Mrs. Binder received her Bachelor's degree in Individual and Family Studies from Kent State University in 1997. She has worked as an early childhood educator and social worker within various organizations throughout Cleveland. Mrs. Binder enjoys all genres of music and singing. She began working at The Music Settlement in 2020

Kate Burleigh has worked with children, others and her own, for the past two decades. When she is not enjoying time with kids, Kate loves to read, be with friends and family and practice her ukulele. Kate is a believer in good humor and lifelong learning.

Mr. Carr started his career as a high school science teacher after receiving a degree from The University of Cincinnati. After staying home with his three children, he is happy to be sharing a love of learning at The Music Settlement.

All classes attend drama once each week in the Large Muscle Room to explore character role play, storytelling, and games, with the exception of the 2-day morning.

Exploring and appreciating the art of drama allows children to emerge a number of different skills essential for child development. Drama provides children with another vehicle to express ideas and feelings. Children will use words, manipulate tools and media, and solve problems. Drama teaches eye contact, listening skills, voice projection, and body language but most importantly self-confidence.

It’s simple: preschool age children intrinsically learn about themselves and the varying roles in society through day to day dramatic/imaginary play. When children engage in dramatic play, they deepen their understanding of the world and develop skills that will serve them throughout their lives. When humans play, more often than not they have fun. When humans have fun acquiring knowledge becomes effortless. The goal of drama class is to develop a curriculum using “structured dramatic play” in order to tap into these natural tendencies so they can better learn about themselves and others, and how they connect to all living and nonliving things in life.

Ms. Monica Dieter started as a parent at The Music Settlement and now teaches Morning Preschool in Ohio City. She has a degree from Kent State, 8 years’ experience in early childhood education, and a strong Montessori background. In her spare time, you can find her and her daughters sipping coffee and chocolate milk at Rising Star with a stack of good books or playing in the Metroparks!

Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Dara is the mother of 3 young men. She has over 25 years of experience in Early Childhood .

She is grateful to join the TMS family, sharing her gifts and heart with amazing little humans and their families.

Ms. Kellee Etheridge earned a degree in business management from University of Phoenix in 2014. She has been with The Music Settlement for 15 years. Kellee is also a personal chef with her own event planning and catering service. Kellee enjoys spending time with family and friends when she has free time.

Education

Amy Fischer, through her career, has worked with children from ages 3 to 13. She finds Early Childhood to be a true joy as they are the most honest humans. It’s a gift to be part of a child’s educational journey.

Clare graduated from Cleveland State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She has worked with young children in home, school, and daycare settings for many years and has lived in Cleveland since 2002.

Classrooms attend Library once each week, for story-time and an understanding of how a library works.

Mrs. Guilmette joined The Music Settlement in 2002 as a substitute teacher in Early Childhood. After years of supporting Preschool and Day School classrooms as well as the Early Childhood office, Donna began her current role as Library Specialist in the fall of 2010. Her daughter also attended TMS as a preschooler.

Donna will work with classroom teachers to develop ways to best introduce literature and literacy to each class. This may involve traditional story times both in the library and in the classroom as well as literacy activities and activities related to using the resources available in a library.

Donna welcomes input regarding the resources we purchase for our library. If your family has a specific book that introduces cultural traditions which you think would be an asset to our library, please let her know.

Jessie Hattier moved to Cleveland in 2000 to obtain her M.S. in Biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University. Since graduation she has been working in the sciences, and has had the opportunity to teach people of all ages and backgrounds. Her greatest and most challenging job to date has been raising two highly inquisitive daughters. They have led her to her true passion for teaching young children.

Karen Heitlinger has worked in early childhood at The Music Settlement since 1999. She was initially a classroom instructor and in 2005 moved into the role of Administrator of the Preschool/Day School programs. In 2014, Karen was named Chair of the Center for Early Childhood.

She is a Registered Art Therapist and holds a Master’s degree in Art Therapy from Ursuline College, and Bachelor’s degrees in Child Psychology and Art Education from The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Karen has more than 20 years' experience working with children in a variety of roles; As a classroom instructor, an art therapist, and as a director of expressive arts programs for children and families at Ursuline College and Ruffing Montessori’s summer camp. Children’s joy is what draws her to the field of early childhood: the thrill of discovery, the wonder of new experience, and the honesty of new challenges. She is dedicated to being a resource to children, families, and educators.

Education

Anne Hickman joined The Music Settlement staff in 2010 and has more than 25 years of teaching experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Cleveland State University and a Master's Degree in Reading Instruction from Notre Dame College. Anne loves spending time with her family, cooking, gardening, and traveling with her husband.

Jessica Matoney Johnson began teaching at The Music Settlement in 2012. She graduated from Notre Dame College with a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood. She arrived at TMS with two years of teaching experience at a inclusion preschool. Mrs. Johnson enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and loves learning and experiencing new things with the children in her classroom.

I am in my 3rd year teaching at The Music Settlement. This year I am teaching Kindergarten in Ohio City. This is a new and exciting year for me. I have been teaching early childhood for over 20 years. I enjoy reading, cooking and the beach!! I am a mom to a beautiful teenage daughter, and we have a little dog, Teddy!

