Maricel Bautista
Educational Director · Programme and permits · Across the building
Maricel opened this nursery in 2009 after eleven years in a much larger centre where, by her own account, she spent more time managing a waiting list than watching a room. The shape of this place is a reaction to that: five rooms rather than nine, one age band per room, and a director whose office door is on the corridor the children use. She is the person who says no — to an enrolment we cannot staff, to a diet we cannot cook safely, and to a parent asking us to skip a form the Health Code requires.
How they work. Tell people the constraint before they run into it. Most of what upsets families about a nursery is not the rule, it is finding out about the rule at the worst possible moment. She would rather lose an enrolment at the tour than deliver bad news in week three, and most of the awkward pages on this site exist because she got tired of saying the same thing on the telephone.
Mostly handles. Enrolment and tours, Inspection and compliance, Staff supervision, Difficult conversations.
Speaks. English, Tagalog. Here since 2009.
Rosa Delgado
Infant Room Lead · Infants, six weeks to eighteen months · The infant room
Rosa has run the infant room since the year after we opened, which means a fair number of the four-year-olds in the pre-kindergarten room were once handed to her at eight weeks old by a parent who cried in the corridor. She is unhurried in a way that is difficult to teach, and she is the reason our settling-in period is two weeks rather than two days.
How they work. The routine belongs to the baby, not to the room. She writes down what a family already does at home and keeps it going here rather than replacing it with a nursery timetable, and she will tell you honestly when something at home is making the day harder — gently, once, and without repeating it.
Mostly handles. Settling a first baby, Feeding and sleep routines, Safe sleep practice, Supporting new parents.
Speaks. English, Spanish. Here since 2010.
Aisha Rahman
Toddler Room Lead · Toddlers, eighteen months to two years · The toddler room
Aisha took the toddler room in 2015 and rebuilt it around the floor rather than the furniture, on the grounds that a child who has been walking for three months wants to be on the ground and everything else is an obstacle. She is the member of staff parents most often quote back at us, usually the sentence about biting being communication rather than character.
How they work. Say the thing that is happening rather than the thing that sounds better. If a toddler has bitten another child, both families hear about it the same day, in the same words, without either child being named to the other. She has never once described a difficult fortnight as a phase and left it there.
Mostly handles. Walking and climbing, Early language, Biting and hitting, Moving up from the infant room.
Speaks. English, Bengali. Here since 2015.
Nora Fitzpatrick
Twos and Preschool Lead · Two to four years · The twos room and the preschool room
Nora has been teaching three-year-olds for thirty-one years, twenty of them before she came here, and she is the last person in the building who can be talked into an academic worksheet. She is also the one who will tell a parent that their child is entirely typical, at length, with examples, when what the parent arrived worried about is that they are behind.
How they work. Watch first and intervene second. Most of what looks like a problem in a three-year-old is a skill halfway learned, and the useful thing is usually to make the situation easier rather than to correct the child. She keeps written observations on every child and shows them to families rather than summarising them.
Mostly handles. Toilet learning, Friendships and conflict, Play-based curriculum, Observation and record-keeping.
Speaks. English. Here since 2011.
Diego Morales
Pre-Kindergarten Lead · Four to five years, and school-age · The pre-kindergarten room
Diego runs the pre-kindergarten room and the school-age hours at each end of the day, which makes him the person who sees children leave for kindergarten and then come back at half past three still wearing the uniform. That view of the transition is unusual and it shapes what he thinks the pre-K year is for, which is stamina and independence rather than letters.
How they work. Make the year before school look a little more like school in the ways that matter and not at all in the ways that do not. Coats, lunches, queues, toilets and asking an adult for help are the curriculum. He will happily explain to any parent why their child does not need to read yet, and often does.
Mostly handles. Kindergarten transition, Before and after school, Outdoor and physical play, Summer programme.
Speaks. English, Spanish. Here since 2018.
Sunita Gurung
Family Liaison and Cook · Food, allergies and family support · The kitchen
Sunita cooks every lunch served in this building and sits in on every enrolment meeting where a family needs help with paperwork, which turns out to be most of them. She is the reason our menu has more rice and fewer sandwiches than a typical New York nursery, and the reason a family arriving without English gets a real conversation rather than a form.
How they work. Feed children food they recognise, and never let a form be the reason a family gives up. She keeps the 3-K application dates and the voucher position pinned up in the kitchen and raises them with families unprompted, including families whose fees we would lose if they acted on it.
Mostly handles. Menus and cooking, Allergy plans, Voucher and 3-K paperwork, Interpreting at meetings.
Speaks. English, Nepali. Here since 2016.
