Our Story

Morgan Stanley in 1996, was promoted to Managing Director in 2003, and has held leadership roles in New York and London. Kevin was a founding director of La Escuelita and is the father of three La Escuelita alumni. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera. Kevin graduated from Stanford University in 1993 with a B.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Operations Research.

has served in a variety of roles at the city, state, and federal levels for the last 20 years. Vilda is a licensed attorney and has practiced in the areas of civil rights, employment and labor law, as well as immigration. She is a proud mom to Pilar and Joaquín who graduated from La Escuelita in 2015 and 2019, respectively. As a parent at La Escuelita, Vilda was Class Parent for the 3/4s class in 2013-14, co-chaired the Parent Advisory Board in 2014-15, and co-chaired the Carnaval committee in 2015 successfully leading La Escuelita's community in its first fundraiser. Vilda and her husband Enrico strongly believe in bilingualism and multiculturalism, starting with fostering in their children their own Puerto Rican and Filipino cultures.

Banking clients. Prior to this role, she was a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, a portfolio manager at GC Group Capital, and worked at Merrill Lynch, where she started her career in finance, as a Director of Emerging Markets Fixed Income Sales/Trading and Structured Products. She holds a BS from Universidad Metropolitana (Caracas, Venezuela) in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Columbia University. Jacqueline is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English. Jacqueline and her husband Herman are both originally from Caracas, Venezuela and speak Spanish at home with their two children aged 21 and 19.

school trace the institution's history, with her oldest entering in the school's inaugural year and her youngest graduating in 2015. Martha has served on the Board of Directors for ten years and was President from 2014-2017, leading the school's project to find, finance, construct, and move into a new home. Additionally, Martha serves on the Board of the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine and the West Side Soccer League. Martha and her family frequently visit Mexico, maintaining close ties with her extended family in the city of San Luis Potosí. Martha graduated from Princeton University in 1994.

Director of Applied Behavior Analytic Services at PALS Support Services. She supports families and young children with autism and related disorders using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) through parent and caregiver training, direct intervention, supervision of programs, and collaboration with related service providers. She is also the mother of two young children, one of whom is a current La Escuelita student. Together with her husband, a native of Colombia, they are raising their children bilingual from birth. Adriane is a strong proponent of early-acquired bilingualism, both from an empirical perspective as well as personally within her own family. Professionally, she supports inclusive and equitable education and works to make appropriate educational settings accessible to all learners. Adriane has formerly served on The Young Friends Board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Junior Board of the Alpine Learning Group, and the Young Professionals Board of the Children’s Museum of the Arts.

sharing more about himself soon.

Andrew and his wife were looking for a preschool for their daughter, they wanted to find a school that would build her fluency, but also respected early childhood development and foster social emotional learning. Andrew received his Master's Degree from NYU School of Law and his JD from the University of Oklahoma School of Law. Andrew believes that La Escuelita fills a underserved need in our community and hopes that it not only continues but expands.

bilingual day care when she lived in California and Dana and her husband were happy to find La Escuelita in the UWS when they moved here last year.  Dana is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.  She hope to ensure La Escuelita's successful future and possible expansion of the high quality Spanish immersive preschool education it offers. 

volunteered at La Escuelita as a teenager.  Jake is the Americas Lead, M&A Transactions Advisory at Anthesis Group.  He holds a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.  He values bilingualism and what La Escuelita offers.  Jake has served on the Ambassador's Committee of the DREAM Charter School network.  He is committed to ensuring La Escuelita's longevity and maximizing La Escuelita's impact in the community.  Jake's son now continues his Dual Language education at PS 75 and his daughter is now a La Escuelita student.

services firm headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom and one of the largest professional services firms in the world. James has over 20 years of experience in tax matters related to states and their localities. James is a Certified Public Accountant with New York and the state of Maryland. He is also a lawyer where he holds legal bar licenses in New York and Washington, D.C. James' industry experience is within the financial services area where he serves many clients in the wealth and asset management sector. James is responsible for over 200 tax professionals nationally and globally situated in many offices including, New York, Boston, Los Angeles/San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Minneapolis, Florida as well as Bangalore, India. James leads thought leadership on new legislation, judicial and administrative rulings, key audit issues and related tax technical topics for management companies and complex funds. In addition, he leads industry targeted efforts with outside agencies in support of member initiatives. James has lectured and taught on several topics impacting the finance services industry. James is an Adjunct Scholarly Practitioner Lecturer at Binghamton University where he teaches at the School of Management, Accounting Program. James also served the Board of Education in the Mount Vernon City School District on the Audit Committee as a Public Representative. James and his wife, Jennifer currently reside in Westchester, NY with their four children.

