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Children ages 2-5 will find a fun and enriching experience at Meekins. Each class is taught by a teacher with long ties to the Meekins family.
* Children do not need to be potty trained to attend Meekins.
All of our teachers have excellent experience and a long commitment to the Meekins community. Below are brief teacher biographies.
Alicia Jarman
My association with Meekins goes back a long way. In 1984, my son, David, entered the Meekins two-year-old class. Meekins remains, to this day, his favorite school. Two years later my younger son, Gregory, became a part of Meekins as well. Co-oping was our way of life and we loved it. During the 1988-89 school year I had the opportunity to teach the Meekins two-year-old program. At the end of that school year my husband, Rick, was transferred to Rochester, N.Y. We lived there for four years. While in Rochester, I developed educational programs for church youth groups (5-7 year olds). I also designed and implemented a read aloud program for two year olds at the public library in our town. I am about to begin my twelfth year teaching Meekins’ four-year-olds. I have to say that I have fun every day. I love children of all ages but the fourth year has always been a favorite time. The children are growing and learning so much and so quickly that it’s a pleasure to be with them. I enjoy the challenge of opening new doors for these children and I appreciate the education that they give me. I have a BS degree in Education from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and have attended workshops, seminars and conferences focusing on early Childhood Education with various organizations, NVCC and at UVA. I also take full credit college courses on a regular basis. These courses address many early childhood issues and keep me up to date on current legislation, trends in early childhood education and current thoughts on developmentally appropriate practice. For the last two summers I have tutored in an intensive reading program for children who have difficulties reading. This is a bit different than my usual routine and I like it very much. During the school year I continue to tutor a few children in reading as well. My husband, Rick, works for Eastman Kodak and he travels a fair amount of time. David is 22 and he is in a Master’s Degree program at Longwood University where he is majoring in Special Education. Greg is 20 and a business major at UVA-Wise. When I have some time to myself, I enjoy reading, gardening, cooking, music, jogging/walking, dance and theater. Meekins is a great place to be and I truly feel lucky to be a part of it.
Cindy Burney M4/5 Aide
The love of travel never left me and for years I made it my career and passion working in the travel industry. After getting married and living on Capitol Hill for many happy years, our hearts led us to Russia to start our family. There were two beautiful babies who wanted a forever Mommy and Daddy. Hence my introduction to the world of cooperative preschools. On Capitol Hill we were members of a strictly parent run two year old cooperative school where the parents were actually the "teachers" on duty. Our family then moved to Vienna and once we met the Meekins gang looked no further for a preschool home for the kids. We were enthralled and absolutely hooked. To this day, my children still ask about their teachers at Meekins and are simply giddy with the idea of their Mom working there. For the past two years I have been tutoring kindergarten children in phonemic awareness at Mosby Woods elementary. Our family has been volunteering as a puppy raiser for the Guiding Eyes for the Blind and successfully raised one to work with a beautiful sight impaired lady who lives in Kansas. I love to paint, quilt and cook gourmet dinners. I am very excited to work with and be a part of the Meekins family. I came to Meekins about 23 years ago. My oldest child was to be in the fours class. I never considered another preschool. I wanted to share in my child's preschool experience, as only a coop allows! There is no place to compare with Meekiins. My sons are 27, 25 and 18 now. They all grew up and had to leave the nurturing guidance of Meekins but I never did! So Meekins has been home to me for 23 years. I graduated from Madison College, now J.M.U., with a BS in Early Childhood Education. I took some Special Education courses at George Mason and worked for several years in the children's' room of Fairfax County Library before I began teaching. I taught kindergarten or first grade until my children were born and I stayed home until it was time for preschool! I've lost track over the years of which ages I worked with during which years at Meekins. I love them all, but I have to say that the Threes are my favorite age! I taught the Twos for eight years and enjoyed every minute of it. Then I moved to the Threes and liked it even more. They are lively, affectionate and utterly delightful to be with! It is a joy to watch them grow and discover. As the months roll by, I watch their personalities emerge and their confidence and independence develop. And I marvel at how much they change in one year! M2/3 Aide
My experience working with small children began with my family. I was born in Mokpo, Korea the seventh of ten children and the oldest girl, where I assisted in the care of my two younger brothers and younger sister. After high school, I moved to Seoul and lived there for twenty years with my aunt and uncle who resided with their second son and his wife. During this time, I assisted in the raising on my niece and nephew. I graduated from Shin Heung Health College with an associate's degree as a lab technician. Afterwards, I worked eighteen years for the Seoul City Government Public Health Center conglomerate as a lab technician, eventually becoming a lab supervisor. During this time, my duties involved interacting with people from all walks of life, including children. I married my husband, Charles Buxton, in May of 1996. Upon the birth of Anna in January 2000, we both retired and then moved to Vienna, my husband's hometown, in November of 2000. For the past several years, I have taken classes in childhood development from the Korean American Family Counseling Center of Tysons Corner. I am grateful to be working at the F.B. Meekins Preschool, as it has significantly enhanced my integration into American society through the close interaction with children, parents and staff. Also, the school is located two blocks from my house, so I am able to visit the M3 class pet, Miss Piggy, when she is alone at school on the weekends.
