank you for visiting our website. My name is Melissa Cosgrove and I am proud to lead our Koala family at Jefferson School. This year I will enter my 26th year in public education. I was an elementary teacher for fifteen years in Philadelphia and Newark. I then served as a Curriculum Supervisor in Applied Sciences for Roxbury. This year will be my ninth year as principal of Jefferson School. The Jefferson community has been my second family and is an amazing place to spend most of my days. I obtained my BA from The College of NJ in Elementary Education and Psychology. My graduate degree is from Montclair State University in Educational Leadership. I currently reside in Roxbury as well with my amazing family and both my children attended Roxbury Schools. This is a wonderful community to live and work in! 

I believe every child can learn and that learning must be inclusive of academic and social-emotional growth. We are all responsible for supporting our students with what they need. That being said, I work to foster an environment where staff, families and students all work together toward sharing the responsibility of educating our children. Jefferson School has a family-oriented feel to it and that is made possible by the dedication of our stakeholders. I believe that we are all focused on creating an atmosphere where all students can reach their potential. 

Community, kindness and hard work are three characteristics that begin to describe who I am. I am an educator and I enjoy working with our children every day. One of my favorite quotes is "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel," by Maya Angelou. I encourage you all to carry on "Koala Kindness".