Announcing Step One School's New Executive Director
Dear Step One Community,
The Board of Trustees is thrilled to announce that Susana Casher will be the next Executive Director of Step One School! Susana will begin the new role in August at the start of our 2022-23 school year, upon Sue Britson’s retirement.
Susana is well known to Step One, as she has held the position of Program Director at the school for the past nine years. As Program Director, Susana has been responsible for supervision of all classroom programs, teachers, and children, including oversight of parent communication, observation and assessment of children, and support of curriculum development and implementation. Susana holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. Prior to Step One, she worked as a Play Therapist for children in the Head Start program at Habitot Children’s Museum in Berkeley, developing parent education programs, as well as with Life is Good Playmakers, supporting preschool teachers in implementing therapeutic play in their classrooms.
We selected Susana for this role after an extensive national search, which yielded more than 20 candidates. Throughout this process, Susana continually impressed us with her deep knowledge of the school and the Step One community, her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, her capable management style and her enthusiastic vision for the future of Step One.
While we can’t wait to begin working with Susana in her new role, we also want to acknowledge the incredible legacy and achievements of our retiring Founding Director, Sue Britson. We look forward to celebrating Sue’s retirement with you all in the months to come. Please read on below for notes from Sue and Susana.
A note from Sue:
“I am beyond thrilled to congratulate our wonderful Susana as Step One’s next Executive Director. Her amazing support of teachers, children, and families is in evidence here every day. My partnership with Susana over the last nine years has been incredibly rewarding and filled with the love, learning, and talents that are so important to Step One’s leadership. I look forward to the coming months of transition as I ‘pass the torch’ to Susana as Step One’s next visionary leader. I know you will join me in welcoming her with so much Step One love and support!”
A note from Susana:
“I am honored to be moving into the role of Executive Director at Step One, and excited for what is in store for our wonderful school. Working in partnership with Sue over the last nine years has been an incredible gift and I look forward to continuing her commitment to Step One’s core values and dedication to children, families, and teachers. I am eternally grateful to our school community of board members, staff, parents, and caregivers for embracing me and my family for all of these years.”
We will begin the leadership transition in the coming months, leading up to Sue’s retirement at the end of the school year. Some initiatives already underway include, developing and releasing our next Strategic Plan and hiring a new Program Director.
Many members of the Step One community participated in this recruitment process, and we would like to give our special thanks to the parents, teachers, and community members who served on the Succession Planning and Interview committees. In particular, we wish to thank Board member and Succession Planning committee chair, Maureen Nandini Mitra, whose countless hours of work and organizational prowess kept the process on track, and also consultants Wendy Brawer and Sofia Chancey of InTune Collective, who provided valuable guidance and oversight of our recruiting efforts.
We will stay in touch with periodic updates during the transition, and as always, we thank you for your commitment to our school.
Friends Forever,
Jenny Herbert Creek
Board Chair
"How Marvelous": An Interview with Zeena Cameron
Zeena Cameron has been teaching at Step One since 1986 and is one of the beloved founding teachers who shaped our school. She describes her teaching history and philosophy, why she loves working with kids, and more.
How did you start at Step One?
I was doing in-home childcare. One of the kids I cared for started at Step One and Sue visited me to discuss the transition. Later, Sue contacted me about an opening at Step One, but my youngest wasn’t kindergarten-age yet. It turned out that Sue had spots for us both! My daughter graduated Step One after one year: now it’s my turn to graduate after 33 years, the same year as my grandson. Time has come full circle.
After 33 years, how have you kept enjoying teaching and kept your passion alive?
Part of it is the professional development we get at Step One that introduces me to new and exciting practices around the world. The kids keep me passionate, too! Every year you have new kids that are all so special in their own way. They teach you to teach them. I love sitting down before conferences because I can focus on one child. As I write about the child, see the child in photos from the year, I say “How marvelous.” I see the wonderfulness of each one.
Do you have any advice for future Step One teachers?
Make sure you're doing the basics. Teach the kids to wash their hands, to go the bathroom independently. Kids’ worlds grow from there. I started with Montessouri so practical life skills are important to me.
What is your teaching philosophy?
I try not to use the word “can’t.” “Can’t” is too limiting a thought. If the kids are going to say ‘can’t,’ I ask them to use ‘yet’ with it: “I can’t do it yet, but I can learn if I try!”
What’s your favorite thing about working with kids?
Watching the spark when they thought they couldn’t do something and then it clicks. Seeing them be kind to each other. Also, literacy and language inspire me, and helping kids express what they want to say.
What does Step One mean to you?
This is a special place. It has given birth to many wonderful futures for adults and children alike. It's always been a family-like community where teachers look out for each other. Plus, I can go anywhere in Berkeley and see people I know and hug and talk with them. Teenagers will be hanging out with their friends and come and hug me. How special is that?
What are you looking forward to in retirement?
This is a happy and sad event for me. For a long time I couldn't talk about it because I would start crying. But hard as it is to leave, I’m looking forward to quilting, traveling, reading leisurely, horseback riding, meditating, yoga classes...it’s a long list!
