Meet Our Leaders of PLAY
Our Founders
Anastasia Chandler, Executive Director
Megan Baraldi, Development Director


Our Teachers
Jennifer DeFalco

Lauren Gumalak

Jennifer Long

Maria Pietanza
Ms. Maria was born in Venezuela to Italian parents. She graduated from Universidad de el Zulia with a degree in Early Childhood. She taught pre-K and Twos for ten years before moving to South Florida and joining our team. Ms. Maria has a special interest in always finding new and interactive activities that allow our students to embrace the current unit of study through play and inquiry, and she loves to expose the students to fun song and dance from her multiple languages and cultures. Maria is happily married for over 30 years and has three grown boys.

Alicia Shumway
Miss Alicia came to The P.L.A.Y. School after moving to Florida from Texas, where she taught a range of preschool elective classes, as well as in a Threes room. Previous to that, she taught Twos in Texas and served as a Special Needs teacher. Miss Alicia recently finished the rigorous National CDA curriculum to teach VPK in Florida and has a degree in Computer Animation, which makes her an awesome resource for creative art projects here at school. One of our favorite qualities of hers is her endless mental library of awesome old-school songs and finger rhymes, which the kids love! Alicia and her husband have been married for 24 years and have raised her 22-year-old daughter as well as helping to raise her 5-year-old grandaughter.

Join Our Community of Educators
We are always looking for flexible, fun teachers to join our community as leads, substitutes, or floaters! If you have a DCF 40-hour certification or a FL teacher’s certificate, love to PLAY, and would like to join our sub list, please email us.