Leah Shemtov is thrilled to be taking on the role of Director of Gan for this coming school year.
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Leah is mom to eight children. Her initial debut to Stamford was as a Gan Morah of the 3’s (& then 4’s) and through the years, although not always formally part of the Gan staff, she kept a keen interest and concern as to the entire goings on at the Gan. Over the past two years she has been involved with Reb Dovid in the directorship of Gan and she looks forward to bringing some of her ideas and energy to our incredible school.
Leah Shemtov,
Director
Wendy Beder,
Director of Admissions
Wendy Beder has been a part of the Gan Yeladim family for close to fifteen years. Wendy started as the Office Manager and over the years has grown into her current role as Director of Admissions. Her current responsibilities include marketing the Gan and managing the registration and admissions process for the preschool and summer camp. In addition, Wendy assists in designing marketing material for the Gan and serves as a liaison between parents and faculty. Wendy loves working with the Gan Yeladim parents, staff and watching children grow and excel from tiny toddlers into real little mensch’s, within a nurturing and loving environment. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa she moved to Stamford in late 2004 where she now lives with her husband and two children Joshua and Jenna, both Gan Alumni. She has a BA degree in Marketing and before moving to Stamford worked for South Africa's largest private Health Care insurance company, in a corporate training and development role.
Lieba Lander,
Resource Coordinator
Lieba Lander, Resource Coordinator, joined the Gan family in 1995 as an Assistant Teacher. Four years ago Lieba assumed a new position when she became the Resource Coordinator, incorporating many roles in the day to day operations of the Gan. But her love continues to be her involvement with the children in the classroom, providing them with an environment that makes them feel loved, protected and excited to be at Gan every day. Lieba was born in Schenectady, N.Y., grew up in New Haven, CT, and graduated from Stone College. She is proud that her youngest daughter Karen was in the first graduating class of the Gan and two of her grandsons are also alumni. Lieba has worked in the fields of Infection Control and Retail Management. She is past President of the Ct. Region of Hadassah and currently serves on the National Board of Hadassah.
Associate Director
& School Psychologist
Hillary Isaacs, M.Ed CAGS, NASP is a certified school psychologist who has worked in both the private and public sectors in education for the past fifteen years and continues to serve as the school psychologist in various other preschools in Fairfield County. She is highly trained in both psychology and education. Before becoming the school psychologist at Gan Yeladim, Ms. Isaacs held various positions. She was an early childhood and elementary school teacher in New York City and Brookline, MA private and public schools where she supervised interns from various masters programs in education. She also did her training as a school psychologist in the Brookline Early Education Program. She has worked with preschool children who present with a range of disabilities that include Autism Spectrum disorder, severe medical issues, developmental delays, physical impairments, language disorders and behavioral challenges. She prepared comprehensive psychological assessments of preschooler’s cognitive, social/emotional and behavioral functioning. While serving in the Brookline Public Schools, Ms. Isaacs also served as an IEP team leader where she wrote IEPs and led the team meetings to determine students’ special education eligibility. At the Gan, Ms. Isaacs provided lectures and training programs on various topics such as “Nutrition in the early childhood years” , “Creating a Bully Free Zone” and “What To Do When Children Push Your Buttons”. She has also done research in social skills training and a Response to Intervention (RTI) program, which supports the development of phonological awareness skills in 150 preschool children. The program included an assessment system, as well as the development of an intervention for children identified as having weak pre-literacy skills. Ms. Isaacs also conducted teacher training in both the research and implementation of intervention. Hillary Isaacs received her undergraduate training in Psychology at Binghamton University and received her first Masters in Education from Columbia Teachers College. She then received her CAGS degree in School Psychology (60 credit specialist – master plus specialty level training) plus a two-year supervised internship from Northeastern University. She is licensed in MA and CT and is nationally certified by the National School Psychology Certification Board (NSPCB).
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Margarita Kunin,
Afternoon Director
Margarita Kunin has been teaching at Gan since 1992 and anticipates meeting the new families and children in her classroom each year. For many years prior to Gan, Margarita worked as a preschool teacher and and as a teacher of gifted children. She has a BA in Teaching and Music Education from the Pedagogical Institute in Russia. Known for her affection and attention to the details of caring for children, Margarita tells the story of why she ultimately became a teacher. At five years of age her parents bought a baby piano. She would put her dolls around the piano and sing songs to them. She was so happy that she could teach the dolls to play piano, and that they would listen to her as she taught them and that they would always be with her.