I am thrilled to be in my 14th year as a teacher with The Music Settlement (TMS). My current favorite role is being your child's Social Emotional Learning teacher. I also support teachers as an Intervention Specialist when our little one's feelings get big and confusing. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree from Marquette University. My five grown children are TMS alumni and often come back to visit me, my husband, and my furry pal, Luna, in Cleveland Heights.

Lisa Huisman Koops, Ph.D., Music & Movement teacher, is also an associate professor of music education at Case Western Reserve University. She specializes in early childhood music, elementary general music, and world music education. Her research focuses on the vital role of the family in optimizing early childhood music development and education; additional research interests include international models for children’s music education with a focus on The Gambia, West Africa and inclusionary models of early childhood music education for children with disabilities. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Music Education from Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan).

Koops has taught general music in Zeeland (Michigan) Public Schools as well as early childhood music at Michigan State University’s Community Music School. She has presented research in the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, and liturgical music and has published articles in Journal of Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, Early Childhood Education Journal, Contributions to Music Education, Perspectives: the Journal of the Music and Movement Association, Music Educators Journal, Journal of Music Teacher Education, TRIAD, Audie, and The Hymn. Koops has also contributed chapters to the Oxford Handbook of Children’s Music Cultures (Oxford, 2012) and Learning from Young Children: Research in Early Childhood Music (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2011).

Koops is the recipient of an ACES+ grant (2013), UCITE Nord Grant (2012), a Glennan Fellowship (2008), a Worldwide Learning Environment grant (2008), and two W. P. Jones Presidential Faculty Development awards (2010, 2012) at Case Western Reserve University. She won an “Excellence in Teaching” citation from Michigan State University (2006) and was a 2009 nominee for the CWRU Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Koops recently served as a consultant for The Cleveland Orchestra’s “Musical Neighborhoods” 3-year early childhood music initiative funded by PNC Bank’s Grow Up Great program and conducts workshops for early childhood and elementary teachers.

Kirsten Radivoyevitch has been working with families, parents, and children for over 30 years as a Teacher, Director, and Parent Educator. She is currently a SPARK Parent Partner and an adjunct faculty member in the early childhood education department at Cuyahoga Community College. As a mother of four children, she has gotten a lot of practice using Conscious Discipline to keep her emotional responses in check while guiding others in working through their big feelings.

Dawn Ray-Novak comes to The Music Settlement with 15 years of children and education experience, serving those with developmental disabilities, and 9 years of business, manager, and supervisor experience. Prior to joining TMS in the spring of 2018 Dawn was privileged to stay at home and raise her son and watch him grow. As her son completed his 3rdand final year at the Music Settlement, Dawn takes his place and hopes to gain as much wisdom and comradery from her co-workers as her son did from his teachers.

My name is Andrea Searcy and I have been working with children in several capacities since 2014, from providing child care services to tutoring. I managed a summer youth program turned year-long program at a local non-profit up until 2021. I received my Associate's of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education from Tri-C in December 2021 and am currently working on my Bachelor's degree at Cleveland State.

Marcia Seketa has a B.A. in Early Childhood Education and an A.A.S. in Early Childhood Education, with an Ohio Teaching License (Preschool - 3rd Grade). She previously worked at The Music Settlement for 6 years before moving to Las Vegas in 2008 to teach. She returned to Cleveland in 2017 and is happy to be back teaching again at The Music Settlement!

After receiving her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Kent State University, Libby Steiner started working with the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services as a social worker. During her 7 years with CCDCFS, she obtained my Masters in Early Childhood Education from Cleveland State University. She was a substitute teacher at Communion of Saints School for two years. In her spare time, she loves taking cycling and yoga classes as well as reading and spending time with her husband, son, and daughter.

Mrs. Stovicek joined The Music Settlement's Center for Early Childhood team in 2020. She has worked in early childhood education for 13 years. She has a passion for teaching young children and loves to watch them learn and grow. Her hobbies include cycling, gardening, and spending time outdoors.

My name is Taylor Toth. This will be my fourth year at The Music Settlement. I have my associate’s degree in early childhood. I am currently working on my Bachelor's in Education at Cleveland State University. I love being an aunt to my nephews and niece. I spend most of my free time with them.

Mrs. Wead is a Board Certified Music Therapist who holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Kent State University in Music Education and Performance and a Master’s Degree in Early Music Performance from Indiana University. As a Music Therapist, she has worked with clients of varying diagnoses and ages but has specialized in working in early childhood. She has facilitated ArtsNPlay, a social skills play group for young children as well as Read to the Beat, a literacy based early childhood group. As an Educator, she has enjoyed teaching private flute lessons and substitute teaching at the Music Settlement. In her spare time, Mrs. Wead loves spending time making music with her husband, young son, and their two greyhounds.

Education

Debbie Volker is a graduate of Bowling Green State University. She has been with The Music Settlement since 2009. She has three boys who were all once preschoolers themselves here at The Music Settlement. Mrs. Volker enjoys being outdoors and spending time with her family.

I have been teaching for 24 years and am starting my 5th year at The Music Settlement. I have a BA and master’s in Education from Ursuline College. I am looking forward to a fantastic year teaching PreK!