Oi Ling Hu
Interim Educational Director
At BFS since 2017. Curriculum Coordinator 2021-2022. Lead Teacher 2017-2020.
Oi has a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education.
Oi has worked with infants, toddlers and preschoolers as well as children from low income backgrounds during her 15+ years of teaching. Her experience teaching with children as young as infants has played an influential role in how she approaches learning and development in the classroom. She views children and educators as co-creators of their own learning. Using this approach, each year of teaching has been a new adventure.
Oi believes in supporting the social emotional development of young children and seeks to celebrate what makes each child unique.
Deidre Santos
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS
At BFS since 2019.
Deidre has a BS degree in Business Management and Finance from Brooklyn College and has over 17 years experience working in operations and management.
Deidre is an enthusiastic person who loves taking on new challenges. She is an integral part of the team and enjoys working behind the scenes to help keep things running like a well-oiled machine. Deidre has strong leadership skills with the tenacity needed to get the most demanding of jobs done.
Dragonfly
Angel
Lead Teacher/Co-Education Director
At BFS since 2012
BA In Psychology, and MS in Early Childhood and Special Education
Angel believes that children learn best in a loving and nurturing environment, and that children who are given the freedom to express themselves develop into strong and independent individuals. She loves helping children understand their environment, friends and themselves. She strongly believes that teachers are responsible for shaping the positive growth of kids and, in order to aid that, they must be good listeners. What she loves most about children is their innocence, their singular personalities and their way of thinking and looking at the world. She sees each child as unique, and treasures that uniqueness.
Nycol
Co-Teacher
At BFS since 2013.
Nycol has worked as an After School Teacher and Substitute.
Nycol has a love of science and exploration that motivates the children to investigate the world around them. She is curious and engaged, often inspired by the questions and ideas of the children. She has been working in our school in many capacities and we are thrilled she is moving forward in her career to pursue her degree in Education.
Laura
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 1994.
Honorary Degree in Early Childhood Education from Brooklyn Free Space Preschool.
Laura believes that her first responsibility is to guide the children and help them establish confidence and, at the same time, give them all the tender loving care they need. Fun fact: Sometimes when she reads to the children, she changes her voice to match the characters in the book and becomes a little animated and goofy. The kids love it, shouting, “more, more!” It's hysterical for everybody.
Yakara
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 2018
Yakara has been working with children, from toddlers to school-age children, for over 20 years. She believes that with patience, love and a sense of comfort all children can learn at any age level. And that the learning goes both ways: A child can teach an adult how to be happy and how to always be curious.
Butterfly
Tabitha
Lead Teacher
At BFS since 2024.
Tabitha has had the pleasure of teaching infants through PreK for the past 10 years. Throughout her years of teaching, she has found that children enjoy learning new things through music. She enjoys teaching through singing, dancing, learning lyrics and helping students build the confidence they need to accomplish tasks and different challenges. She loves to see the joy in children’s faces when they discover new things.
Camille
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 2004.
For Camille, an important part of teaching young children is to help them accept their friends and themselves. She wants them to feel comfortable with and happy about who they are, to get along with one another, and to know there is more good than bad in the world. Watching the children grow and become more independent, and contributing to their development, has been a source of great satisfaction and excitement for Camille. She is warm and funny, and greets students cheerily with lines like, "Where's my wink?"
Nici
Assistant Teacher
Nici has been working with children in a variety of settings for over a decade. She began her journey in Germany, teaching dance to children of all ages. After completing a degree in Performing Arts and Teaching, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in dance and experience life in the big city. Alongside her dance career, Nici always knew she wanted to continue working with children. She began studying Social Work while gaining experience in German-speaking preschools, as well as teaching dance at several studios and in after-school programs. Nici believes that movement and dance are powerful tools for children’s development. They not only strengthen gross motor skills and body awareness, but also give children the freedom to express themselves creatively. Above all, she hopes dance and music bring joy, confidence, and excitement to every child she teaches.
Fun Facts about Nici: Her favorite children’s book is The Rainbow Fish. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a dog walker. She still remembers learning the Macarena dance for the very first time in kindergarten.