I grew up in Sharon, Massachusetts as the oldest of 4 children. I had always considered teaching or some type of human services field as a career choice. I graduated from William and Mary with a degree in Psychology, and followed that with a Masters degree in Special Education from George Mason University. I have worked with children with disabilities in many different settings: preschool special education classrooms here in Fairfax County, preschoolers with Autism in Massachusetts, even kids with severe disabilities in England for a summer. Although my students had special needs, I saw them first and foremost as young children and tried to provide them with typical preschool activities and experiences, so the developmentally appropriate approach that Meekins uses is second nature to me. Teaching special ed also taught me that everyone can participate in every activity and that everyone learns something from every activity and that setting up the environment to allow children to learn is more successful than just telling them what they need to know. We love living in Vienna. It reminds me of the small town I grew up in, where there was a feeling of belonging and community that we could sense, even as children. Meekins gives me that same feeling—its small size and parent involvement make it like a second family for the children (and the parents, too). I am excited about being part of such a wonderful community.
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I
grew up in Maryland in a house always filled with lots of books and plenty of
discussion. I developed an intense love of reading and spent much of my
childhood with my nose in a book. I received my BA from a small college in
Annapolis, MD called St. John’s. It’s curriculum of reading the great books of
Western literature and discussing them in seminar style classes which respect
that everyone has valuable ideas to offer was right up my alley. I married a
fellow St. Johnny and we have two children. While staying home with my older
child in DC and again when we moved to Maryland, I provided childcare for one
child the same age as my son. We moved to Vienna ten years ago and again I took
on the care of a child my son’s age. His name is Jesse. He and my son have been
best friends ever since. When I learned that Jesse had learning difficulties, I
began to tutor him and have worked with his parents, teachers, and other
professionals to give him the help he needs. Jesse has become part of the
family.
I was born
in Germany and lived in Japan as a very young girl; being raised in a military
family can have it's advantages. Our family soon moved to Northern
Virginia where we stayed and I consider my home.
My
association with Meekins began in 2002 when my daughter Elizabeth Ann (Anna)
enrolled in the M2 class. In November of 2004, while Anna was enrolled in the M5
class, I was invited to join the Meekins staff as the M2 aide, while continuing
my parent cooperative duties. Beginning in the 2005-2006 school year, I was
given the additional staff duty of teacher liaison. Starting in the 2007-2008
school year, I will be the teacher's aide for both the M2 and M3 classes.
When
we moved to Vienna a few years ago, I started searching for a preschool for our
then 2 year old daughter, Amelia. When I found Meekins, I knew the search
was over. I was especially impressed that the Meekins curriculum was
play-based, rather than teacher-led. In our overly competitive area, I know that
there is a lot of pressure to push our kids to succeed, but I believe that
leading kids rather than pushing them makes for happier kids and better learning
outcomes in the long run. Amelia entered the threes class the next year
and loved every minute of her time at Meekins. When I was in the
classroom, I could see that every child was busy with a chosen activity and that
all the children were learning something all the time. When Amelia entered
Kindergarten, she was well-prepared for the challenge of learning academic
skills. Her younger sister Tallie is now enjoying her own Meekins
experience and expanding her own horizons.