Kathy Sheldon, Office Manager

Kathy Sheldon joined the KHA family as Business Manager in July 2007, after spending a year as Executive Assistant to Helen Morcos, COO of The Groden Center. Prior to her employment with the Groden Network, Kathy worked at Bank of America and its predecessor, Fleet National Bank. During her employment at the banks, she served in many capacities, including teller, operations supervisor, branch manager and Operations Manager for the Northeast Business Banking segment. Kathy attended Providence College and lives in Richmond with her husband, children and faithful companions, Buddy (Beagle) and Pepper (Dashound).

Please feel free to e-mail me at ksheldon@grodencenter.org

Sheila McGraw, Curriculum Coordinator

Mrs. McGraw has been a resident of Rhode Island her entire life. Living in the rural town of Exeter, she enjoys her gardens and spending time outside with her family. “Reading is a way that I enjoy my spare time, so please recommend any good books to me, anytime. I also love to bead jewelry and clothes.” Mrs. McGraw hopes to do an ILP to share her beading skills with the students.

Prior to coming to KHA, Mrs. McGraw taught in a local middle school for many years. Her focus has always been looking at ways to make students and families become a part of their school community. Just like all of the children at KHA, Mrs. McGraw also goes to school and needs to do homework. She is a doctoral candidate in an educational leadership program.

Students and families are invited to see Mrs. McGraw in the office as well as throughout the building. She is looking forward to an awesome year in a great school community.

Please feel free to e-mail her at smcgraw@kingstonhill.org

Donna DeMarco, Office Administrative Assistant

Donna was born and raised in Rhode Island and currently resides in South Kingstown. She graduated from Rhode Island College with a Bachelor’ s degree in Business Management. This upcoming year will be her fourth enjoyable year at KHA. She really feels fortunate to have had the opportunity of getting to know all the families at KHA. Her interests and hobbies include taking walks on our beautiful beaches, swimming, traveling and the theater.

Please feel free to e-mail me at ddemarco@kingstonhill.org

Johnna Bicknell, Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher

Mrs. B, the Kindergarten teacher at KHA, has enjoyed teaching since 1993 in various classrooms, but really enjoys teaching her Kindergarten students at KHA. Her educational philosophy is that Kindergarten is an introduction to "everything" and she teaches daily with that in mind. No questions or comments go unanswered, they are all equally important. These children may arrive like tortoises but leave KHA like hares. Mrs. B’s family has resided in South Kingstown for 21 years, living on the beautiful historic Ministerial Road and enjoying every aspect of South County's pleasures.

Please feel free to e-mail her at jbicknell@kingstonhill.org and visit my homeroom page

Laurie St. Clair, 1st Grade Homeroom Teacher

Ms. St. Clair is originally from Maine and loves to travel. While taking some time off from college (she thought she wanted to be an accountant), she traveled to Mexico to take some language and art classes. While there, she was able to volunteer at a local library and work with children to help them learn English. After returning, she decided to go back to college to gain her bachelor's in teaching at the University of Maine in Orono. Upon graduation in 2002, she moved to Rhode Island to try something new. Ms. St. Clair came to KHA in the spring of 2003 and began teaching first grade in the fall of that year. When not at school, she enjoys outdoor activities, running, kayaking, scrap booking, cooking, playing games and spending time with her boys (pugs, not children).

Please feel free to e-mail her at lstclair@kingstonhill.org and visit her homeroom page

Kim Charest, 2nd Grade Homeroom Teacher

Miss Kim is a Rhode Island native. She has been teaching grades K-2 since graduating from URI in 1989. She is very interested in children's literature and will be pursuing her Masters Degree in Reading. She has a son and a stepdaughter who keep her very busy. When she has free time, she enjoys fishing with her husband on his bass boat, hiking, traveling, photography and creating scrap books.

Please feel free to e-mail her at kcharest@kingstonhill.org and visit her homeroom page

Roger Mark, 3rd Grade Homeroom Teacher

Roger Mark graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Developmental Child Psychology and Masters in Elementary Education. This is Roger's sixth year at KHA. Prior to being an administrative teacher in his first year at KHA (2002), he taught ESL in Queretaro, Mexico (2001). He has been a director and counselor for a couple of Moses Brown School summer camps since 1993. His experiences teaching at these camps helped him discover the wonderful world of education. He believes that every child deserves a great education, and that the relationship amongst staff, administration and families is an integral part of the high quality of education at KHA. Beyond his love of teaching children, Roger enjoys playing guitar, cards and sports, dining out with old friends, and spending time with his wife, Sheila, and his pug, Roxie.

