School Faculty

St. David’s Episcopal Day School welcomes back Margaret Biester as the new Head of School. Margaret received her B.A. in History from the College of Wooster in Ohio and went on to pursue a Master of Science in Elementary Education at the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education. She began her teaching career in 2012, with experience teaching children from kindergarten through 5th grade, and holds a Pennsylvania certification in Elementary Education, Middle School Social Studies and Middle School Language Arts. Previously, Margaret worked at Germantown Academy and more recently has taught Kindergarten at Mosby Woods Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia where she also served as the Project Based Learning Team Leader. In addition, she is trained in Responsive Classroom and Project Based Learning and earned a Working Professionals Business Essentials Certificate from the Wharton School of Business. Margaret is passionate about bringing education into the 21st century and how technology can be an asset to a school. In her spare time, she loves to bake, dance and spend time with her two wonderful children, Lucy and Wes.

Kim Anthony is our assistant teacher in the Young Fours classroom. She has been with SDEDS since 2023. After taking some time to stay at home with her children she has re-entered the workforce to bring her loving, caring attitude to SDEDS. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her two high school aged children!

Donna Brinser joined SDEDS in February 2023. She brings 30+ years of child care experience with her, ranging from toddlers all the way up to high school. She hails from Harrisburg, PA and is a diehard Philly sports fan. She likes to collect cows and spend time playing games with her family. She has two children and lives with her husband and 3 dobermans.

Candice Brown holds a degree in psychology and has over 13 years of experience working with children. Most recently, Candice has spent 6 years teaching Preschool and Pre-K students. Additionally, she has spent time traveling abroad and has visited 7 countries. Highlights of her experiences have included visiting orphanages in Bulgaria and Greece, and teaching English to children in Croatia. Miss Candice took a couple of years off to stay home and devote her time to her daughter, Cora James, but has been enjoying her time at SDEDS!

Ashlee Dadd will be assisting the Pre-K classroom as well as providing Spanish education to all of the students. As a foreign language teacher, Ashlee understands the importance and benefits of early foreign language instruction. Since 1999 she has taught pre-k to 8th grade Spanish in several schools in Delaware and New Jersey and helped create various after school and summer programs in Spanish language instruction. Ashlee is a graduate of Hollins University with a double major in Spanish and sociology and also completed education courses at Wilmington University. She spent a summer in Guayaquil, Ecuador where she studied at la Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte and taught English in a local orphanage. She also spent over a year in Puebla, Mexico where she attended la Universidad de las Americas and worked as a language instructor for Berlitz. Being a travel lover, she has also visited Spain and Puerto Rico.

Hailey Darst joined SDEDS in January of 2024 as a floater. She quickly became a favorite teacher to many of our students and is excited to take on the role of assistant in many classrooms this year as well as being in charge of our school library. Hailey attended the University of Delaware where she studied Early Childhood and Special Education. She has many years experience in childcare, tutoring, and as a youth dance teacher. She also has experience volunteering at Nemours Children’s Hospital and East Goshen Elementary. Fun fact, she’s also a licensed esthetician!

Robin Ford holds a BA in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Rider University. She has taught preschool in several settings. Most recently Robin was the Junior Kindergarten teacher and Assistant Director at the Wayne Presbyterian Nursery School for 13 years. The mother of three grown sons and grandmothers of three, Robin enjoys volunteering at St. David’s Church, where she is currently serving on the Vestry, gardening, teaching weekly exercise classes, cycling with her husband and of course teaching children.

Susan has been living in the USA for the past 16 years, having been born and educated in Australia. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy,  in the field of Mental Health and worked for 10 years in Australia and in the UK. After enjoying many years as a stay-at-home mom, she began working in the education setting as an assistant. She has 9 years’ experience in public school, preschool and Montessori environments in the Phoenixville area. Susan and her husband have two older children who they enjoy traveling together with. Susan also enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking and drinking coffee.

Kimberly Harkin is the Lead Teacher for our Young Fours classroom. Kim joined SDEDS in 2018 as the Assistant Teacher in our Kindergarten Enrichment and has enjoyed working with a wide range of classes in her time at SDEDS. Kim previously worked as the Director of Education at The Malvern School and was an early childhood teacher at the Little Paradise Day School.

Kerry Hurly has been at SDEDS since 2018 and has worked with multiple age groups and classrooms during that time. Originally from South Africa, Kerry moved to the United States in 2012 and since discovered her passion for early childhood education. She completed her Master’s in Education at Cabrini University in 2021, earning the Most Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year Award. She is now the Lead Teacher for the Pre-Kindergarten Classroom and is excited to continue in the role this year. She enjoys staying active and has a love of tennis– which she shares with her class through Tennis Enrichment. She also loves baking, reading, and spending time with her family.

