Jes currently teaches third grade at Gerald E. Talbot Community School with Portland Public Schools. Before coming to Portland in 2019, Jes taught for two decades in Title 1 schools in Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington DC, and Maryland. She has collaborated extensively with artists over the years to integrate the arts into the curricula, most recently working with teaching artists Nance Parker, Cat LeBarre, and Pamela Moulton through Side x Side.
In addition to teaching, Jes has been an Education Policy Teacher Leader with Teach+Plus Maryland, and is a Teacher Leader and contributing author with the Southern Maine Writing Project. Her teaching and writing has focused on multilingual learners, segregation, inclusion, Social and Emotional Learning, and the primacy of creativity and play in elementary education. She holds a BA in American Civilization from Brown University, and a Masters in Elementary Education from Smith College.