Sunshine
Patrick
Lead Teacher
At BFS since 2024
Patrick Dahl unexpectedly discovered a love of teaching while volunteering at an after-school program in Chicago in 2012. He quickly found his way into an ECE classroom and has been immersed in the world of young children ever since. After relocating to Brooklyn in 2021, Patrick has worked in 3K and PreK classrooms in Park Slope, where he loves taking students on nature walks through Prospect Park. In every classroom, he strives to collaborate with students in the creation of a stimulating and validating environment that promotes age-appropriate independence and deep exploration within student-led themes. Patrick’s classrooms are thoughtful, busy, and overflowing with enthusiasm. As an educator, he emphasizes storytelling and the visual arts as tools for fostering creative thinking. His day-to-day preschool motto is “say ‘yes’ as much as possible.” Above all, he believes his role in the classroom is that of a facilitator and cheerleader privileged to help each student become the person they are meant to be.
Outside of the classroom, he enjoys museum-going, birding, reading, and bicycling around the city with his partner, Jules. You can often find him at Anthology Film Archives taking in an old movie.
BA in English, University of Pittsburgh
MA in Humanities, University of Chicago
MS in Education, Brooklyn College (in progress)
Mary
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 2025
After many years working in the corporate world, I needed a change. A close friend, who was a preschool director for over 25 years, knew I was looking for a more satisfying career. She noticed how happy I was being around young children and suggested I try substitute teaching. I worked in a two-year-old classroom and was hooked after my first day. I quickly realized that early childhood education is my calling and where I can truly make a difference. I enrolled in the master’s program at Brooklyn College and started teaching. I believe everyone should experience seeing the world through the eyes of children. While teachers enrich their students’ lives, they also enrich ours in so many wonderful ways. Since then Mary has been teaching children aged two to five in mostly community-based preschools which follow a play-based, child-focused curriculum. She has worked at local preschools including Brooklyn Heights Synagogue Preschool and Bean Sprouts.
Soledad
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 2024.
I am passionate about teaching and second, I am deeply interested in working in a space that empowers youth and self expression.I have worked with a variety of age groups from elementary to high school and have learned that students thrive in a collaborative learning environment. My time at the Sadie Nash Leadership Project (SNLP) as a Dean and currently at the IndyKids Journalism Program as an Outreach Education Coordinator have encouraged me to engage in shared, co-learning educational spaces that prioritize the reciprocal learning of both students and teachers. I am currently pursuing my masters at NYU.
Rainbow
Kathy
Lead Teacher
At BFS since 2009.
Kathy has her B.A. in Early Childhood Education.
Every year Kathy is very enthusiastic to begin a fun-filled journey along with the families and teachers at BFS. She sincerely feels that it is amazing and beautiful to watch children as they discover and learn new things. She loves to see the joy and pride in their eyes when they realize that they could do things that they could not do before. To be a part of that is wonderful. She hopes to help children believe that anything is possible.
Malado
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 2021.
Before joining the BFS family Malado studied sociology at The College of Staten Island for a year before working as an after school dance teacher for a program called Legacy. Malado likes to say “Each one, Teach one", she goes by this saying because everyday you learn something new even if it’s from a child or an adult. Malado plans on going back to school to finish her degree and study early childhood education.
Adanna
Assistant Teacher
At BFS since 2022.
Adanna has a degree in Art. Adanna loves working with children. The poem “Saying Goodbye to Very Young Children” by John Updike resonates with her and her work with children. “They will not be the same next time. The sayings so cute, just slightly off, will be corrected.”Adanna’s favorite children’s book is “The Paper Princess” by Elisa Kleven. Adanna says, “It’s so enchanting and magical.”
Staff
Joanne
Music and Movement teacher
Atelierista
At BFS since 2008.
Gabi is an artist and educator living in Windsor Terrace. Before joining Brooklyn Free Space, Gabi taught children and their caregivers and all ages classes at the Smithtown Township Arts Council, was a teaching artist at the Brooklyn museum, and volunteered with the Whitney’s Learning Through Art program. Gabi holds a Master’s Degree in Studio Art from Stony Brook University and a B.F.A. in Fine Art from Hunter College. While creating installations for all ages & parenting her then toddler, Gabi wrote her thesis on Community and Creativity with a strong focus on Skill Sharing and Collaborative art. Gabi has focused that enthusiasm for children, art, and community in Park Slope for the past 15 years.
Gabi
Camille
Pre-K Music Teacher
Raquel
Spanish Teacher