Please feel free to e-mail him at rmark@kingstonhill.org and visit his homeroom page

Lori Facer, 3rd Grade Homeroom Teacher

Miss Lori Facer lives in Richmond, RI. She graduated with honors from URI in 2003 with a double major in Elementary Education and English. This will be her sixth year teaching and her second year at Kingston Hill Academy. Last year, Lori taught the third grade Spanish homeroom. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Reading Education at URI. In her spare time, Lori enjoys swimming, boating, skiing, traveling, movies, spending time with friends, and of course, reading! She is thrilled to have this opportunity to teach third grade Spanish at Kingston Hill Academy!

Please feel free to e-mail her at lfacer@kingstonhill.org and visit her homeroom page

Jennifer Geaber, 5th Grade Homeroom Teacher

Miss Geaber graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a major in elementary education and Spanish. After a road trip through Mexico, she grew a love for the language and culture. She decided to spend time studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain. Since traveling to Spain, she has visited Costa Rica, Portugal, and Puerto Rico. After graduating, she was very thankful to come across a position where she could use both her knowledge of Spanish and her love for teaching. "It has been a great experience for me," Miss Geaber said. "It is amazing to see how receptive the students are to learning a new language."

Please feel free to e-mail her at jgeaber@kingstonhill.org and visit her homeroom page

Cindy Fleming, 4th Grade Homeroom Teacher

This is Mrs. Fleming’s fifth year teaching at KHA. She began here just after receiving her teaching certification from URI. She made the decision to go into classroom teaching after spending three years as the educator at Museum of Primitive Art and culture in Peace Dale. In addition to certification from URI, she has a BA in Sociology/Anthropology from Oberlin College and an MA in Sociology from University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She worked in the field of human service administration and advocacy prior to a career switch to education.

Outside of school, she enjoys cooking, relearning piano, and keeping up with her two teenage daughters. She hopes to incorporate her interests in music, art, and multicultural education into her teaching.

Please feel free to e-mail her at cfleming@kingstonhill.org and visit her homeroom page

Matt Fraza, 4th Grade Homeroom Teacher

Matt Fraza is a fourth grade teacher, inhabiting Room Seven of KHA, along with his class of students and a variety of insects, amphibians, reptiles, fungi, and microorganisms. Mr. Fraza hopes that his students will develop their love of learning by making deep explorations into the worlds of literature, social studies, science, mathematics, and creative work. We work hard in our homeroom, both at academics and at developing personal relationships. We also have quite a lot of fun as well! Mr. Fraza’s interests include talking and spending time with friends and family, surfing, acting, nature, playing with dogs, eating, reading, travel, filmmaking, and music. He was born and educated in Rhode Island and lives in Wakefield with his wife and three children.

Please feel free to email him at mfraza@kingstonhill.org and visit his homeroom page

Alison Santerre, 5th Homeroom Teacher

Alison J. Santerre is the fifth grade Spanish homeroom teacher at Kingston Hill Academy. A Rhode Island native, Alison currently resides in Exeter with her husband and three sons. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from Rhode Island College in Elementary Education/ Language Arts and a minor in Spanish. She is working on her Middle School Endorsement in English Language Arts and Spanish. Prior to joining the KHA team, Alison worked for nine years in literacy education and two years as a classroom teacher in a bilingual boarding school. In her free time, she enjoys jogging with her Jack Russell Terrier, Lexi, playing softball, and practicing yoga.

Please feel free to e-mail her at asanterre@kingstonhill.org and visit her homeroom page

Judy D'Angelo, Nurse

Nurse Judy happily joined the staff of KHA in the summer of 2005 as the new school nurse teacher. She is originally from the Buffalo, N.Y. area and currently resides in North Kingstown with her husband and four daughters. After graduating from Niagara University with a bachelor's degree in nursing, she worked as a staff nurse at Children's Hospital of Buffalo in the Intensive Care Nursery. Since then, she has enjoyed being a school nurse for students of all ages. She has also spent summers as the Day Camp Health Supervisor for the Girl Scouts of Buffalo and Erie County. She looks forward to getting to know all the families at KHA and to taking good care of the wonderful KHA children. You are welcome to call or stop in the health office anytime with questions or concerns -- or just to swing by to say hello.

