Step One School

Celebrating Throwback Thursday with a photo of this teacher who has been at Step One since 2000 😊 Answer on the next slide!

Just a few of the beautiful Room 2 self portraits inspired by Kehinde Wiley ❤️

The 2024-25 school year is well underway! Our staff is so lucky that we get to spend our days with your children ❤️

Step One has just a few spaces in our 2023-24 preschool program for 3-5 year olds!

Mardi Gras was a blast! Thank you Cal Band for getting the party started!

Friday Reunions

Sue would love to see you before she retires! The Friday reunions are an opportunity for you and your Step One alum students to visit campus (including classrooms) and meet our new ED, Susana Casher! Join friends from your Step One era or pick the date that works best for you.

April 22: Families from 1981-1991
May 6: Families from 1991-2001
May 20: Families from 2001- 2011
June 3: Families from 2011 to Today

RSVP:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOmFOmuXURB9URbUp7Y6fGZF-J8Cfg43TvGZXcw1iCR79sUQ/viewform

rsvp required
5:30-7:30 pm at Step One
Wine & Bites * Masks required

Please see the wonderful article about Sue in Berkleyside from last week:

‘I’ll miss all of it’: After four decades, co-founder of Berkeley Hills preschool is retiring Sue Britson launched the Step One School on Spruce Street in 1981 as a place for young Berkeley kids to learn through play. Now generations of families are saying goodbye.

Step One Friday Reunions

Sue would love to see you before she retires! The Friday reunions are an opportunity for you and your Step One alum students to visit campus (including classrooms) and meet our new ED, Susana Casher! Join friends from your Step One era or pick the date that works best for you.

5:30-7:30 pm at Step One
Wine & Bites * Masks required

April 22: Families from 1981-1991
May 6: Families from 1991-2001
May 20: Families from 2001- 2011
June 3: Families from 2011 to Today

RSVP REQUIRED:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOmFOmuXURB9URbUp7Y6fGZF-J8Cfg43TvGZXcw1iCR79sUQ/viewform

Dear Step One Community,

The Board of Trustees is thrilled to announce that Susana Casher will be the next Executive Director of Step One School! Susana will begin the new role in August at the start of our 2022-23 school year, upon Sue Britson’s retirement.

Susana is well known to Step One, as she has held the position of Program Director at the school for the past nine years. As Program Director, Susana has been responsible for supervision of all classroom programs, teachers, and children, including oversight of parent communication, observation and assessment of children, and support of curriculum development and implementation. Susana holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. Prior to Step One, she worked as a Play Therapist for children in the Head Start program at Habitot Children’s Museum in Berkeley, developing parent education programs, as well as with Life is Good Playmakers, supporting preschool teachers in implementing therapeutic play in their classrooms.

We selected Susana for this role after an extensive national search, which yielded more than 20 candidates. Throughout this process, Susana continually impressed us with her deep knowledge of the school and the Step One community, her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, her capable management style and her enthusiastic vision for the future of Step One.

While we can’t wait to begin working with Susana in her new role, we also want to acknowledge the incredible legacy and achievements of our retiring Founding Director, Sue Britson. We look forward to celebrating Sue’s retirement with you all in the months to come. Please read on below for notes from Sue and Susana.


A note from Sue:

“I am beyond thrilled to congratulate our wonderful Susana as Step One’s next Executive Director. Her amazing support of teachers, children, and families is in evidence here every day. My partnership with Susana over the last nine years has been incredibly rewarding and filled with the love, learning, and talents that are so important to Step One’s leadership. I look forward to the coming months of transition as I ‘pass the torch’ to Susana as Step One’s next visionary leader. I know you will join me in welcoming her with so much Step One love and support!”


A note from Susana:

“I am honored to be moving into the role of Executive Director at Step One, and excited for what is in store for our wonderful school. Working in partnership with Sue over the last nine years has been an incredible gift and I look forward to continuing her commitment to Step One’s core values and dedication to children, families, and teachers. I am eternally grateful to our school community of board members, staff, parents, and caregivers for embracing me and my family for all of these years.”

