About Us: Meet the Staff

 

The Teachers and Staff That Make The Preschool Place & Kindergarten
The Place for Your Children

We are very proud of our outstanding team of director, teachers, assistants and office staff here at The Preschool Place & Kindergarten. We are pleased to be able to boast that they have over 200 years of combined classroom experience. The majority of our teaching staff have come to us after having had their own children go through our program. As educators and parents they were so impressed with what their children did here that they too wanted to be part of our team. What we do not only includes educating your children, but educating ourselves. Our staff actively keeps up with the latest research in early childhood education, and attends professional development programs, all with the goal of giving your children the quality education they deserve in their early years. In addition our staff maintains current certifications in both CPR and 1st aid.

CAROL RUBNITZ

Director
crubnitz@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 1990
Education/Experience: MS in Early Childhood Education from Queens College as well as a BS in Elementary Education from Queens College. She is certified in Early Childhood Education as well as Elementary Education. She has been at The Preschool Place since 1990 as a teacher, she became the Assistant Director in 2001 and has been the director since 2005.
Fun Facts:Both of her children attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 1986. She enjoys taking all kinds of exercise classes and traveling. She has also taught ESL to adults at the English Language Institute at Queens College.

 

MINDY BRAINUM

Kinder Plus teacher, English Language Learning (ELL) teacher for adults mbrainum@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 1988
Education/Experience: BA in Elementary Education from Brooklyn College. She is certified Pre-K through 8th grade. She began at The Preschool Place and Kindergarten as Senora Brainum, teaching Spanish, and then moved on to teaching three year olds. She co-created the Hand in Hand enrichment as well as the Kinder Plus enrichment at our school.
Fun Facts: Both of her children attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 1991. Mindy enjoys reading, biking, teaching and spending time at the beach, which she calls her “happy place”.

 

CHRISTINE CLARK

Fours teacher, Story Stretchers teacher
cclark@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 1998
Education/Experience: BS in Office Systems Administration from Montclair State College. She has a certificate in Early Childhood Education from Raritan Valley Community College.
Fun Facts: She enjoys spending time with her granddaughter.

 

KELLIE COLLINS

Art Unlimited Assistant,
Appointed: 2013
Education/Experience: Kean College
Fun Facts: Her daughter attended The Preschool Place & Kindergarten and she has been a substitute in our school since 2010.  Kellie loves to play tennis.

 

RACHEL DRASCHER

Kinder Plus Assistant, Teacher Library Kindergarten Special
Appointed: 2001
Education/Experience: MS in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College. BA in Psychology and Certified in Elementary Education from Clark University. She has taught Heritage Street, PreSchool Plus, Kids in Motion, Twos and Kinder Plus at The Preschool Place & Kindergarten.
Fun Facts; Both of her children attended The Preschool Place & KIndergarten. She grew up in Manhatten and loves to read, travel, and spend time with her family.

 

CHRISTINA GERRARD

Twos Teacher
Appointed: 2015
Education/Experience: M.Ed in Elementary School Counseling from Penn State University. BA in Psychology and Certified in Elementary Education PreK-6th grade from SUNY Geneso. She counseled for two years in PA and taught third grade for 5 years in Oneida, NY.
Fun Facts: She loves spending time outdoors and going to parks with her children. She also loves to read, garden, and run. She just completed her first mud run in July.

CATHY GIALLORENZO

Kindergarten Teacher
cgiallorenzo@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 2000
Education/Experience: BS degree in Speech from Montclair State College and her Masters in Elementary Education and Reading from St. Johns University. She is certified in Early Childhood Education as well as Elementary Education. She taught in our “fours” program before teaching kindergarten and taught for 4 years before joining The Preschool Place and Kindergarten in 2000.
Fun Facts: Her son attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 1996.

 

LISA GRABER

Fours Teacher, Discover Ease Assistant
Appointed: 2015
Education/Experience: : Master of Education from East Stroudsburg University with Reading Specialist certification; Bachelor of Science from East Stroudsburg University with a dual Major in Early Childhood/Elementary Education. She taught Kindergarten-2nd grade for 12 years in Chatham, NJ, and Nazareth, PA.
Fun Facts: Her children, Matthew and Sarah, both attended the Preschool Place. Mrs. Graber loves reading, writing, and being at the beach. She spends a lot of time at fields, wrestling rooms, and pools, because her son plays travel baseball, travel soccer and wrestles .Her daughter plays soccer, field hockey, softball, and swims.