Please feel free to e-mail her at jdangelo@kingstonhill.org and visit her Web page

Eric Meystre, PE and Health Instructor

Eric Meystre graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. with a degree in American Studies. Then Mr. Meystre went to Springfield College, where he obtained a master's degree in Recreation Management. After working for five years with the YMCA, Mr. Meystre worked at The Prout School for three years. Mr. Meystre earned his public school certification and then worked for the Chariho Regional School District for two years.

Mr. Meystre's physical education and recess philosophy is that children should be moving. He offers activities during every recess to get the children moving and all of his PE classes are about being physically active. Mr. Meystre believes that his classes instill a lifelong pursuit of being active.

When Mr. Meystre is not at KHA, he is busy coaching his two children. He also enjoys tennis with the family and playing about three rounds of golf per summer.

Please feel free to e-mail him at emeystre@kingstonhill.org and visit his home page

Kerri Chaffee, Special Services Teacher

Kerri received her Bachelors Degree in Special Education and Elementary Education from Rhode Island College. She joined KHA in 2005 as a Teacher Assistant and has been a Special Services teacher for the past two years. When Kerri is not working at KHA, she enjoys vacationing at her house in Maine and spending time with family.

Please feel free to e-mail her at kchaffee@kingstonhill.org and visit the special services page

Karen Shirey, Special Services Teacher

Prior to joining the KHA team a year ago, Miss Shirey was a Special Education Coordinator for the Early Intervention Program at the Groden Center. She also taught a Kindergarten Inclusionary classroom for over three years.

Running road races to raise money for local charities is her passion. She has competed in many events, raising money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Lou Gehrig’s disease, CDLS, Cure Autism Now, and the Council for Exceptional Children.

She is a graduate of Salve Regina University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and a recent graduate of Rhode Island College with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Special Education. She is looking forward to another exciting school year working with staff and children at KHA as a Specialty Services Teacher.

Please feel free to e-mail her at kshirey@kingstonhill.org and visit the special services page

Kati Wilcox, Special Services Teacher

Kati Wilcox has been working as special services teacher for Kingston Hill Academy since Fall 2004. Originally from a small town near Syracuse, N.Y., Kati found the wonders of the oceans of RI in 2000 and has yet to return to the farmland. Kati received dual degrees in Special Education and Elementary Education from Salve Regina University. During her college education, Kati was given a wonderful opportunity to teach a class of first graders in Rome, Italy for a summer program in 2003. In the free time that she can find, Kati enjoys strolling the beaches of Newport (as she is an avid, professional sea glass hunter), laughing with friends and eating chocolate (as she is a professional chocolate eater as well!). Kati loves KHA for the caring and devoted community, (parents and staff) and the overwhelming creative energy that is spread throughout the school.

Please feel free to e-mail her at kwilcox@kingstonhill.org and visit the special services page

Nicole Conley, Speech and Language

Nicole Conley, MS, CCC-SLP, is the new speech and language pathologist at Kingston Hill Academy. She received her Masters of Science, Speech-language and Pathology from Worcester State College in Massachusetts. After finishing her masters, she completed an advanced training program in Applied Behavior Analysis from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Nicole has over three years of experience with a variety of communication disorders, including motor speech disorders, phonological disorders, receptive and expressive language disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. During her free time, Nicole enjoys snowboarding, camping, and running.

Please feel free to e-mail her at nconley@kingstonhill.org and viisit the special services page

Lisa Dupre, Teacher Assistant

Lisa Dupre is a teacher assistant in Mrs. B’s Kindergarten class twice a week. When not working with little ones, she enjoys art, running, family, and long walks on the beach.

Please feel free to e-mail her at ldupre@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page

Barbara Laurenzi, Teacher Assistant

Mrs. L. (Barbara Laurenzi) moved to Rhode Island in 2001 from NYC, where she was a life long resident. A graduate of Rockland Community College of Nursing, Mrs. L. enjoyed 30+ years of staff nursing as well as middle management before retiring to the Ocean State. She joined the staff of KHA as a TA in 2002-2003 after completing the certification program at SORICO. Mrs. L enjoys her four children, three grandchildren, music, theatre, reading and long walks on the beach.

