Staff

Robert Orsi – Senior Partner

Kidd Street Preschool is fortunate to have Robert supporting our center as the Senior Partner.  Bob has vast experience in education.  He worked 15 years in elementary education and has spent the past 30 years in Early Childhood Education.  Robert was a former public school principal and former director of basic instruction in the Garvey School District, in Rosemead, California.  Robert has successfully founded and operated many preschool programs.  He has a Masters Degree of Educational Psychology.  Kidd Street is grateful for his support of both our operations and our educational program.

Christie McPeck – President

Christie is the President of Kidd Street Preschool.  She provides day to day hands on support to our operations and our programs.  Christie has been in the Early Childhood Education field for the past 29 years.  She has been a preschool teacher, a preschool director and she has been in regional management for both small and large preschool companies.  She has her Master’s Degree in Human Development.  Christie writes the curriculum for our center and is responsible for much of the teacher training.  She enjoys working with the children, teachers and parents here at Kidd Street Preschool.

Christie also teaches at the local community college.  She has taught at Crafton Hills Community College and San Bernardino Valley College for the past nine years.  This is a great benefit to Kidd Street Preschool because not only does Christie stay current on trends and changes in Early Childhood Education, she is also able to recruit teachers from the community colleges, who are being schooled in the latest educational techniques and practices at these two great schools.

Jeni Gonzalez – Center Director

Jeni is the Center Director at Kidd St.  She has been in the Early Childhood Education field since 1988.  She has had the privilege of working with children from infancy through school age.  She has been in preschool management for over 18 years.  Jeni has worked as a Center Director for a small regional company and she also has been a center director for the largest preschool chain in the United States.  While working with that company, Jeni received many awards for both the management of her centers and the excellent customer service she provided to the children and their families.

Her experience and education has allowed her to mentor new managers, create age appropriate curriculum and provide excellent customer service to her parents.  She is excited to serve as the Center Director at Kidd Street Preschool because she is able to work with the families and the community to provide the best learning experience for each child and to provide each family with a high level of love and care for their child.

Melissa Hawthorne – Supervisor

Melissa is the assistant director at our center.  She has been in the preschool field since 2005.  She has her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Human Development from Cal State San Bernardino.  She loves working at Kidd Street Preschool because she gets a hands-on experience of the operation of the center.  She gets to support the teachers in implementing curriculum and she gets to help with the day to day decisions of operating the center.  Melissa says that Kidd Street has given her the opportunity to expand her knowledge of the field and put it to good use for the care and education of young children

Dena Virgin – Supervisor

Dena Virgin has been in Early Childhood Education for six years.  She has her B.A. and A.A. in Liberal Studies.  She enjoys working at Kidd Street Preschool of Riverside because of the children and their families.  She likes going into the classrooms and being able to interact with each child.  Being able to have the opportunity to help them learn and build social skills is one aspect of her job that she really enjoys, whether it is reading one on one, making an art project. or a simple conversation.