 

JILL GREENWALD

Threes Teacher
Appointed: 2013
Education/Experience: M.Ed degree in Special Education from the University of Maryland. She spends her summers working at a day camp as one of the Directors of Special Events.
Fun Facts: Her children attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 2008. She enjoys organizing and helping other people get organized, especially with photos. She ran in the Warrior Dash to help raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

 

SHARON JOHNSON

Office Manager
sjohnson@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 2003
Education/Experience: BS in Elementary Education from The University of Maryland. She is certified in Early Childhood and Elementary Education K-6.
Fun Facts: Her children attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 1998. She spent years as a mortgage banker in NYC. She enjoys reading and cooking in her spare time.

 

AMY KEPPEL

Threes Assistant
Appointed:
2014
Education/Experience: Master’s Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University.  Additionally, she holds a BA in Psychology from Rutgers University.  She began as a substitute teacher while her daughter was in the 3s preschool class.  She was also a teacher in the first Transitional 2s class.  Previously, she worked for 9 years in the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District where she taught 1st grade and Reading Recovery
Fun Facts:
She enjoys spending time with family and friends.  Her favorite vacation spots include Walt Disney World and St. Thomas.  She enjoys reading and completing word searches and Sudoku puzzles in her spare time.

GINNY KIRK

Threes teacher, Our Planet Earth teacher, Discover Ease teacher
gkirk@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 1988
Education/Experience: CDA (Child Development Associate) Credential, 2010. With knowledge gained through attendance of numerous workshops and seminars over the last 22 years, she has created developmentally appropriate science, cooking and nature programs for preschool aged children.
Fun Facts: She enjoys traveling, scrap booking and interior design. She is passionate about her enrichment programs and often spends time recipe hunting , gardening and experimenting with new projects for her classes.

 

HOLLI KOURY

Mini Maestros Teacher, Art Unlimited Teacher
hkoury@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 2007
Education/Experience: BA from Binghamton University in English Literature; MS from Binghamton University in Accounting. CDA (Child Development Associate) Credential, 2009.
Fun Facts: Her children attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 1998. She enjoys rock climbing.

 

CAROL LEVINE

Kindergarten assistant
Appointed: 1996
Education/Experience: BS in Social Work from Syracuse University; For 13 years she assisted in our Kinder Plus program.
Fun Facts: Her son attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten when he was 2, beginning in 1992. He was in the first Kinder Plus class! In her free time she enjoys the beach, travelling, gardening and reading.

 


PATRICIA LYNCH

Fours assistant
Appointed: 1989
Education/Experience: She completed her education in England.
Fun Facts: She was born and raised in England and became a citizen in 2002.

 

 

TAMMY SICAT

Bookkeeper
tsicat@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 2010
Education/Experience: BA Rutgers, MBA Seton Hall University. Worked for Merrill Lynch in IT.
Fun Facts: All of her children attended The Preschool Place and Kindergarten. She enjoys reading and cooking in her free time.

 

WENDY STERN

After Care Teacher
Appointed: 2013
Education/Experience:
BS from Monmouth University. She comes to us with 13 years of experience teaching at the Preschool level.
Fun Facts: She has 3 daughters and enjoys spending as much time as possible with them. She also likes to cook, bake, listen to music and read.


JOANNE SULLIVAN

Twos assistant
Appointed: 2010
Education/Experience: BS in Communications from St. John's University. She subbed at our preschool for 5 years prior to joining us on the staff.
Fun Facts: Both of her daughters attended the Preschool Place and Kindergarten. She enjoys reading, skiing and going to the beach.

 

STACY ZELLER

Heritage Street coordinator/teacher, Mini Maestros assistant, Story Stretchers assistant
szeller@preschoolplace.com
Appointed: 1988
Education/Experience: B.A. from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She’s taught Judaica and Hebrew for 18 years.
Fun Facts: All four of her children attended the Preschool Place and Kindergarten beginning in 1983. She enjoys the beach and cruising and reading and has belonged to a bowling league since 2005. She also likes playing games especially Bunco, Mah Jongg, and all kinds of word games.