Jabani Bennett, Kindergarten Teacher

Jabani Bennett was a Teaching Artist for LEAP NYC (Learning Through an Expanded Arts Program), where she taught literacy (i.e., phonics, reading, writing and listening comprehension) in the City’s public schools using integrated arts strategies. Prior to LEAP, Jabani served as a student teacher in the Jefferson County Public School system in Louisville, KY. While in college, Jabani was chosen for the selective Everett Public Service summer internship at the Harlem Children’s Zone TRUCE Program. As a TRUCE intern, Jabani designed and co-facilitated a hands-on arts program for inner city children of color in middle and high school. She earned both her Bachelor of Arts in Art, with a Concentration in Painting and a Minor in Spanish, and her Master in Education in Art Education and English as a Second Language from the University of Louisville.

Liza Blank, Social Worker

Liza Blank joins DREAM following six years working with the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park as a Bilingual Family Therapist. At the Center for Family Life, Liza provided therapy to Spanish speaking families and advocated for them in schools, family and criminal courts, and the housing system. In addition, she developed and led supportive and skills based parenting groups. Liza also served as the Mental Health Consultant at ACE Integration Head Start, in Bushwick, counseling parents about the emotional and behavioral challenges presented by their pre-school aged children. Prior to earning her Master of Social Work degree from Hunter College School of Social Work, Liza taught at PS 4 as a Bilingual and Common Branch Classroom Teacher. Liza has traveled and studied extensively in South America. She graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelors of Art in Sociology.

Kevin Deodath, Administrative Assistant

Kevin Deodath was Harlem RBI’s Assistant Learning Coach prior to joining DREAM Charter School. At RBI, Kevin fostered strong group dynamics and participation among middle school youth through structure and interpersonal relationships, and developed strong ties with neighborhood organizations, youth and families. In addition, Kevin maintained a number of the RBI Youth Services’ attendance databases and ensured that all databases were up-to-date. Prior to joining Harlem RBI, for three summers, Kevin supervised six staff members and 40 youth as the Camp EUREKA Assistant Male Camp Director. Kevin pursues currently his Bachelor of Science degree from Hostos Community College.

Traci L. Douglas, Director of Operations

Traci L. Douglas is a 1994 graduate of Howard University and a 1997 graduate of Harvard Law School. Traci began her legal career at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS), a non-profit, community based law office in Harlem. As a Soros Justice Fellow with the Open Society Institute, she re-established NDS’s delinquency practice while providing legal-rights based workshops to young people throughout New York City. Traci also partnered with Legal Outreach, Inc. to mentor middle school students in Harlem interested in the legal profession. She completed her two-year fellowship with the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society in their Brooklyn offices. During this time, Traci taught a race relations course in NYC public schools through the New York Civil Rights Coalition.

After a two-year stint in the private sector, Traci returned to her public interest roots and joined NDS’s criminal defense team as a staff attorney. Her clients were mostly young adults disengaged from school and their families. In an effort to target students at-risk of entering the juvenile and criminal justice systems and to reduce the number of potential NDS clients, Traci became the organization’s first Director of Youth, Education and Outreach Programs in 2004 and was responsible for the programmatic expansion of NDS's youth leadership development program, Students Taking Action Towards Empowerment (S.T.A.T.E.). In that role, she solidified her desire to transition from the practice of law to full-time work in education.

In 2006, Traci moved to Philadelphia, PA to become a social and emotional learning instructor and curriculum writer with Mastery Charter Schools. Although she truly enjoyed the classroom experience, she determined that her legal and program management background also made her suitable for charter school administration. Traci has come full circle in her youth-centered public service career and returns to Harlem with over a decade of varied experiences that will prove to be a huge asset to the operations of DREAM Charter School.

Lauren Fruchter, Health and Wellness Specialist

Lauren Fruchter earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater from Syracuse University and her Master of Science in Education, specializing in School Counseling, from Hunter College. For three years, Lauren was a Teaching Artist at Rosie’s Broadway Kids, teaching underprivileged students to dance, to sing and to perform. She also facilitated SOFIT (System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time), a program for Pre-Kindergarten and Second Grade students that incorporated physical movement to foster student activity levels and health awareness. In addition, during her graduate studies, Lauren was a counseling intern at the School of the Future and Hunter High School.

