Fort Hill Staff

A team of educators, including a supervising teacher and two or three assistant teachers, teach in each classroom at the preschool and infant/toddler levels. Rotating assistants support each of the levels and student workers supplement the staffing. To the greatest extent possible, children continue with a familiar teacher for their years in each level.

The teachers at Fort Hill are certified by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. Many teachers also hold Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Teacher licenses to teach young children. The diverse backgrounds of the teaching staff contribute to the quality of the program. Teachers have experience and education in many fields, including fine arts, photography, music, English, textiles, studio art, languages, psychology and education.

Meet the Teachers & Supervising Teachers

Fort Hill teachers and supervising teachers make up the professional staff of each CECE classroom. The teachers are extraordinarily dedicated and bring many skills and much knowledge to their work.

Matthew Anderson

Supervising Teacher

Matt has many years of experience as an early childhood professional, the majority of those as a Lead Teacher in Montessori programs. He holds graduate degrees in education and fine arts, along with Montessori credentials and Lead Teacher certification through the Department of Early Education and Care. Matt enjoys the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching and greatly appreciates the Fort Hill community of teachers and families, which he joined in early 2023.

Zulema Baker

Teacher

Zulema comes to Fort Hill with a wealth of experience from working as a preschool teacher in the Attleboro, MA school system for five years, where she also worked with kindergarten children in the before and after program as a lead teacher. Zulema spent 10 years teaching preschool at the Attleboro YMCA and 21 years teaching wellness and fitness classes for children and adults. She holds Preschool and Infant Toddler Teacher Certification from the Department of Early Education and Care. Zulema joined Fort Hill in August 2019.

Althea Brown

Teacher

Althea is a nature-based and Reggio Emilia-inspired early childhood educator. She has worked with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers for the past 10 years in Vermont and Maine. Althea identifies as a lifelong learner and most recently earned her M.Ed. in nature-based early childhood education. She returned to Massachusetts and joined the Fort Hill community in 2026. She lives in Easthampton where she spends the majority of her free time hiking, reading, or knitting.

Malka Coburn

Supervising Teacher

Malka graduated from Smith College with a bachelor’s degree in education & child study and psychology and a certification to teach elementary education. Malka worked in a child care center on Long Island for a year before attending Smith. While at Smith she participated in multiple research projects in elementary classrooms and worked as a student worker at Fort Hill for two years. She came to work at Fort Hill as an Infant Toddler Teacher in 2013 and became a Supervising Teacher in 2016.

Rachel Connally

Supervising Teacher

Rachel graduated from Smith College in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in education and child studies and a minor in Spanish. She started working at Fort Hill as a student worker in the North Room before joining the teaching staff as a full-time classroom teacher. Rachel moved into an infant-toddler Supervising Teacher role in August of 2022. She previously interned and conducted research at the Orfalea Family Children’s Center in Santa Barbara California and La Escuela Laguna Verde in Valparaíso Chile.

Sabrina deKastrozza

Supervising Teacher

Sabrina earned her associate’s degree in early childhood education from Holyoke Community College, and her bachelor’s degree in child psychology from Bay Path University in May 2019. Before starting at Fort Hill, Sabrina worked as a teacher at Young World Child Care Center for three years, where she worked with preschool-aged children as well as kindergarten students in the before and after school program. Sabrina joined the Fort Hill teaching team in February 2019.

Ren Dominguez

Teacher

Ren Dominguez graduated from UMass Amherst in May 2023 with a dual degree in special education and Spanish. She brings experience working with children with and without disabilities as an arts camp counselor, tutor, teacher in a substantially separate public school setting, and now as a rotating teacher at Fort Hill. She joined the team in January 2024.

Kaila Goldstein

Teacher

Kaila graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and a minor in critical social thought, where her studies included coursework in critical pedagogy and educational psychology. Prior to joining Fort Hill, Kaila worked with infant, toddler, and preschool aged children as a full-time nanny, and with children ages 3–7 in the nature play preschool and summer programs at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst, MA. Kaila joined Fort Hill in November of 2023.

Nancy Krueger

Teacher

Nancy has been engaged in the field of early childhood education for her entire professional career. She began as a licensed family child care provider and came to Fort Hill in 2000 as an infant teacher. Nancy has worked with infants, toddlers and preschoolers in a variety of roles. She currently teaches all the children at Fort Hill in her roles as a music teacher and a toddler teacher.

Sarah Kunhardt-Horton

Teacher

Sarah graduated from The Colorado College in 1990 with a B.A. in studio art. While working at the Ethical Culture School at Fieldston Lower in Riverdale New York, she pursued a masters of science in education at the Bank Street College of Education. She worked in the public schools in Chappaqua, New York and later taught as a head teacher to pre-K children at the Rippowam Cisqua School in Bedford, New York. After stepping away from teaching to focus on raising her three children, she joined the team at Fort Hill working with pre-K children in the fall of 2022.

