We are proud of our Nursery School staff! 

We are proud of our staff! 

Here at C.S.I. we are very proud of our staff. As in many nursery schools, not all of our teachers have a degree in early childhood, but they all have degrees from four year universities. All non-certified teachers have substituted for at least one year in our school and come to us with lots of experience in working with young children. Many nursery schools have assistants with no degrees and their only experience is babysitting. We pride ourselves on the fact that here at C.S.I., all of our assistants also have degrees and come with many years of experience. We believe that the most important requirement of a nursery school teacher is to be loving, creative, challenging and of course to keep your child safe. Each teacher takes pride in creating an inviting classroom where your child can learn and grow. All of our teachers go through intensive workshops on first aid, choking and CPR, recognizing learning difficulties and professionalism. We participate in our own teacher training program and the Board of Jewish Education Early Childhood Department workshops.  All of our staff is certified in CPR and first aid.
                                                                             
Roni Shapiro Ben-David 

Roni has been the Educational Director of C.S.I. since 1989. She earned her degree in Elementary Education from the University of Texas and has a master’s degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a master’s degree in Administration from Columbia University. She also has a license as a certified principal of Solomon Schecter. Prior to coming to C.S.I. she was the assistant educational director at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City. In 1993, Roni opened the existing C.S.I nursery school. Her sons, Eitan, Ari and Lior graduated from CSI Nursery School.
 
Maris Aschen 

Maris, who has a B.S. in Psychology from SUNY Albany and a M.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell, has taught our 4’s class with Aimee Axelrod since 2004.  Prior to joining C.S.I., Maris taught at the Rosenthal JCC (formerly the YMHA) for four years.  Maris, a mother of three children, is known for using her years of experience as a party planner to bring creativity and excitement to her class.
 
Aimee Axelrod 

Aimee teaches our 4’s class with Maris Aschen. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Queens College.  Aimee’s has been teaching since 1998 at CSI.  She continues to expand her skills with the completion and enrollment in many courses in the early childhood field and child psychology as well as attendance of college workshops in child development.  Prior to teaching, she was a 1st grade classroom aide and substituted in nursery and elementary school.  She has been a teacher at CSI for thirteen years, works in our Kids Karousel program, and has attended many B.J.E. conferences.  Aimee has two children, Mathew & Sydney.  Mathew was our USY president. Aimee was our younger youth group leader and has taught first grade in our religious school.  Aimee’s has been our Nursery School Summer Camp Director since 2006.
 
Toni Band                                                           
Toni is the coordinator for our youngest students - the 2's.  Toni’s has been teaching at CSI since 1996. She has a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology/Chemistry and a Master’s in Information Management. She also has a certificate in Early Childhood Education. She is certified in first aid and CPR.  Toni has attended the B.J.E. conferences and has worked in the Kid’s Karousel program. She has three children, Victor, Melissa & Emily.
 
Sandra “Sandy” Cafarchio 

Sandy has been the secretary in our Religious School and Nursery School since 2005.  Before coming to C.S.I, Sandy worked for 27 years as a Certified Medical Assistant and Office Manager in two large Orthopedic practices in Westchester.  She loves taking care of our children’s “cuts and scrapes” as well as preparing their daily snacks.  Her favorite hobbies are cooking and shopping.  Sandy has helped prepare many of the meals that are served at our meetings and family programs.  When not at C.S.I. she loves spending time with her family, especially her granddaughters, Taylor, Madison and Katelyn.
 
Tamar Drucker 

Tami teaches 3’s with Susan Hartman. Tami has a certificate in Physical Therapy that she received while still living in Israel. She worked in this field for six years.  Her concentration was assessment in neurodevelopment of premature babies and their development after birth. She has been teaching in the Religious School since 1989 working with all age children and started Ivrit B’Ivrit, the Hebrew speaking religious class in 2008. She first became involved with our nursery school while substitute teaching. Tami has been teaching at CSI Nursery school since 1996. She has attended the B.J.E. Early Childhood Conferences for the past couple of years. Her two children - Roni and Avital, are graduates of our Religious School.
 
Elizabeth Dworkin
Elizabeth has been teaching at CSI since 2002. She co-taught the 3’s class with Tami Drucker for 3 years and she now teaches the 4’s with Lori Kavy. She taught 8 years of elementary school (K-5) in the Bronx. She also taught reading, math, physical education, and science.  She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She received a Masters in Education from National-Louis University.  Elizabeth also taught an after-school, extra-curricular Mad Science program at Todd Elementary School.  She has two children, Rachel and Daniel who attend the religious school.  Elizabeth is very active in the Religious School PTA as well as the Congregational Sisterhood.
 
Doreen Gioio 

Doreen has been the secretary in the Nursery and Religious School since 2008.  Doreen worked with the Ossining School District for 12 years as a Senior Office Assistant before coming to CSI.  Besides working for C.S.I., she also manages her husband, Carl’s business, Lo-Mar Maintenance Management Company, and enjoys spending time with her 3 children, Cassandra, Philip and Nicole.
 
