PTA

Hello Hoffman-Boston Elementary Families, Teachers, Staff and Community Leaders,

Welcome to the 2025 – 2026 school year! On behalf of the entire PTA Board, I want to extend a warm and heartfelt welcome back to all of our returning families and a very special welcome to those of you who are new to our school community.

My name is Tricia Scanlon, and I am thrilled to be serving as your PTA President this year. This will be my second year serving in the PTA, elated to step into the Presidency role after serving as Vice President last year.  As a parent of Leander Scanlon, current 1st Grader, I am deeply invested in our school’s success.  Most importantly, I am excited to work alongside you all to make this a wonderful and memorable year for our students.

I have the pleasure of teaming up with fellow Executive Board Members and All-Star Parents, Miya Leuleseged, Secretary and Erika Cook, Treasurer and Charlotte Mernard, VP of Communication.  Whether long-time supporters of Hoffman-Boston like Myself, Miya and Erika or new residents to our community like Charlotte, we are dedicated to creating an engagement centric year ahead, filled with events to bring us together, celebrate each other, enrich our youth, teachers and staff, all while having a great time doing it!

The mission of the Hoffman-Boston PTA is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. We believe that when parents, teachers, and staff work together, we can create an environment where every student can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

This year, our PTA’s theme is Building Community Unity. To put these words into motion, we have a number of exciting events planned, including wonderful Baroody Enrichment Programming, Read-a-Thons, Movie Nights, MCM Kids Run, Book Fairs, International Story Reading Evenings, Teacher Appreciation Events, Restaurant Nights, Roller Skating Parties, etc.  This is all in addition to our ongoing initiatives, such as the 24/7 Food Pantry (outside Door 3), Advocating on behalf of our Students, School & Community, School Gardens & Beautification, Free Clothing Drives and so much more.  Whatever the event or initiative, it’s all in the spirit of bringing our community together to best support our Students.

Your support and participation are what make these programs possible. There are many ways to get involved, and your contribution, no matter how small, makes a huge difference:

Join the PTA: Membership is open to all and gives you a voice in the decisions that shape our programs. Joining does not require you to volunteer.

Volunteer: We have opportunities to fit every schedule, from helping at an event to joining a committee. Contact us to learn more.

Attend Meetings:  Our first general PTA meeting will be on September25th at 6pm located in the Hoffman-Boston Elementary School Library and online via Zoom.  Monthly meetings to follow include: Oct 16th, Dec 4th, Jan 15th, Feb 26th, Mar 19th, Apr 23rd , May 21st and Jun 11th.

Stay Connected: Follow our updates via Instagram, our Facebook Group or Facebook Page and our Website.

I, along with the entire PTA Board, look forward to meeting and working with all of you. Your ideas and feedback are always welcome.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or suggestions at [email protected].  Here’s to a fantastic school year!

Sincerely,
Tricia Scanlon, Hoffman-Boston PTA President, 2025-2026

Dan Goodman (Mr. Dan)
Volunteer

My name is Dan Goodman. I started volunteering at Hoffman-Boston when I retired from the U.S. Department of Justice in February 2017. Everyone used to call me “Dan,” but Ms. Marsicek said that the students here were supposed to call me “Mr.” something. I have been “Mr. Dan” ever since. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1954 and grew up in suburban Cleveland except for two years in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when my father served in the U.S. Army. The Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Browns, and Cleveland Cavaliers remain my favorite sports teams. I graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Economics in 1976 and from Stanford Law School in 1979.

My wife, Nina Swift Goodman, and I have been married for 47+ years. Nina is a graduate of Washington-Liberty High School. She was 20 years old, and I was 22, when we married. We have three grown sons, all of whom attended Arlington public schools. Our three granddaughters are 16, 13, and 9 years old, and our grandson is 7.

As an attorney, I worked at the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the U.S. Department of Justice (Environmental Defense Section and Criminal Appellate Section). I was an appellate litigator who briefed and argued cases in all twelve United States Circuit Courts of Appeals. I argued (and won!) a couple of cases before Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg prior to her elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Elena Kagan, now Justice Kagan, once attended a Super Bowl party at our house (Super Bowl XXIII).

I began working with children as an overnight camp counselor and Red Cross Water Safety Instructor at what was then National Music Camp (now Interlochen Arts Camp) in Interlochen, Michigan. Otherwise, I have no formal training in education, but the approximately 45 teachers who have welcomed me into their classrooms at Hoffman-Boston have taught me a ton. Learning with All Star students is much more fun than being a lawyer!