Tensel Kyi

Teacher

Tensel’s name means “lamp of darkness” in Tibetan, her language of origin. In Tibet, she grew up surrounded by nature, high mountains, grasslands, horses, yaks, sheep, and a beloved mastiff. As a child she escaped from Tibet to India in pursuit of a better education, where she completed two B.A.s. In 2018, Tensel came to the United States as an international student on a five-year Fulbright scholarship. At Hampshire College, she pursued a major in “Autobiographical Memory and Culture: How Personal Memory Constructs the Sense of Self,” and after graduating in 2023, brought this focus to her work with young children. Tensel worked at the Hampshire Early Learning Center, first as a student teacher, and moved into a supervising role in 2024. She completed teacher training from the infant level through the director level in 2025 from Greenfield Community College. Tensel began teaching at Fort Hill in the summer of 2026.

Jami Prusak

Supervising Teacher

Jami graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2018, receiving her bachelor of science degree in psychology with a minor in education. During her time at UMass, she was a student worker at the Center for Early Education and Care in both preschool and toddler classrooms. She is an EEC certified infant/toddler and preschool teacher. Jami joined the Fort Hill team as a rotating teacher in August 2018 and has since become a full-time classroom teacher.

Kim Lee Ripley

Teacher

Kim is a Reggio Emilia-inspired teacher trainer, researcher, and most importantly, classroom teacher. Kim was the lead teacher in the Hampshire College ELC Infant room for 26 years until its closure in June of 2026, when she joined the faculty here at Fort Hill. Kim is the co-founder and facilitator of the Reggio Inspired Group of Western Massachusetts since 2018, and is published in the book Insights and Inspiration from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North America (2009)—which also features an essay about Fort Hill!—and Innovations in Early Education: the International Reggio Exchange (2011, 2026). Kim has presented at local, regional, and national conferences on the co-construction of culture and community in infant and toddler classrooms. Kim is endlessly fascinated by the lives of our youngest citizens.

Sarah Shimchick

Teacher

Sarah graduated from Smith College with a degree in psychology and is excited to have returned to the Smith community as a rotating teacher at Fort Hill, beginning in October of 2023. Sarah has a master’s in social work from Washington University in St. Louis, as well as a master’s in education that she earned while a corps member with Teach for America in Phoenix, AZ. Sarah has worked with a broad range of ages, from birth through high school, in both formalized academic settings as well as programs that are less structured. Sarah is excited to spend time with the infants, toddlers, and preschoolers at Fort Hill.

Thea Stark

Teacher

Thea earned her bachelor’s in fine arts from SUNY New Paltz where she majored in photography and minored in biology. She then took a nanny position for half a year after graduation, where she discovered her passion for working with young children and went on to take classes to earn her CDA credential from Tompkins Cortland Community College in NY. She taught at a nursery school in Ithaca, NY for two years before moving to Northampton, and has been working at Fort Hill since November of 2002. Thea started as a rotating assistant, then as a classroom teacher and moved into a supervising teacher role in the summer of 2013.

Rachael Tani

Teacher

Rachael earned a bachelor’s degree in art therapy from Emmanuel College in Boston in 2015. She then worked as an art teacher at an art-based after-school and summer camp program called The Community Art Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts for three years. There she worked most directly with five-year-olds, but also with ages five to eight facilitating art projects including book-making, paper mache, illustration, prop-making and costume design. Rachael joined Fort Hill as a teacher in August of 2021.

Tori Torres

Supervising Teacher

Tori graduated from Smith College in 2017 with a double major in psychology and education and child study. She began working at Fort Hill the summer of her first year as a student worker, and also worked with Fort Hill as part of the De Villiers psychology lab conducting research on child development. Tori began working at Fort Hill as a teacher in August 2017.

Emma Van Scoy

Teacher

Emma graduated from Wellesley College in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in geosciences. After falling in love with the collaborative, hands-on nature of facilitating experiential education programs during a gap year, she completed education coursework in college and worked as a student teacher at the Wellesley College Child Study Center. She is an EEC certified infant/toddler and preschool teacher. Emma joined the Fort Hill team in November 2022.

Jessica Vargas

Teacher

Jessica is an early childhood educator inspired by Reggio Emilia and Montessori with 10 years experience in early childhood education. She earned her bachelor’s degrees in linguistics and Czech language and culture from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. Following her passions for teaching and early childhood education, she earned a Montessori credential in 2019. She is excited to continue learning with children at Fort Hill, beginning in August 2026, in the preschool community. Jessica enjoys boardgames, exploring nearby cities, and quality time with family and friends.

The Fort Hill studio teachers engage with all the children and teachers at Fort Hill. They bring specialized knowledge and skills to the program and are an integral part of the school. They work directly with children as both studio teachers and supervising teachers of the afternoon program. They also consult with the classroom supervising teachers to integrate the studio programs into the classroom curriculum.

Lucy Diamond

Visual Arts Studio Teacher

Lucy completed her master’s in art education at Pratt Institute, with a thesis focused on the Reggio Emilia approach and play-based art experiences for young children. Lucy worked at a community art studio focused on providing high quality early childhood art programming both in and out of neighborhood schools, and worked as an Atelierista for a small, Reggio-inspired school in Brooklyn, NY for three years before moving to the area. She joined the Fort Hill community in the spring of 2025.