Pam Gittleman 

With a BA in English and an MBA in Marketing, Pam left the world of advertising management behind and has been teaching music to pre-school children since 1998.  During that time, she has been the music specialist at a variety of places, including Breezemont Day Camp and the Pleasantville Y.  She began here at CSI in 2003, complimenting Sheera’s program with her own theme-based secular music program.  She has 2 daughters, Hallie and Jill.
 
Susan Hartman 

Susan’s has been here at CSI since 2002. This will be her tenth year as a teacher in the 3’s.  She has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Emory University.  Prior to working at CSI, she worked in the tour industry running photographic safaris to Africa as well as all worldwide destinations.  She and her husband, Hank have 3 daughters, Jenna, Elana  and Kayla   For the past nine years, Susan, also teaches in our  Religious School the Gimel (5th grade) and Dalet (6th grade) class and has  worked at our summer camp and in our Kid’s Karousel program.
 
Faith Kavy 

Faith has been teaching our 3‘s class since 1993. She has a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education. Before coming to C.S.I., Faith was at Brookside School for four years and Robin’s Nest Day Care at Phelps Memorial Hospital for five years. Faith is the director of Kid’s Karousel, an enrichment program and Early Birds, our before class supervision program and has taught in the Religious School for the past fourteen years.
     
Lori Kavy
Lori has been teaching the 4’s at CSI since 1999.  She has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and a Masters in Early Childhood Education.  Lori is a New York State certified general education and special education teacher for children birth through 6th grade.  Prior to joining our CSI staff, she was a permanent substitute teacher in the Ossining Public Schools, as well as a counselor in the CSI day camp.  In addition to working in the 4’s, Lori works as a special education teacher in the afternoons, providing early intervention services and direct support for children with special needs, Applied Behavior Analysis for children with Autism and provides parents with the necessary tools to help their child thrive.  Lori’s 4 grown children, Sharon, Suzanne, Richard and Marc, have all been through our school and worked in our camp. Lori is also a grandmother of Alexa, Jayla and Jared who attend the CSI nursery school program, and Jordan who will be attending in the near future.
 
 
Michelle Korzen
Michelle has taught our 3’s class since 1996.  Before becoming a 3 Alef Teacher she was a librarian/permanent substitute for 14 years. She comes to us with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Art and knowledge and experience in speech and language development.  Her other areas of study include courses in identifying the L.D. child and working with AD/HD children.  For the past 9 years, Michelle has chaired the committee for special needs awareness, is active in “The Friendship Circle” and is a co-founder of CAPCO (Challenges Awareness Parent Committee) in the Briarcliff School District.  She has worked in our summer camp program, Kids Karousel (art/literature and cooking) and is a Division Leader/Group Leader in Breeze Mont Day Camp.
 
Debbie Moritz
Debbie Moritz has been at CSI since 2004.  She has served as a substitute teacher for 2 years, also worked in our summer camp before assisting in the 3’s and works at Kids Karousel since 2003.  Before coming to CSI, Debbie taught in the 2’s, 3’s and 4’s at Briarcliff Nursery School, as well as working at their summer camp for several years.  She has also served as a teacher aide at Todd Elementary School in Briarcliff.  Debbie is a long time resident of Briarcliff Manor.  She has two sons, Jared and Justin.  Her love for children has motivated her to enthusiastically remain in nursery school long after her two sons have grown.  She enjoys getting down on the floor to share an observation, sing a song, or just give a hug.  Debbie is committed to nurturing the growth and development of young children.  She is a teacher in our 2’s program.
 
Robyn Shiovitz
Robyn is our art specialist. She has worked in the nursery school since 1996. She holds a Bachelors Degree in fine arts and enjoys introducing our younger children to the world of fine art and famous artists. She has 4 children who all attended the nursery school and her husband is our very own Cantor Shiovitz.
 
Beverly Wizwer
Beverly has been teaching at CSI since 2000.  She is a teacher in our 2’s program. She has 2 sons, Joshua and Avi, both have graduated from our nursery school. Beverly studied at Purchase and got her degree in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in June 2001.  She taught for 7 years in a religious school in Newburgh and now also teaches in our religious school here at CSI.
 
 
Sheera Zuckerman
Sheera is our music specialist and our resource and LEV teacher for Hebrew school. She is a licensed and certified Elementary Education teacher with over 30 years experience in Special Education. When not at C.S.I., Sheera volunteers as a parent advocate in the Public Schools for children with learning disabilities.  She also volunteers for the Bar and Bat Mitzvah mentoring program at C.S.I. and leads the Prozdor service Shabbat mornings.  Fluent in Hebrew, she was educated in Jewish Day Schools and Hebrew University.  Prior to teaching at C.S.I., she taught at Westchester Day School in both Kindergarten and Resource Room. She has been with CSI since 1996 and has extensive experience in Jewish music. She also brings with her many years of private teaching experience with Bar and Bat Mitzvah training as well as Hebrew tutoring. Her son David attended both CSI nursery and Hebrew School and recently returned home from a year in Israel with Young Judaea Year Course and will attends the University of Hartford. Her daughter Eliana, was a student here as well, while spending summers as a camper in Ramah Nyack and Ramah Berkshires and recently completed her first summer on staff at Ramah Day Camp Nyack.