Fred Baumgarten (he/him) is thrilled to return to middle-school teaching after a detour that took him through a career with the National Audubon Society and then higher education grant fundraising, most recently at Bennington College. A native of New York City, Fred is a writer, researcher, and independent scholar with a specialty in cultural history and music.

He has an undergraduate degree in art history from Brown University and a master’s in elementary education from Bank Street College of Education. He taught previously at Riverdale Country School and Manhattan Country School, both in New York City, the latter a leading progressive private school. Fred loves basketball, birds, Bach, baklava, and a whole lot of other things that start with the letter “B.” He is the proud dad of Abbey (she/her) and Ari (they/them).