We will begin the leadership transition in the coming months, leading up to Sue’s retirement at the end of the school year. Some initiatives already underway include, developing and releasing our next Strategic Plan and hiring a new Program Director.

Many members of the Step One community participated in this recruitment process, and we would like to give our special thanks to the parents, teachers, and community members who served on the Succession Planning and Interview committees. In particular, we wish to thank Board member and Succession Planning committee chair, Maureen Nandini Mitra, whose countless hours of work and organizational prowess kept the process on track, and also consultants Wendy Brawer and Sofia Chancey of InTune Collective, who provided valuable guidance and oversight of our recruiting efforts.

We will stay in touch with periodic updates during the transition, and as always, we thank you for your commitment to our school.


Friends Forever,

Jenny Herbert Creek
Board Chair

To our entire Step One community:

We are writing with very difficult news to share. Our beloved teacher Alexis Walters (sister of Derek and daughter of our office manager Tina Marlowe) passed away last evening after a long battle with cancer. She successfully battled her illness for three years, and bravely chose to keep her health condition private. In recent weeks her health took a sudden and unanticipated turn for the worse that led to several weeks of hospitalization. As we write this our hearts are breaking trying to imagine our lives without our funny, spunky, brilliant and beautiful Alexis. As many of you know, Alexis attended Step One as a child (Sue was her teacher) and has had an amazing teaching career at Step One for 17 years, including leading our Twos program for over a decade.

Alexis’s friends have set up a Go Fund Me account that is shared below. We want to make sure that medical bills and funeral arrangements and other expenses are taken care of. You may share the fund information discretely within your Step One networks, as our email database is incomplete.

For current families at Step One who knew Alexis, one of us will be available in room 6 after drop off and before pick up times tomorrow to help process this tragic event. The room will have candles and flowers and chairs to sit and quietly reflect and share memories, as well as talk about your children. We will also provide helpful articles about talking to young children about death.

We don’t have any information about a memorial service at this time. If you would like to send a message to Tina and Derek, you may send an email to [email protected] or [email protected] and we will make sure they receive it. Please send cards to Tina c/o Step One School, 499 Spruce, Berkeley 94708.

We know that many of you have had long and special relationships with Alexis and Tina. We miss her terribly. Let us hold Alexis, and her family, friends, and colleagues, in the light and in our hearts in the coming days and weeks.

Lots of love,
Sue and Susana

Link for Donations:
https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019nb9FRtKGHisMZYVnZ47frAQ4RBt7zyDdGRMfuoPoskVJRkzFpnhEKKKkFQ9duIcltgD67K90XhjLltST51enkRWbZlNOQql9vuZc6G-WGEx-VXW6Nqh8M6U_ikQLhWkn_0a9J_jJyontQQCLWE6R9rRVr8-1jWc8TpBIogTZ6dOkoqz8C8T2A5nKFUY-AJsFRnnb6Z4WPqMJ4_F8lMvyZnxvOvcRc7BY3OSGHCZEc1y5gsNyVfIVmq_cD9Jpu8cysTbA14hj2BOb7gQZOWX6bJeu-45DrA5pmRfJCJwgX-jF4V_q5BXRA3G_U1rXU189z8vtbnU82TtgYQ98E8PLQ==&c=cNIZWtRlF5CAvkzNX8FybhT4Xb2R5Bm63jvNnboirMsmNGuuXbCBOA==&ch=RpoyDYY9MGFbIAqdPBHloUVB3cM5vU2kOhZ7ig3rKgQG_kzj4MlJxg==

STEP ONE SCHOOL Step One School has a 40 year history of dynamic, thoughtful, and innovative early education that speaks to the whole child. Our vibrant community gives children the healthy foundation they need to reach their full potential as learners and human beings.