Please feel free to e-mail her at blaurenzi@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page

Aimee McRoberts, Teacher Assistant

This is Aimee's second year as a Teacher's Assistant at Kingston Hill Academy. She is originally from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pa. She has lived in Rhode Island for 13 years. Aimee graduated in 1994 from Penn State University with a degree in Elementary Education. For the past seven years, she has been fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom, caring for her two boys who are both attending Kingston Hill Academy this year. In her free time, Aimee enjoys gardening, days at the beach, and playing all sorts of sports with her children and husband. Aimee is looking forward to a great year.

Please feel free to e-mail her at amcroberts@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page

Katy Menihan, Teacher Assistant

Katy is KHA's newest TA. She will also be working in the after school program. She grew up in North Kingstown with her mom, dad, and little brother, Will. What she loves most about Rhode Island is its beautiful beaches and delicious seafood. After she graduated from North Kingstown High School, she attended Harding University in Searcy, Ark., where she received her degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. After graduating, she decided to come back home where she found Kingston Hill Academy. Katy fell in love with the students and staff here at KHA while working as a substitute. She is so happy to be a part of KHA staff and couldn't be more excited about this school year!

Please feel free to e-mail her at kmenihan@kingstonhill.org and visit the resources page

Becky Perkins, Teacher Assistant

Miss Becky is lifelong resident of South Kingstown. She came to KHA the winter of 2006 after running a business for 13 years. She considers being at KHA one of her most rewarding job yet. Thanks to all the great students and personnel, she has found a home away from home. She enjoys spending time with her three very busy girls, going to the beach, and bike riding. 

Please feel free to e-mail her at bperkins@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page

Amanda Petty, Teacher Assistant

Amanda has been a South Kingstown resident for 11 years. She lives with her husband and three children. She graduated from North Kingstown High School and the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor's in Science. Mrs. Amanda is an active in her community and has helped volunteer as a softball coach, Girl Scout leader, and Sunday School Teacher. Recently, she went on a mission trip to Honduras, which Mrs. Amanda says was an eye-opening experience. Mrs. Amanda would like to go back to school again someday and has returned to school part time. In her spare time, she likes to read, sew, do crafts, and cook. Her educational philosophy is that the best way to learn is by making mistakes.

Please feel free to e-mail her at apetty@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page

Kristina Strom, Teacher Assistant

Ms. Kris is originally from Lexington, Massachusetts, where she was born and raised. After graduating from High School, she attended Keene State College in Keene, N.H. At Keene she studied Elementary Education and Psychology and minored in Spanish. In 1997, she moved to RI to be closer to her extended family.

Before coming to KHA, she worked at another charter school as a Teaching Assistant and Physical Education Teacher. It was during that same year, 2003/2004, she became the KHA PTO co-chair. In the fall of 2004, she happily joined the staff here at KHA. "Working at KHA, with the children and staff, has been a rewarding and positive experience," Strom said. She loves working at KHA because it fits with her belief that all children do not learn at same rate and with the same teaching style. She likes that the students at KHA are encouraged to learn at their own individual learning paces and reach their fullest potential.

Currently, Mrs. Kris live in South Kingstown with her husband and two sons. These days, she is working part-time in order to spend more time at home with her newest child.

Please feel free to e-mail her at kstrom@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page

Lori Wigsten, Teacher Assistant

Lori Wigsten is a native Rhode Islander who grew up in Woonsocket and moved to Southern Rhode Island after graduating from the Community College of Rhode Island. While attending the University of Rhode Island, she worked in the field of Human Services. Before coming to KHA, Mrs. Wigsten dedicated time to raise her children and was active as a playgroup coordinator, Girl Scout Leader, and volunteer at her children's schools. Mrs. Wigsten returned to work at KHA when she decided to go back to the University of Rhode Island to pursue a degree in Education. Her educational philosophy is all children are capable of learning through an approach geared toward their individual strengths. In her spare time, Mrs. Wigsten enjoys reading, crafts, gardening, and other outdoor activities as well as spending time with her family and friends.

Please feel free to e-mail her at lwigsten@kingstonhill.org and visit the resource page