Kate Nicolaou

Music Studio Teacher

Kate is a Reggio Emilia-inspired early childhood educator and local musician. She has worked as both toddler and preschool teacher for the past 26 years, most recently and extensively at the Early Learning Center at Hampshire College. Kate is a continual learner who studied theater and education at New England College. She is a researcher who looks for holistic learning opportunities through area colleges, workshops, and on-the-job training with our youngest and most creative teachers—young children, their families, and fellow educators. Kate performs as a vocalist with Butterfly Swing Band, Nectar, and various jazz combos throughout Western Massachusetts. Kate shares her home with two grown children and her cat “Abbie” in Amherst.

The rotating teachers bring high quality to the program by providing familiar and consistent teaching when classroom teachers are absent due to vacation or illness and also join classroom teams to allow supervising teachers to work on special projects and meet with team members, other staff, and families. When not working in the classrooms, the rotating teachers assist with other school-wide projects. Rotating teachers bring special skills and knowledge to the position as they know all of the children and teachers in the school and have often held a range of teaching positions at Fort Hill.

Ivy Kovel

Rotating Teacher

Ivy recently graduated from Hampshire College in 2026 with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. She worked at the Hampshire Early Learning Center (Reggio based) throughout her studies. Ivy’s practice is grounded in Anti-Racism and Decolonial principles, and she loves to use children's literature to help navigate the early childhood years! Ivy has experience working with all age groups and greatly enjoys the agency and freedom a Reggio environment creates. In her free time she enjoys playing lots of guitar and gigging with her band!

Kristen LaValley

Substitute Rotating Teacher

Kristen is a substitute rotating teacher at Fort Hill.

Julie Metz

Rotating Teacher

Julie is an early childhood educator who has worked with children from infancy through preschool across the country. Growing up in a large family in New Hampshire, she developed an early interest in developmental psychology and neurodivergent education. Before joining the Fort Hill CECE staff, Julie worked with the YMCA and earned her Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential. Her diverse educational background includes English at Mount Holyoke College, agriculture at Hampshire College, permaculture at Sirius Ecovillage, and sustainable design at the Boston Architectural College. Julie is excited to be back in the Connecticut River Valley with her growing family and has been part of the Fort Hill community since January 2026. Outside of work, Julie enjoys writing and illustration and has recently been drawn to creating children’s books.

Crystal Rae

Rotating Teacher

Crystal joined Fort Hill in 2018 as an infant/toddler teacher. She earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Rivier College and a master of science degree in child development from Wheelock College, and completed post-graduate credits in special education and English as a second language. She is Director II and Lead Teacher certified for both infant/toddler and preschool age groups through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. Crystal taught kindergarten–grade three and worked as a preschool teacher and education coach at Head Start in Massachusetts and California, and has created and developed professional development workshops for teachers. Before coming to Fort Hill she was a Reggio Emilia-inspired art studio teacher at Mount Holyoke’s early childhood education laboratory school.

Balbir Singh

Substitute Rotating Teacher

Balbir earned a bachelor of business administration degree from the City University of New York and an associate’s degree in textile design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Balbir holds a Director II certification from UMass and has completed education course work at Greenfield Community College. Balbir has worked as a teacher, a supervising teacher, and a rotating teacher in toddler and preschool classrooms since coming to Fort Hill in 1993.

The efforts of the Fort Hill teachers working together with the administrative team create the high quality early childhood program offered by the Center for Early Childhood Education. The administrative team has many years of experience with the program and are dedicated to building a strong community and high-quality early childhood program.

Laurie DeMello

Assistant Director

After an earlier career path studying biology at Union College and staying home to raise her children, Laurie entered the early childhood field when she joined Fort Hill in 2001. Laurie received a B.A. in early learning and child development from the University of Massachusetts and holds a Director II license from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. Laurie’s work has focused on children during the preschool years, working as a preschool supervising teacher since 2009, and the preschool level coordinator since 2012. Laurie moved into the Assistant Director role in December 2020.

Jen Godlesky

Director

Jen holds a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke and a master’s in education from Smith College. She is certified at the Director II level through EEC, and licensed to teach both Pre-K–2 and 1–6 through DESE. She joined the CECE teaching staff in August 2002, and has been a Supervising Teacher across all age groups, from infancy through preschool. After three years in the assistant director role at Fort Hill, Jen moved into the director role in October of 2020.

Lori McKenna

Office Coordinator

Lori earned an associate’s degree from Holyoke Community College and worked part-time as an office assistant in the medical field while raising her children. She joined the Fort Hill administrative team in 1999.

Professional Development

The Center for Early Childhood Education is committed to the ongoing professional development of teachers and the program closes monthly for full-day professional activities. On these days teachers:

conduct staff meetings throughout the day and meet as a full staff, with classroom teams and within the level of preschool or infant/toddler to plan curriculum and collaborations, prepare and review documentation and plan for individual and classroom needs.
work together on the classroom environment.
engage in a professional activity. Shared learning is highly effective and supports the development of a learning community within the school. Teams are strengthened and collaborations develop. The professional activity may involve a school-wide initiative, may be facilitated by a staff member, or may involve outside consultation.