Usually, students call teachers in preschool through high school by an honorific and their last name.
Typically, the teacher goes by either Mr. for a male teacher, or Mrs. Ms., or Miss for a female teacher.
However, not every teacher uses one of those titles. Several teachers in Massachusetts use a gender-neutral alternative: Mx (pronounced like “mix”).
The title isn’t meant for one specific group of people. Merriam-Webster says that some people who use the title identify as a gender other than male or female, but not all of them.
“The gender-neutral Mx. is used as a title for those who do not identify as being of a particular gender, or for people who simply don’t want to be identified by gender,” Merriam-Webster says.
In Massachusetts, several public school educators use the title.
Some of them identify as non-binary.
That’s the case for Dana Amico of Boston Latin School, Grace Coberly of Bay Farm Montessori Academy, Jim Sunderland of Bedford High School, Nikki Wells of Russell Elementary School, and Emerson Warren of Christa McAuliffe Charter School.
Amico is an English teacher at Boston Latin, an exam high school in the city’s Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood.
“Mx. Dana Amico has taught various English courses at BLS and we are grateful that they will now be joining the Department full-time along with Ms. Sophia Campot,” the school wrote in 2020.
Coberly is a music teacher at Bay Farm Montessori Academy, a private Pre-K through Grade 6 school in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
“Mx. Coberly is a hit,” Shrewsbury Montessori School posted in November 2021 on Facebook when Coberly taught music at the school.
Sunderland teaches history at Bedford High School, a public high school in Bedford, Massachusetts. Unlike the others, Sunderland doesn’t use “they” as a pronoun, instead opting for “xe”.
Here is what the Bedford High School web site says about Sunderland:
Jim Sunderland currently teaches U.S. History I and U.S. History II. Mx. Sunderland is a co-developer of Bedford’s comprehensive critical thinking program and is the coordinator for BHS’ National History Day team. Mx. Sunderland started teaching at Bedford High School in 2003. Prior to coming to Bedford, Mx. Sunderland taught for three years at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School. Between 1998 and 2000, Mx. Sunderland was a member of the Humanities department at Skyline High School in Sammamish, Washington. Xe served as a substitute teacher in numerous Seattle area school districts during the 1997-98 school year. Mx. Sunderland received xyr M.Ed. from UMass Boston in 1997 and xyr B.A. in the College of Social Studies from Wesleyan University in 1992. Mx. Sunderland was honored by the New England History Teachers’ Association when xe received the Kidger Award for Outstanding History Teacher in 2010. That same year, xe was also honored by the Massachusetts History Day State Board when xe received the Massachusetts History Day Teacher of the Year award. Mx. Sunderland is originally from rural northern New York State but currently resides in Beverly, MA.
Meanwhile, Wells is the principal at Russell Elementary School, a public prekindergarten-through-grade 5 school in the Dorchester section of Boston. Here is what a bio for Wells on the city of Boston’s web site says:
Mx. Wells began their teaching career in the Des Moines Public Schools, where they were nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2017. They recently served as an Assistant Principal and then Principal of a pre-K through 5 school in Burlington, Vermont. They hold a Bachelor’s degree in English Education from Iowa State University and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Drake University. Mx. Wells previously lived in Peru and is fluent in Spanish.
They are committed to continual improvement and believe that a culture of learning and deep reflective practice is the gateway for meaningful school change. They have learned this both through effective practices and some mistakes, which Mx. Wells believes were essential for their growth as a leader!
And Warren is a sixth-grade science teacher at Christa McAuliffe Charter School, a charter school in Framingham, Massachusetts, that serves Grades 6 through 8.
Mx. Warren joined the McAuliffe team in 2022. Mx. Warren loves making kids think about how the world works and uncovering the natural magic of the universe around us. In their sixth grade science classroom, they want their students to embrace their curiosity to look at the world around them, ask questions, and have fun finding the answers.
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