INSIDE
Was this a role you always aspired to?
I thought I would be a social worker. But one day in college, I was in the library and overheard two students talking about Hunter College’ s former Training Tomorrow’ s Teachers program. It sounded delightful. I went to the office and spoke to the director about joining. I was put in a kindergarten program, and I just fell in love with the children and the environment. I thought, yes, this is where I should be!
After graduating, I taught second grade. Then my principal asked if I would be interested in becoming an early childhood staff developer, essentially coaching teachers in early childhood programs. Of course, there was hesitation; I loved being in the classroom. But I became a coach and mentor, then an assistant principal in an elementary school, pre-K to grade 5. Then I became the founding principal of Learning to Play. I opened our school.
You’ re a fierce advocate for play-based learning. How do you communicate its importance?
Oftentimes, people think children in early learning settings are only playing. But they’ re learning through play! We work hard to help families understand what we’ re doing.
For example, we had a block workshop we invited families to one Saturday. As the children were building with blocks, we talked about the math and literacy they were learning. At the end, one mom said to me,“ I really thought my daughter was coming to school and playing. But I get it now. I saw the math. I saw the literacy.” We make sure all our families get that opportunity.
As a member of the Chancellor’ s Principal Advisory Board, you were invited to present before the Quebec National Assembly in Canada! How did that opportunity arise?
Quebec’ s minister of education came to visit our school in 2019. He invited my supervisor and me to speak to the National Assembly because he wanted to implement a prekindergarten-for-all program and was facing some opposition from home-based educators who were afraid children would leave their programs. We shared that in New York, family child care programs are part of our pre-K offerings. Families get to decide what setting they want for their children. That was a highlight of my career.
Summer 2026 Educating Young Children 13