Our Team
Our educators and administrators are the backbone of everything we do at Les Petits Francophones. We couldn't be here without them. The majority of our team is Francophone and most are multi-lingual adding a richly diverse mosaic to the school and its celebrated diversity. Each classroom comprises of at least one anglophone and one francophone educator.
Laetitia Medrano, Executive Director
Laetitia joined our team as Interim Executive Director/Director of Education Development in June 2021 and was promoted to Executive Director in September 2021. Her role primarily focuses on programmatic development and teacher development, as well as supporting school operations. Native from France, Laetitia moved to Canada after her master degree in Social Studies. She lived in Canada in many places, for 12 years, from the East Coast to the West Coast. Teaching was her passion, so she went back to the University of Ottawa to get her Bachelor of Education. Hired by Vancouver School Board, she worked with children from grade 2 to grade 5 and became Head teacher. Seeking new opportunities, she decided to move to California and worked in Oakland for the past 3 years in a Francophone school. Always looking for new challenges, she joined Les Petits Francophones' Board as Secretary in October 2020. Mom of two children, an 8 years old girl and a 13 years old boy, she loves cooking and enjoy outdoors activities! Dedicated to provide the best in education, Laetitia also loves creating inclusive projects and enrichment activities.
Prenties Shade Brown, Assistant Director
Prenties Shade joined LPF in November 2021. Prenti`es means, forever young in French Creole. In 2006, Shade met Bruce D. Perry M.D, PH. D who is a psychiatrist and clinician and researcher in Children’s mental health and neurosciences. After being a part of Bruce volunteer group to help children recover from Trauma from Hurricane Katerina, Shade decided to become a teacher. She has been working in Early Childhood Education for over 15 years now. Her background experiences are working with Children with special needs, Traumatized children, and other at-risk communities throughout California. Not only has she worked with Bruce D. Perry before, she has also worked closely with Deb Curtis who is the co-author of 10 or more books related to working with young children. She has both a bachelors and a master's degree. In the future, she hopes she will get her PH.D. Her mission is to help students build positive connections and feel confident enough to advance their learning. Shade received The Graduate Award for Distinguished Achievement at San Francisco State University in 2020.
Mai Yu, Teacher, English Canards' teacher
Madame Mai joined LPF in August 2022. Born in Laos and lived in Thailand for a couple of years, she moved to the US and start working with children. She was an Early Head Start infant assistant teacher and toddler teacher for more than 10 years.
She really enjoys exercising, swimming, cooking , gardening, and spending time with her family.
Laurence Young, Francophone Canards' teacher
Laurence joined LPF in July 2019. She is originally from Brittany, France. She currently lives in Dublin, CA. Laurence worked as a French Teacher in Raleigh, NC and over the last three years has been working diligently towards her AA in Early Childhood Education. She has been living in the US for 18 years. She previously lived in Arizona and North Carolina. She is married and has two daughters. She likes spending time with her husband and daughters, playing board games, going to the movies, and especially exploring local areas. She enjoys reading historic based fiction, as well as non-fictional accounts of France’s history. She spent one year leading our 3-4 years old class and since September 2021, she has been leading the toddlers' classroom.
Emily Millot, Francophone Canetons' teacher
Emily joined LPF in March of 2022. She has worked for three years as an assistant preschool teacher in Oakland, California. She initially went to school to pursue a career as a social worker but put it on hold to raise a family. She has dedicated the last twenty eight years to raising three sons, all of whom have graduated from the French American International School and are currently embracing adulthood. She recently returned to school to attain her Associate Teacher Certificate and is deeply committed to the education of children for future generations.
Antoinette Chaplin, Lead Abeilles' teacher
Antoinette joined LPF's team in July 2022. Born in San Francisco and brought up to Oakland, she had been working with children for the past eight years. Antoinette's emphasis is to support and develop children's social emotional need, and help them recognize their feeling, and guiding them in finding ways to express themself in a safe manner. Her goal is to be able to help children learn and grow into a wonderful person! She is thankful for working here with your children.
