Our Approach
At TBA Preschool we strive to teach the whole child. With this in mind, we engage with each of our preschoolers, recognizing their individual learning styles throughout their educational journey. Utilizing a multi-sensory approach, we present the magic of education through stories, songs, dance, art, nature and much more to spark our children’s imaginations. Jewish holidays are celebrated with ruach (spirit) and the values of kindness and tikun olam (healing the earth) are enthusiastically modeled. TBA Preschool is a warm inviting home where your child will learn and grow.
Meet the Team
Amy Naphtali – Director
Miss Amy Naphtali has been the director of Temple Beth Ahm Preschool for the past 20 years. She holds both a BA and MA in Education from the City University of New York, Brooklyn and Staten Island. She began her teaching career at PS 97 in Brooklyn, teaching 2nd, 4th and 5th graders. Once she had children and decided to stay home, she became active at TBA since her children attended preschool there. She was part of the reorganizing committee in 2004 and helped turn around the existing school. She revamped the program, updated the equipment, revitalized the classrooms and created all of the special programs we participate in today. She even won a Solomon Schechter Gold Award for her Tu B’Shevat program. Along the way she learned to play guitar and began practicing yoga, and now teaches both at the preschool. She also runs our Tot Shabbat program which is very popular with families with young children.
Miss Amy has always known she would be an educator and has been working with children since she was practically a child herself. She loves the excitement, sincerity and honesty that young children radiate. Every morning Miss Amy opens the doors and loves watching the children run into school excited to start their day, see their friends, learn new things, and create with their own little hands. Although there are too many to name, two of her favorite children’s books are Dr Seuss’ The Sleep Book and Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. Outside of TBA Preschool Miss Amy loves to travel, read, cook, and spend time with her family and friends.
Jen Butkovic – Assistant Director
Miss Jen holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan and a MS in Speech Language Pathology from Teacher’s College. She was a practicing Speech Language Pathologist for 4 years before having children. Miss Jen attended TBA Nursery school as a child while living in Aberdeen. Many, many years later, living in Laurence Harbor with her husband and 18 month old daughter, she met Miss Amy and her 18 month old son at a music class. Miss Amy encouraged Miss Jen to enroll her daughter in TBA preschool. Soon after she attended Mommy & Me classes with her son who then also attended the preschool. She has been working at Beth Ahm since 2008 as a sub, teacher’s assistant and director’s assistant. She loves wearing different hats in the school while still interacting with the children every day. Her favorite children’s books are anything by Kevin Henkes and the Fancy Nancy series.
Outside of Beth Ahm she loves to read, play games and watch movies with her family.
Nancy Romeo – Kinderprep Teacher
Miss Nancy was inspired to become a teacher at an early age by her own kindergarten teacher. She earned a BA in Education/Communications from Monmouth University in the hopes of making this desire possible. Coming from a family born to do the same, Miss Nancy started her career in 1995 teaching alongside her sister at an elementary school in her hometown of Iselin, NJ. During her 12 year tenure there, Miss Nancy enjoyed many wonderful opportunities as a kindergarten teacher in a school environment that felt more like family. Her main goal as an educator is creating an atmosphere that allows children’s faces to shine with wonder. She aspired to instill this love of learning in a hands-on environment, obtaining grants for hatching chickens, creating a mad scientist curriculum with weekly parent/student experiment opportunities and painting the school hallways with her students. She enjoyed presenting at workshops focused on developing hands-on learning techniques for children as well as supervised programs geared towards incorporating parents in the classroom learning experience, allowing them to implement such learning experiences at home.
Miss Nancy left her school family to raise a family of her own with her husband, a teacher as well. She was fortunate enough to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom and then work part time at the elementary school her son attended, making her two loves, being a mom and an educator, come together. Once her child moved on from his elementary school, Miss Nancy was fortunate enough to find the opportunity to teach at TBA. She once again feels privileged to be part of a special school that feels like family even more. TBA offers an environment that encourages close connections and personal interactions, allowing each child to experience a fulfilling educational opportunity like no other. Miss Nancy is thrilled to have found a place that allows her hands-on learning style of teaching to thrive.
Miss Nancy has a children’s book addiction! From The Monster at the End of this Book to Ish, to Interrupting Chicken and Two Bad Ants, there’s too many greats to choose from. Miss Nancy actually has hopes to one day write a children’s book. Her other loves are gardening, being with her dogs, helping with foster pups when possible, watching her son on the baseball and soccer field with her husband and being with family and friends.
Donna Dwyer – Assistant Teacher
Miss Donna has been an assistant teacher at Temple Beth Ahm since 2022. Miss Donna was born and raised in Secaucus NJ. Prior to joining Temple Beth Ahm, she spent five years working at the Monmouth County SPCA where her passion for working with cats helped enrich the lives of many, many feline friends. She loves working with children because they always make her laugh and puts a smile on her face. Her favorite children’s book is Corduroy by Don Freeman because it teaches the values of true friendship and a forever home.