Jean Harris, Ph.D, Director of Health and Wellness

Jean is an Assistant Professor in the Health Studies Program in the Department of Health Studies, Physical Education and Human Performance Science at Adelphi University. She received her doctorate (’96) and masters (’93) degrees from Penn State University in Health Education. She holds a BS in Health and Physical Education from East Stroudsburg University.

Upon graduating with her BS, Dr. Harris taught K-12 Health and Physical Education in Billings, Montana for 11 years. She returned to graduate school in 1992 and her first faculty appointment was at Winthrop University in South Carolina teaching graduate and undergraduate Health Education courses. In 1997 she moved “back home” to the New York metropolitan area to become the Director of Youth Sports Education at Asphalt Green, a private not-for-profit sport and recreation facility in New York City. There she was involved with program development and training workshops, developing community partnerships and supervising school day wellness programs for New York City public school children.

Dr. Harris joined the Adelphi faculty in Fall, 2003 and her primary areas of interest are teacher preparation, peer education, public/private partnerships in education and the common areas between the Health Education and Physical Education disciplines. She has published in peer reviewed journals and presented at state, regional and national conferences. Dr. Harris received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (Second Place, 1995) for her Trading Cards Program—a cross age drug abuse prevention program she started in Billings, Montana. She holds New York State permanent teaching certification in Health and Physical Education K-12. Dr. Harris is a member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), the American Association for Health Education (AAHE) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Joshua Klaris, Principal

Josh’s professional experience and track record as a school administrator and nonprofit program director give him the requisite capacity to take responsibility for DREAM's start-up process and the skills necessary to manage this critical phase. Josh has extensive experience as a principal (PS 183M), assistant principal (PS 158M/ PS 65X) and teacher (PS 124M) in New York City public elementary schools that have served high populations of poverty-level students, special education students and English Language Learners. In addition to his extensive work in the public school system, Josh's experience in the conceptualization, initial planning and start-up of two summer programs (Camp Get-Set, REAL Kids) further ensures DREAM Charter School’s success.

Additionally, Josh is a certified teacher of both general education and English as a Second Language (ESL) and has extensive classroom teaching experience in Kindergarten through sixth grades. He has worked for a significant time in a diverse array of educational settings; from rural Louisiana (as a Teach for America corps member), to Chinatown, the South Bronx, East Harlem, and the Upper East Side of Manhattan. As an educator, He has worked to start up an integrated ESL program for PS 124M and two Collaborative Team Teaching programs, one at PS 158M and the other at PS 183M. He was part of the leadership team that worked to bring balanced literacy and standards based instruction to PS 65X.

The model proposed for the DREAM Charter School, to a large degree, is the result of Josh's background and experience in creating innovative and effective methods of service delivery to ELL and Special Education students in an inclusive setting. In his classrooms as well as in his schools students, whether they are a general education student or in one of these traditionally underserved groups, have always benefited from the rich academic and supportive settings he has created.

Alyssa Rowena Lynes, First Grade Teacher

Alyssa Lynes taught for two years at the Amistad Dual Language School in New York City. As a dual language Kindergarten Teacher, Alyssa taught early literacy, math, social studies and science in Spanish and English. While in graduate school, Alyssa taught as a student teacher at the Amistad School, Churchill School, and PS 87. In addition to her classroom experience, Alyssa has an extensive background working with young children as a teacher at Bank Street School Summer Camp, teaching afterschool at The Calhoun School, assisting in the Early Childhood Center in Bronxville, NY, and interning at La Casa Taller Josepha Camela in Coro, Venezuela. Alyssa is a also a dancer and choroegrapher. Alyssa earned her Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and her Master in Education in Dual Language/Bilingual General Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education.