founding La Escuelita in 2002, she worked as a bilingual speech-language pathologist in the public schools as well as for Early Intervention services and in private consultation. She served on School Leadership Teams and as a volunteer in her children's public schools, and has provided pro bono consultation related to equity and dual language education to organizations such as New York Appleseed Network and the National Coalition on School Diversity. As Project Director for Trauma Smart, Jennifer coordinated professional development to subsidized early childhood providers throughout the five boroughs to become more trauma-informed, delivered as part of the NYC Thrive initiative. Currently, Jennifer supports professional development initiatives in education as a project manager in the School System Partnerships and Programs division of the Bank Street Education Center at Bank Street College of Education.

early acquired bilingualism. Jennifer was La Escuelita's first Education Director and Admissions/Exmissions Director. At other times in her career she was a middle school principal in Montclair NJ, an elementary school assistant principal in Hastings-on-Hudson NY, a teacher in New York City and California, and a director/assistant director of several projects at the Education Center at Bank Street College. Recently she returned to classroom teaching as a pre-K teacher at Community Life Center Head Start. She has led many workshops and conference presentations focusing on early childhood math. Jennifer has a BA from Stanford University, an MS from Bank Street College, and an Ed.D from Teachers College, Columbia University. Jennifer and her husband Kevin have four children, Dora (19), Eleanor (16), William (14) and Eva (12).

Strategy and Operations, which includes budget and finance, human resources, IT, facilities, and kitchen. Justin also oversees strategic planning and implementation for the College. Prior to joining Bank Street as the Chief Operating Officer, Justin held several leadership positions during his eight-year tenure at the New York City Department of Education. Justin holds a JD from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and a BA in Sociology from The Ohio State University. During his legal studies, Justin focused primarily on child advocacy which informed his desire to pursue a career in education.

She and her husband, Ian, have trusted their children to La Escuelita since 2014. Prior to her current, very demanding, role as a stay-at-home-mom she worked for twelve years as a health outcomes researcher for the pharmaceutical industry. Originally from San Juan Puerto Rico, Kimberly crisscrossed the country from Boston to Berkeley to Philadelphia and New York for educational and career pursuits and is proud to report that the result is a supportive network of friendships in many time zones. Kimberly also serves on the board of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, an organization charged with supporting young women and gender-expansive youth in developing their leadership skills and social justice awareness.

team's mission is to bring the best of Google to education, enabling learning and teaching for everyone from anywhere. During her 10 year tenure, Megan has built a strong understanding of how technology can be used to support teachers and students on a global scale. Prior to joining Google, Megan worked as a Software Engineer in Finance and Education, for companies including EF Education First and JP Morgan Chase. Megan is an active volunteer, focused on supporting underrepresented groups in STEM through her work with organizations including Code.org, Girls Who Code, and Made with Code. She received a master’s degree in Computer Science with honors from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science  with honors from Saint Michael’s College. Megan lives on the Upper West Side with her husband, Joe, and three children. Her two oldest graduated from La Escuelita and are currently enrolled in the Spanish Dual Language program at PS 84. Her youngest child is currently attending La Escuelita in Clasé Anaranjada. Both Megan and Joe grew up in bilingual families and have a passion for experiencing new cultures and languages. They hope to instill that same passion in their children.

decade of experience in litigation, regulatory enforcement, and employment law. Since 20023, Pablo has worked in the Legal Department at Fidelity Investments, where he serves as senior counsel for regulatory affairs.  Previously, he served as litigation and employment counsel for Royal Bank of Canada. Pablo began his legal career at the law firm WilmerHale, where his practice focused on high-stakes investigations with a focus on cross-border issues. Several of the investigations that he managed were conducted primarily in Spanish and involved extensive analysis of the unique legal and cultural issues arising from operating a business in Latin America. Pablo grew up speaking Spanish at home, which sparked a lifelong passion for cross-cultural learning and understanding that he hopes to advance through his participation with La Escuelita. He lives on the Upper West Side, where he and his wife are raising two bilingual children. Pablo holds a bachelor's degree in international affairs from Princeton University and a law degree and master's degree in foreign policy from Georgetown University.