Outside of school, Miss Donna likes to spend time as a volunteer at the Monmouth County SPCA. She also enjoys watching hockey, going to live music events and spending time with her husband and her own two cats.
Kerry Mullen – Thriving Three’s Teacher
Miss Kerry holds a BA in Education from St. Joseph’s college with a two year concentration in Early Childhood Education. Before coming to TBA in 2016, she taught a 3 year old program in Brooklyn for 6 years. Miss Kerry takes great joy in watching the social, emotional and cognitive development of her students throughout the preschool years, it really is amazing!
Brown Bear, Brown Bear what Do You See? is one of her favorite children’s books because after reading it she eventually gets to see the children “reading” it on their own. At home Kerry enjoys time with her family and trying out new recipes.
Pilar Seltzer – Assistant Teacher
Miss Pilar has been an assistant teacher for the past 22 years, working at Temple Beth Ahm since 2009. Before that she worked at Temple Rodeph Torah and Temple Beth Shalom. She loves to see the children’s curiosity and enthusiasm when they come into school. Her favorite children’s book is When You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff.
Outside of school she loves to cook, ride her bike, read and spend time with her children, husband and dog. Once a week she volunteers at the Freehold Food Pantry. She is looking forward to her new job as a grandma this year!
Alycia Shapiro – Terrific Two’s Teacher
Miss Alycia holds a BA in English with a concentration in Education from Kean University. She began her career teaching in both the pubic and private school systems before taking a break to raise her own two children. She returned to the classroom in 2014 and has been teaching two year olds ever since. She joined TBA in 2022 as a substitute and took over her own class in 2024. She loves to watch her students grow and become more independent throughout the school year.
Miss Alycia’s favorite children’s book is The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. When not teaching she likes to travel, read, go on walks and spend time with her family.
Jaime Mazur – Assistant Teacher
Miss Jaime holds an AA Degree in Social Science and Humanities. Before having children she worked as an Account Service Representative at a credit union. She moved to Manalapan in 2001 and chose to be a stay at home mom to raise her three children. This is her fourth year as an Assistant Teacher. She taught one year at another preschool and began teaching at TBA in 2022. She loves working with the two year olds and watching their personalities and interests develop. Her favorite children’s book is Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.
In her spare time she enjoys cooking, the gym, and spending time with her husband, children, dogs and especially her one year old Grandson.
Marian Szteinbaum – Terrific Two’s Teacher
Miss Marian holds a BA in Early Childhood Education and a MS in the Teaching of Reading, both from The City University of New York/Brooklyn College. She began her career as an Assistant Teacher at The Berkeley Carroll Street School in Brooklyn and then became a Head Teacher for Head Start, also in Brooklyn. After working at Head Start for six years, she took some time off to raise her kids. When she went back to work, she started as the Mommy and Me teacher at her synagogue in Metuchen, Neve Shalom. For many years while her children were young, she was also the Tot Shabbat teacher at the synagogue. Eventually she became the teacher for the three year old class, where she remained for many years until the school closed amidst the Covid pandemic. Still wanting to work, she discovered TBA, where she has been happily teaching the two year old class for the last four years. Miss Marian loves the kids and the families at TBA!
She has three children and two grandchildren. With her husband, she loves to travel, especially to Israel to visit their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. Miss Marian also loves to bake. During the pandemic, she learned how to bake challah, which she is still working to perfect!
Stacey Brill – Assistant Teacher
Miss Stacey was born and raised in Brooklyn where her passion working with preschoolers began. At age 25 she moved to Staten Island and became an assistant preschool teacher for 2 and 3 year olds, where she met her husband – fate bringing them together when she was his nephew’s preschool teacher. She went on to work in Early Intervention as a service coordinator setting up and maintaining children’s therapy programs. She was then blessed enough to become a stay at home mom. Miss Stacey moved to Aberdeen 15 years ago, discovered TBA Preschool for her 2 year old daughter and instantly fell in love with the school, program and staff. Their daughter thrived, as did their son when they joined the Mommy & Me class. She missed it so much after her kids graduated that she wanted to come back. She feels fortunate to be part of the TBA preschool. She thoroughly loves walking into the classroom and learning new things from the kids every day. Their laughter is contagious. Her favorite children’s book is The Napping House by Audrey Wood. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family, DIYing and cooking.
Kim Kaufman – Mommy & Me Teacher
Miss Kim holds a BA in Applied Psychology and Human Relations from Pace University and a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources from NYU. She was a Manager of Human Resources at Madison Square Garden for 7 years before having children. She has worked at TBA Preschool as an assistant sub since 2019. Miss Kim became the Mommy & Me teacher in October 2021. She loves playing, singing, and running around like a toddler. Miss Kim’s favorite books are anything by Mo Willems and encourages reading out loud in different voices.
Outside of TBA Preschool Miss Kim loves to read, spend time with her children, husband, and family. She is very active in the Temple Beth Ahm community as well at the Colts Neck PTO.