Wendy Masserman is the Executive Director of For Kids Only.

Wendy has her Degree in Elementary Education from the State University College at Buffalo and has been in the teaching profession for over 30 years.  She and her husband Bruce, built and opened For Kids Only in September 1996. 

Wendy is a hands-on administrator, spending time with the school-agers, giving homework help and running the cook n’ eat group.  She also enjoys spending time with the preschool children.  Wendy and her family have  been residents of Ossining since 1981.

Karen Pena ran a child care program for staff at Clearview School in Briarcliff before joining For Kids Only in 2002.  She began part-time in our school-age program.  The following year, she worked full time both as a teaching assistant in our preschool program and in our school age program (running our successful homework club). 

She completed courses in School Age Care I & II at Westchester Community College and received her School Age Care Credential.  She is attending Westchester Community College in Early Childhood Education.  She has been Assistant Director since 2005 and was recently promoted to Director. 

Lori Conklin joined our staff in 2003 as co-teacher in our 3 & 4 year old program.  At that time she had been in the field of child care for over 9 years, both as a nanny and in a day care center setting. 

She was instrumental in helping us develop our Terrific Twos program and has been teaching our 2s since the program’s inception, in 2006. She also helped design and co-teaches in our afternoon Pre-K enrichment program.

Bonnie Czerniak has been with For Kids Only since we opened our doors in 1996, when  she took on the role of chief cook.  Prior to joining us, Bonnie taught cooking to children in community centers and at Camp Discovery.  Ask any of the children who makes the best tacos and the answer will be “Bonnie”. 

She also enjoys helping in the classroom throughout the day and is especially good at soothing the children to sleep at nap time.

Debbie Paesano has worked at For Kids Only for since 1998.  She began as a part time assistant in the kitchen.  Debbie soon became more active in the classroom and in 2001 decided to join us full time. 

She has since successfully completed School Age Care I & II at Westchester Community College. 

Debbie runs our school age arts and crafts program.

Arlene Palazzalo started working at For Kids Only over the summers, while she attended Mitchell College. 

After she graduated in 2007 with a concentration in Early Childhood Education, she took a position as head teacher of a Pre K class in an area day care center.

Arlene returned to us in 2008 to coordinate our school age program. We were glad to welcome her back

Diane Rayburn-Heaney came to For Kids Only in 1999, on a part time basis.  She soon joined us as a full time teaching assistant and has been here ever since, working in our preschool program. 

It is great fun to watch Diane as she takes the role of airline captain on our pretend flights to Hawaii, Africa and Mexico. 

On our trip to Treasure Island, she donned her eye patch and had a parrot on her shoulder as she commandeered the ship (playground jungle gym).  Diane also helped design and co-teaches in our new Pre-K enrichment program.

Rachel Shactel began working in our school age program in June of 2004.  She left and returned in 2006 leaving again for maternity leave when she gave birth to Kyla. 

Rachel is enrolled in Westchester Community College’s Early Childhood Education program and is the head teacher in our PreK class. 

Her enthusiasm and love of learning keeps the children at For Kids Only involved and happy each day.