Our Team
Kathy Reiss, Director
Kathy has her BA in Psychology from Ithaca College and MS in Higher Education Administration from Syracuse University. She previously worked in Student Activities at Syracuse, as an administrative assistant at a research center at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and as a human resources consultant. Kathy and her husband, Stan, decided to settle in the Boston area, landing not far from Stan’s hometown of Lexington. After their children were born, Kathy spent many years coordinating activities for various groups in which her children were involved, volunteering at their schools, and coaching many hours of soccer, baseball, and softball. Kathy has worked at MWS since 2006, spending time as a teaching assistant in both three- and four-year old classrooms, and as a lead teacher for four year olds. Kathy took on the role of Director in the summer of 2018, and is excited to both help the MWS program evolve to meet the needs of families, and at the same time preserve the unique characteristics that have drawn families back for multiple generations.
Una Gillis, Business Manager
The first person to greet you when you arrive at the school office will most likely be Una Gillis. Her warm smile and Irish voice welcome everyone immediately and signal that Una can’t wait to show off the preschool that she loves. Born in Galway and educated at St Patrick’s College of Education and University College Dublin, Ireland, Una worked as an elementary school teacher in Galway before emigrating to the Boston area in 1994. While working at Claremont Management Corp, managing payables, payroll, HR and property accounting, she completed her degree in Accounting & Finance at UMass Boston in 1999. Una and her husband Kevin have lived in Lexington since 1998 with their four now grown children, all MWS alumni. She has been active locally with LB Youth Hockey, St Brigid’s Parish and Hayden communities for many years. She has worked at MWS since 2005, as a teaching assistant, certified teacher & now as the school’s business manager. We count on her to keep all our numbers straight–banking, billing, budgets & paychecks. We could not function without her head for numbers or her ear for a good story.
Preschool Lead Classroom Teachers
Beth Levine, Lead Teacher
Before becoming a full-time mother, Beth had an interesting career as a research economist. However, when she enrolled her second daughter at MWS in 1988, she became a teaching assistant and the excitement of economics paled in comparison to teaching. She worked as a teaching assistant under every lead teacher at MWS over several years, observed many different teaching styles, and saw how young children develop during their preschool years. In 1999 she became a certified teacher and began teaching a 3-year-old class, in addition to acting as the long-term substitute teacher 2 days a week in a class of pre-K children. In 2006, she became the lead teacher of 2 classes: a 2-day class for young 3’s and a 3-day class for 3’s, which has now evolved into our 5-day flex preschool class. In her spare time, Beth plays the flute in the Lexington Bicentennial Band, is an active member and volunteer at her synagogue, and an avid fan of National Public Radio, public TV, and Freecycle.
Carol Arsenault, Lead Teacher
Carol’s real love of teaching started when she decided to stay at home with her three children. They all attended a preschool much like MWS. Carol had a friend who homeschooled, and she saw how much her friend was able to do with her children. Carol chose to homeschool her own children, and teaching them to read was one of her greatest joys. She had found a new love of teaching, learning, and children’s books.
Carol homeschooled her children for seven years and cared for many other children, including nieces, nephews, and the children of her friends. She also volunteered in her children’s classrooms, on field trips, and in after-school programs when her own children went to public school. These experiences made Carol realize that she wanted to go back to school to become an early childhood teacher. She left her previous career in drafting and engineering behind, and began her new career in early childhood education, and has since spent many years teaching preschoolers at a Head Start program in Central Massachusetts.
When Carol first visited MWS, she knew it was the place for her to continue her career, and we are fortunate that she decided to join our team. Carol brings fresh ideas and perspectives to share wither her new fellow teachers.
Pre-K Lead Classroom Teachers
Jan Phelan, Co-Lead Teacher
Jan’s love of children goes way back to her babysitting days as a teenager. She majored in child psychology and elementary education and then taught 1st grade for four years at various Catholic schools. When she married Bob Phelan, they decided to have a large family and went on to raise five children, four boys and one girl. When her last child graduated from what was then called Methodist Weekday School, Jan wasn’t ready to give up her relationship with the school or the joy of being around preschoolers. So she became part of the teaching staff at MWS–first as a teaching assistant for 1 year and then as a lead teacher. Jan says that being able to help children navigate their young lives gives her such a sense of happiness. Teaching reminds her of the significant difference that an adult can make in the life of a child. Jan’s warm and caring relationship with her students is something that they long remember.
Maggie McGeachie, Co-Lead Teacher
Before having her children, Maggie was a Kindergarten teacher in Arlington. When her son was old enough to enter preschool Maggie began touring preschools in the area. When she visited MWS, she knew it would be a perfect match with its warm environment and its play-based approach to teaching children. While her children were at MWS she became a teaching assistant and decided to stay on in that role after they graduated. After several years as teaching assistant, Maggie accepted a position as Lead Teacher in the Pre-K program. Maggie has a BA from Kenyon College and an MEd from Lesley University.
Rian Chen, Lead Teacher
After leaving her hometown of Portland, Oregon, Rian made her way east with stops in Ohio (B.A. in Political Science from College of Wooster) and western Massachusetts (Masters in Education, UMass Amherst) before landing in metro-Boston. Rian began her career as a high school history teacher.
Rian became part of the MWS community when her youngest child came to MWS in 2019. Rian took advantage of the parent Teaching Assistant program which allowed her to have classroom experience with young children. That, along with having spent a lot of time at playgroups and library story times, helped Rian discover that it was time to make the switch from high school to teaching young children.
Rian spent two years in Guinea, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer, giving her a broad awareness of other cultures. Just as Rian finds awe and wonder when she spends time with her favorite pastime of bird watching, she finds awe and wonder as she watches young children grow.
Teaching Assistants
Tannaz Dotivala, Teaching Assistant
Regina Wiryaman, Teaching Assistant
Gretchen Kind, Teaching Assistant
Beth Catto, Teaching Assistant
Sungran Lee, Teaching Assistant
Caitlin Williams, Teaching Assistant
Paula Stoler, Teaching Assistant
Susan Twomey, Teaching Assistant
Rabiya Uluer, Teacher Aide
Our Specialists
Noriko Wada, Music
Born and raised in Kobe Japan, Noriko worked professionally as a director in many productions of major opera companies in Japan. Since she came to the United States, she has dedicated her professional life to teaching. She has over 20 years experience teaching music and the Japanese language to all ages. She is the mother of three girls ranging in age from middle-school to college. Since the time her middle and youngest daughters attended MWS as preschoolers, Noriko has enjoyed sharing her musical experience and passion with all the children at Methodist Weekday School. It’s wonderful to hear even our youngest students humming and singing music from The Nutcracker, Peter and the Wolf, The Carnival of the Animals and other classical pieces of music. It’s even more amazing to see how quickly they learn musical dynamics because of the playful way Noriko encourages them all to be part of the “Little Musicians Club.”
Tannaz Dotivala, Pre-K Afternoon Enrichment
Tannaz has been with MWS since 2006, when her daughter was a student. She has worked with both Preschool and Pre-K children, but she has a special gift with our youngest students: the ability to get crying children to settle in and grow to love being at school. Tannaz says, “Humor is very important to me. I love this job because I don’t think a single day has gone by when I have not laughed at something the children said or did. I love to see them grow to be independent and confident.” Her role as Enrichment Specialist suits her well because she loves to figure out how things work.
Tannaz hails from Mumbai, India, but has lived in the US since 1994. Tannaz studied psychology and education at Sophia College, affiliated with the University of Mumbai. She has worked as a baker and a literacy tutor (ELS), and is conversationally fluent in five languages. She loves to read, listen to music, cook, travel, and go on nature walks.