Hello, my name is Donna Kaye and I have been with Somerset Academy for the past 9 years. I was born in New York, but have been raised in Florida. My parents and my sister all live in Florida but the rest of my family have remained up north.
Before arriving at Somerset Academy, my passion was preschool. Although the roots of Early Childhood Education extend as far back as Piaget and Erik Erikson, it was a relatively new approach to education in the early nineties. Not many colleges offered it as a major and the ones that did, offered it as a pilot program. It seemed so natural to learn by doing instead of by being told. When I began my college classes, I was mesmerized and took all of my lessons and applied them in my own PreK classroom. Small groups, centers, positive reinforcement, and hands on activities made perfect sense to me; I felt that I knew where I belonged.
I went on from there to receive both my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Early Childhood Education and have also received my CDA. In May 2007, I completed by studies and now hold my Doctorate in Child and Youth Studies. Leaving the preschool arena was a difficult choice but has proven to be very rewarding. Stepping into a traditional classroom that included accountability in the form of grades and pencil and paper activities was at first daunting. It was been a hard transition, and continued to be a difficult balancing act, to encompass my love for the hands-on, learn through play philosophy, while meeting the standards set forth by the Department of Education. Every chance I got, I continued to bring in the strategies of ECE and the methods of NAEYC.
Somerset Academy’s first year in its new Chapel Trail building was my first year there and it seems as the school and I have grown up together. I have had a place in both the teaching world and the administrative one at Somerset for many years, and am in my third year as the Elementary Assistant Principal. I continue to work to help make our school the best that it can be and still hold tight to the philosophy that brought me to Somerset in the first place; all children can learn and should be challenged at their individual level.
It is my desire to make a difference in the lives of others that keeps me motivated and keeps my love for our school alive.
Donna Kaye, Ed.D
Elementary Assistant Principal
(954) 442 – 0233 xt 330
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(954)442 – 0813 fax
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