Joseph Faitak, lower and middle school math teacher—Joe comes to PDS from Achievement First Bridgeport Academy, a charter school in Connecticut. Previously, he taught math for four years at the West Bronx Academy for the Future, where he also coordinated the school-wide math curriculum and served as school-wide testing and technology coordinator. He began his teaching career as a member of the research faculty at City University of New York at Lehman College, with a variety of responsibilities in the after-school program, from design and implementation of technology-integration curricula to teaching classes in digital filmmaking, computer game design, graphic arts and digital documentary. Joe holds a B.A. from SUNY Fredonia and is completing his M.S. at City College of CUNY.
Amy Miklos, lower school assistant teacher—Amy’s first education experience was as an assistant for multicultural and artistic programming at the Boston Children’s Museum. Her most recent experience includes conducting a writing workshop for fifth graders at Rutgers Preparatory School and substitute assignments at the Randolph School and public schools in the Wappingers and Spackenkill School Districts. She also spent a year teaching English to middle school students in Nagano, Japan, and has coached volleyball, field hockey and lacrosse. Amy is a graduate of Fairfield University with a BA in art history and studio art.
Courtney Woods, after-school/enrichment program director—Courtney is a passionate after-school educator with both co-curricular and classroom experience. She has spent the past two years in Chicago, where she developed and led after-school programs on nutrition and gardening for Americorps and environmental classes for the Chicago Botanic Garden. Previously she was based in Wisconsin, leading summer camp activities for kindergarteners at Hawthorne Elementary School in Madison and teaching for four years in the YMCA after-school program in Middleton. Courtney is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