Danielle Mays, Kindergarten Teacher

Danielle Mays joins DREAM following three years as a Special Education Teacher at Grassy Waters Elementary in West Palm Beach, FL. At Grassy Waters, Danielle managed six colleagues as the Acting Special Education Team Leader. Danielle also planned reading, writing and math lessons that both integrated multi-modal approaches and matched students’ specific IEP requirements. Danielle earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts and her Master of Science degree in Special Education K-12 from Nova Southeastern University.

Meena Pathare,First Grade Teacher

Meena Pathare earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Bucknell University. She earned her New York Initial Certificate in Childhood Education from Bucknell, and taught first grade at PS 34 Franklin Delano Roosevelt for two years following college. At PS 34, Meena implemented the Teachers College Reading and Writing Curriculum, using the Workshop Model, and designed all lessons to meet New York legislation by incorporating both city and state standards. Meena earned her Master of Arts and Master of Education in Psychological Counseling from Teachers College Columbia University. In conjunction with her graduate studies, Meena served as a School Counseling Intern providing counseling services to both mandated and at-risk Pre-K through Grade 8 students at PSIS 111 Adolph S. Ochs.

Herry Phillip, First Grade Teacher

Jerry Phillip taught First Grade at Ross Global Academy Charter School in New York, where he was also the Lower School Lead Teacher and the Saturday School Coordinator. At Ross, Jerry developed and implemented instructional experience aligned with a balanced literacy approach, and developed and implemented whole-class and individual positive behavior supports. As the Lower School Lead Teacher, Jerry advocated for lower school curricular, student and faculty concerns, and participated in child student team meetings for at-risk students. During his graduate education, Jerry was a student teacher at Brooklyn New School, in a self-contained classroom, and PS 64, in a Grade 1 collaborative team teaching classroom. Jerry earned his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Computer Science and his Master of Arts in Childhood and Special Education from New York University.

Rovin Recio, Kindergarten Teacher

Rovin Recio joins DREAM Charter School after serving as the Head Teacher for Pre-Kindergarten at St. Mark’s Head Start for five and a half years. Rovin developed goals for children in the classroom based on developmental assessments, observations, interests and different learning styles. At St. Mark’s, Rovin also recognized the importance of mentorship; he served as a mentor for student-teachers, new teachers, education and social work undergraduate majors. Before his work at St. Mark’s, Rovin was a teacher at PS 189 in the Bronx and PS 96 in Manhattan. Rovin earned his Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College in American Studies and his Master of Science in Elementary Education from CUNY Hunter College.

Jennifer Russell, First Grade Teacher

Jennifer Russell taught, as a Classroom Special Education Teacher, for three years at PS 158 the Warwick School before joining DREAM Charter School. As a first grade teacher, Jennifer co-taught in a collaborative team teaching classroom. As a fourth grade teacher, she taught in a self-contained 12:1 special education setting. Jennifer instructed student with various learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and speech and language impairments, and developed and implemented IEPs for these students. Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas at Austin and her Master of Science in Education – Childhood/Special Education from Pace University as a New York City Teaching Fellow.

Vera Slywynsky, Kindergarten Teacher

Vera Slywynsky joins DREAM Charter School after two years of teaching 3rd and 4th grades at PS 89 Elmhurst School, as a New York City Teaching Fellow. She taught in the Dual Language Program which was designed to meet the needs of English Language Learners of all levels and to create a classroom environment that honors the cultural background of its students. Vera spearheaded an interdisciplinary photography-writing project to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Elmhurst School and received grants to fund the project for 256 4th graders. She holds degrees of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan and Master of Education from Brooklyn College.

Crystal Vargas, Administrative Assistant

Crystal Vargas joins DREAM Charter School as an Administrative Assistant. For 17 years, Crystal has been an active participant in Harlem RBI. For almost six years, Crystal was RBI’s Program Assistant and REAL Kids Administrative Assistant. She recruited 9-12 year olds to participate in the many programs offered by the organization and tracked all children’s attendance. In addition to her extensive work experience at Harlem RBI, Crystal worked as an Educational Specialist for the Scan Beacon Program where she tutored First, Second and Fourth Grade students. Crystal earned her Bachelor of Arts from City College of New York in Media Communication Art with a Minor in Jewish Studies.