Are you excited about becoming Step One’s first librarian?
I love books and I can’t wait to have the time and energy to focus on our collection, and to support our teachers who love good books but might not have time to search them out.
An Appreciation of Zeena from Amalie Hazelton
Amalie Hazelton and Zeena Cameron taught together for many years in Room 2.
I love Zeena so much. She was one of my first mentors at Step One and took me in from the very beginning. Zeena would give you the shirt off her back and became a part of so many different families. Zeena never stopped learning. Any class the school wanted someone to go to, she was first to volunteer. She has so much knowledge as a teacher, a lot of energy, and a big personality: we laughed so much together. Books were always huge for her; I’m excited for her to be the school librarian. She was always on the library's wanted list because half the library was in our classroom!
Zeena was totally devoted to teaching and went the extra mile to make things special. We had a sand-table that was a therapeutic kind of space with all these little figurines and animals, where kids could make little worlds. A lot of emotional development happened there. That was Zeena's special space: she loved to find little perfect things to help children express themselves.
An Appreciation of Zeena from Anthony Taylor
Anthony Taylor and Zeena Cameron taught for many years together in Room 2.
Room Two strives to make parents feel like we're a family. Zeena did that particularly well. With parents and grandparents, she learned names right away and was always making connections. She had a particular knack for sensing children’s needs. Children are like cups of water: some kids’ cups are overflowing, some are empty, some are half-full. Zeena could was there for the kids who needed more in their cups. There’s such a kindness about her. If my hand fell off, she would give me hers. She was there for anyone who needed help, and she gave all she had.
In Room 2, we had lots of fun and laughed a lot. Zeena would get so excited with the children about what they were learning. That’s not an easy thing to do as a teacher: the world is new to them, and every year you have you have to let them explore, not rush to give them the answer. Zeena could really wonder with the children, stay curious and keep learning fresh and new.
An Appreciation of Zeena from Rakhee Sharma
Rakhee and Anay
Rakhee Sharma is a Step One Board member and parent of alum student Anay.
My son Anay, who is 15, was in Room 2 for two years with Zeena. Zeena is such an impactful educator, a force of love, lightness, and laughter - with a wonderful sense of humor! Her being and ethos are all about curiosity and generosity: putting herself in her students’ shoes. That was inspiring to me as a parent. So was her incredible way of imparting life skills in a way that appeals to young children. She sparked so much creativity and love of school in my son. He actually came back to Step One this summer, to work with Zeena in the classroom. Zeena has a special magic, and our family will always hold her in our hearts.
Plus some words from Rakhee’s son Anay:
Zeena was more than a teacher for me. I never had the opportunity to have my grandma live near me but Zeena always made me feel like she did. When I visit Zeena I get drawn back into the magic world of Step One. I volunteered at Step One this summer and it felt like I never wanted to go. Zeena has poured so much of her love and soul into Step One that she will never really leave! She remembers the name of every student that has been in her classroom. Even though I am now 15 years old and 6 feet 2, Zeena can hug me and I feel like I am still part of Room 2!
The photo above shows Anay in Room 2, holding the #1 sign.
Photo Gallery: 33 Years with Zeena Cameron
We are pleased to share some photos (and a video made by Anthony Taylor) that represent Zeena's years at Step One. We know these images represent only the smallest portion of the wonderful times Zeena shared with children and families. Please send in your photos of Zeena and your family to laurenlevin@steponeschool.org and we will be sure to share them with her!
Quantitative Communication: An Interview with Jenny Herbert Creek
Members of Step One’s Board of Trustees contribute invaluable expertise and skill to the running of our school; Jenny Herbert Creek, parent of Charlotte (Room 1) and Miles (Room 3), is our Board co-chair this year as well as a CFO and financial educator who contributes her expertise to Step One’s Finance Committee.
In the Field with Matt Grober of Conscious Construction
A team from Conscious Construction, the contractor building the Step Two project for Step One, has been on site since the summer and has been a lovely addition to our school’s community. They have stayed on-schedule and on budget, minimized disruption to the classroom, and fielded questions from curious children with great aplomb! We interviewed Matt Grober, Project Head, about his experience supervising Step Two, his background, and what it’s like to solve construction problems on the fly. For more about the Step Two project, check out www.steptwocampaign.org!
How Step One Can You Be?
In a riff on the famous ‘How Berkeley Can You Be?,’ we ask our alums, staff, family and friends to share the moments that make them stop and think “Wow, that’s so Step One.” This month, Daniel Paige, a member of our outstanding office staff (plus parent of Addie in Room One) shares his favorite Step One customs, plus gives us a peek behind the curtain at how his work keeps our school humming along.
Photo Gallery: Step Two Construction Progress
The team has made great strides, as these photos depict, from the building of the temporary entryway, to the concrete pours for new retaining walls and structures, to the framing of the Studio and finally the opening of our new, permanent entry. Plus some pictures of kids enjoying construction, just for fun!