Antoinette has a dog named Jack and when she is not working she enjoys spending time with her family, practicing drawing and doing cosplay.
Nathalie Steinmetz, Francophone Abeilles' teacher
Nathalie joined our team as a Teacher Aide in September 2021, and is a credentialed ECE teacher since May 2022. Nathalie is a French native, born on the beautiful island of Corsica (France). She is mother of 4 now teenagers and we 2 cats. She really enjoys cooking, baking, spending time at the beach, and gardening. Also, she loves fashion! But more than anything, what makes her happy, is to laugh, talk and spend time with her children and the people she loves.
For most of her adult life, she has been a stay-at-home mom, and now, she is bringing her passion for education on a professional journey.
Imaan Safi-Eddine, Francophone Poissons' teacher
Imaan joined LPF in May 2023 as a credentialed teacher. Imaan was born in San Francisco to French and
Moroccan parents. She attended French immersion school for most of her life, and it’s a big part of
her upbringing that she cherishes. She was a nanny for 3 years and decided that she wanted to pursue a
certification in early childhood education, because she is passionate about working with children
and giving them a space to express themselves and their creativity. She is currently pursuing a
bachelor’s degree in art history. In her free time, she enjoys painting and reading. She loves spending
time by the ocean and visiting museums, as well.
.jpeg)
Valerie Rubino, Lead Teacher Poissons
Valerie joined the LPF team in July 2023. She was born in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. From a young age, she knew she had a passion for working with children. Previously, she worked with children with special needs for 2 years before starting her career as a preschool teacher. She grew up taking care of her cousins from birth to 10 years. Valerie received her Bachelor's in Psychology from CSUMB in 2020. She looks forward to helping our children grow into amazing bright stars.
.jpeg)
Rodquel Branch, Lead Teacher for Canetons-Canards
Rockie is so excited to be joining the Les Petits Francophones Preschool community since June 2023. She has been working in the field for ten years now, six of those years being in a twos toddler room. It is such a joy to sing and laugh with them and watch them grow and she cannot wait to learn and meet the needs of each individual child in the classroom. She is currently also finishing her final year at Laney where she is studying Child Development with an expectant transfer date of Fall 2024! When she is not studying or working, she enjoys art and nature with her children. They are 6 and 9 and her inspiration to continue diving deeper into her chosen field of education!
Nestor Alvarado, Physical Education - Outdoor play teacher
Nestor joined LPF in July 2023. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he has now lived in Oakland most of his life serving at over 100 schools as a tutor and teacher assistant. With over a decade of experience as an educator in settings including Montessori schools, immersion schools and all three Stanford preschools, his mission is to bring the best learning experience to his local community. He is a marathon runner with a passion for art and literature. His goal is to inspire students to create a better future and follow their dreams.
.jpeg)
Sharifeh Asthiani Moghaddam, Substitute teacher
Sharifeh joined LPF's team as a substitute teacher in November and became a Part time teacher in January 2022. She is a graduate in the field of Psychology with more than 17 years of experience working at the level of high school in Iran. She always dreamed about working with children related to her educational background. Therefore, she studied Child development and obtained her master teacher permit. She has more than 6 years of experience in working with children and she found that her dream has come true. Working in Early Childhood Education is a wonderful experience and she learned that teaching and working with children is coming to her naturally. Her only desire is to keep working in the same field.
Morgane Bhatt, Francophone Substitute Teacher
Morgane joined our team in August 2021 as a Teacher Assistant. Morgane graduated in December 2021 and she is now our house substitute teacher. Morgane is a French Native and has worked in a french-speaking pre-school for the last three years. Morgane moved to California six years ago. In France, she worked for the National Center of Scientific Research as a human resource manager. When she moved to California, she became a French tutor and volunteered at French preschool, which led her to decide to pursue a career in Early Childhood Education. She is the proud mother of twins who are also attending Les Petits Francophones. Morgane also has over 30 years of high-level competitive fencing experience, including silver and bronze medals at the USA National Championship (in Women Foil Veteran).