Sarah Keely has worked in the field of early childhood education for over 20 years in various roles. She started teaching at a learning center while attending Gettysburg College. After graduation Sarah returned home to the Philadelphia area where she taught at the Parent Infant Center for 9 years and briefly served as an assistant program director. While there, she developed a passion for advocacy for the early years and specifically nature-based education. Sarah holds a master’s degree in multicultural education from Eastern University. In her spare time she enjoys being outside, near water if possible, and with her dogs. She also loves doing yoga, reading and cycling too.

Mira is from Austria, Europe and has joined our team at SDEDS last January. She has a degree in early childhood education and loves teaching at our school!

She enjoys playing her guitar, reading and going on adventures with her dog Luna. In addition to teaching she is very passionate about swimming and spends many hours at the pool deck coaching children of all ages.

Lauren Maniscalco is the Lead Teacher of SDEDS’ Young Threes program and has been working in childcare for nearly 20 years. She holds a degree in Early Childhood Education and has worked with children ranging from infants through 7 years of age in a variety of settings. Previously, Lauren was a teacher at The Goddard School where she also served as the school’s Assistant Director. Over the past 9 years Lauren has been a nanny and has enjoyed teaching, caring for, and watching her little ones grow. In her free time, Lauren likes spending time with her husband and two children – hiking, visiting farms, playgrounds, zoos, and bingeing on ice cream! This is Miss Lauren’s third year at SDEDS.

Denise Schmidt joined SDEDS at the beginning of 2019 and assisted with the nursery school program. For the 2020-21 school year she will be the assistant teacher in the morning Pre-K program. She joined SDEDS with over 25 years of experience working with preschool and kindergarten students, most recently at the Phoenixville Area School District. Denise holds a bachelor of science degree in Elementary Education from Millersville University.

Suzanne Schmotzer is the Assistant Teacher in our Threes program, a familiar face to many of our returning students from the two year old program. Suzanne has been working as a preschool teacher for nearly 30 years and holds a degree in Early Childhood Education. Suzanne’s experience spans teaching infants through pre-kindergarten students, and most recently worked as the Lead Teacher in the Twos Program at The Launfal School in Wayne. Suzanne has been with SDEDS since 2018 and absolutely loves working with children!

Tatyana Smolen was born in Moscow, Russia where she received her Bachelor of Music Degree at the Musical College of Moscow State Conservatory. She has taught previously at The Philadelphia School as a voice instructor and as a Music Teacher at Gwynedd Friends School and Right Steps Preschool. In addition, she has worked at the Opera Company of Philadelphia Teaching Artist Program where she instructed students in opera, singing, music appreciation, and songwriting. Tatyana has been with SDEDS since its inception in 2018.

Sara Stoltzfus has been with SDEDS since 2021. She is our lead Kindergarten teacher. This will be her 6th  year of teaching. She fell in love with learning in preschool. She graduated from Kutztown University with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary education. She is currently working on her Master’s degree at Kutztown University. She grew up on a farm in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. Her favorite childhood memory was spending hours playing in the creek.

Michele Waters has worked in early childhood education since 2001, spending 12 years as a nanny. Most recently working as a Headstart Teacher at the Berks County Intermediate Unit. She joined SDEDS as the young fours teacher for the 2019-20 school year. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education from Alvernia University and holds a PA Early Childhood N-K Certification. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons, usually watching one of her sons play soccer, football or wrestling. Michele also enjoys hiking, coffee, taking her Saint Bernard for walks, spending time at her favorite beach, Long Beach Island, and she loves everything Disney!

Tina joins SDEDS with over thirteen years of experience working in the early childhood field. She spent the past year as a stay at home mom, helping her children navigate virtual/hybrid learning. Most recently, she taught Kindergarten enrichment at the Wetherill School in Gladwyne. She also taught pre school in Villanova, PA and prior to that she worked in NY for three years teaching Pre-K in lower Manhattan.  Tina lives in Paoli with her husband Chris, their two children, Jackson and Elle and their dog Ruby.

Anne Zabinski is the Gym and Nature Teacher at SDEDS. Anne has been working in Special Education for the past ten years at The Chester County ARC and The Melmark Home as their Program Coordinator for the flower shop and garden program.  Previously, Anne worked at the Upper Main Line YMCA in many roles including; tiny tennis and gymnastics instructor, nature center camp as well as substitute teacher and kinder camp instructor in their pre-school program. Anne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Design from Jefferson University and admits that “creativity has truly been an asset and an advantage in my teaching special ed and children.” In her free time Anne enjoys teaching tennis and yoga, sewing, swimming, biking, visiting her two grown children, going to the beach and taking walks with her husband John and their dog Bella.

Jen Zebro has been working at SDEDS since 2018 and is the Lead Teacher in the Twos classroom. Jen grew up on the Main Line, graduated from Penn State University with a BA in Art History, and transitioned from the corporate world to the education field over eighteen years ago.  She taught preschool and elementary school in New Jersey and worked at Wayne Presbyterian Nursery School before joining the SDEDS team.  She lives locally with her husband, son, daughter and dog and enjoys spending time with friends and family.