Annie Merrick, Director
Annie Merrick has been working in the early childhood field for 19 years. She has worked in every position, starting with afternoon assistant and ending with director. She earned her BA in Sociology from UNCW and earned her 90 hour and 45 hour certificates. She is married to her husband Chris and lives in Canton with him, her very favorite dog, George, and their two daughters! She loves cooking, watching soccer (go Liverpool!) and home projects. She is looking forward to meeting all you and your kiddos.
Leanna Gutermuth, Teacher
Leanna Gutermuth, a native of Baltimore, is a teacher and mom to Ian (3) and Naomi (14). She loves to hang out at her house gardening, cooking, reading, watching TV and playing with her kids. She has been teaching infants for five years and is excited to teach two year olds especially since her own son is two. Her teaching philosophy is inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote, “Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere.” Her future goal is to become a labor and delivery nurse because she is passionate about and just absolutely loves babies and young children. She is happy to be a part of the team that is establishing the new twos program at The Highlandtown Preschool.
Katie O'Hara, Teacher
Katie O'Hara worked at Kennedy Krieger for 10 years with children ranging from Pre-K to 8th grade. She has a masters degree in early childhood education. She lives with her husband, 2 sons, 1 cat, 4 fish, and a hamster. In her free time, she loves adventuring with her boys. This summer they went shark tooth hunting at Calvert Cliffs, camping at Ohiopyle, and went on tons of awesome hikes and bike rides. She has a passion for nature, art and amateur mycology (fungi are amazing!). Ms. Katie is excited to be at HTP and am enjoying creating a fun, cozy, learning environment for her students.
Gladis Vásquez Calderón, Teacher
Gladis Vásquez Calderón is friendly and cheerful. She loves working with children. She is patient. She has many years of experience taking care of babies, including as a nanny for some of our HPS families. She loves to see them happy and to see them grow. She likes to work in a team. She is spontaneous, creative, and flexible.
She also likes nature, walks in the park, hiking, exploring, and taking pictures of birds. She likes exploring resources and reading to learn more about children's education.
Gladis speaks English and Spanish.
Tiffany Foote, Teacher
Tiffany Foote--Tiffany's background encompasses seven years of experience in early childhood education as a preschool teacher, complemented by part-time work as an ABA technician. This experience has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of both typical and atypical child development within classroom and therapeutic settings. Her passion for nurturing young children is further enriched by her role as a mother of four, balancing her professional life with the joys and challenges of family life. When time allows, she enjoys personal pursuits such as journaling and continuous professional development to further enhance her skills and knowledge in early childhood education. Tiffany is confident that her skills and experience align perfectly with the needs of The Highlandtown Preschool.
Leticia Martin, Teacher
Leticia Martin--Leticia Martin is originally from the U.S Virgin Islands, but her family moved to New York at the age of 9. She later moved to Baltimore to attend the illustrious Morgan State University and have been a Baltimore resident since then. She graduated from Morgan State University with her bachelors in Family and Consumer Sciences and has been working in child care for 8-9 years.
She truly enjoys her time working with young children because she finds that they are eager to learn and try new tasks. Her days working with young children are always filled with surprises, and no two days are alike.
In her off time she loves to travel, especially to other islands where she can explore different marine life and cuisines. Her hobbies include reading books, going on nature walks and exploring new restaurants in the area. She looks forward to meeting everyone and being a part of the Highlandtown Preschool community.
Pat Newman, Afternoon Teacher
Pat Newman is thrilled to be joining the Highlandtown Preschool staff as the afternoon teacher.
Pat has lived in Baltimore since July 2023 and loves city life. Moving from Florida to Maryland has been challenging and rewarding. She survived her first snowstorm in 20 years and has embraced the quirkiness of her Conkling Street neighborhood. Darth Vader, in full armor, lives just down the street in a row house window.
Pat has decades of experience working with children as a Montessori-certified primary teacher and a traditional preschool educator. She loves the arts, nature, and music. She hopes to integrate all these areas of study onto our afternoon curriculum.
Ty'jai Smith, Classroom Aide
Ty’jai Smith grew up in East Baltimore and is a graduate of Baltimore Design High School where her pathway was architecture. She comes from a big family with 3 sisters and 1 brother and now is proud to say that she has one niece and nephew. She has been described by her family as a “natural” with children. She worked for three summers as a Youthworks counselor. In this position she planned activities for kindergarten age children, walkied to Patterson Park to take the kids to the pool, and read books at circle time. In her free time, Ty’jai enjoys watching hair styling, nail design and fashion design videos.
She is really excited to be at The Highlandtown Preschool because everyday she is learning something new. She loves getting to know the kids and seeing their individual personalities.
Ty’jai is looking forward to growing in her role as an aide in the three year old classroom and hopes in the future to become a lead preschool teacher. Her caring demeanor is felt daily as the kids have grown to love her.
Madisyn (Maddie) Garcia, Classroom Aide
Madisyn Garcia grew up in Baltimore and has lived here all her life. She enjoys reading and writing. She loves watching YouTube videos. And she loves animals so much! She has one dog (Itsy) and one guinea pig (Pickles).
Since she was little, she has always loved kids. But it wasn’t until she got into high school that she knew she wanted to teach kids, to help them learn, and to watch them grow.
Maddie is a big sister with two little brothers and one little sister, and she has older brothers as well. She wants to show that she is a loving and caring teacher because we make impact on children we teach.
Luisa Reyes, Classroom Aide
Luisa Reyes is originally from Mexico. Her family consists of her husband, three children, two birds, five goldfish, and Luisa. They have lived in the Highlandtown area since 2015, after moving from Queens, New York. They enjoy the outdoors and spend most of their free time at Patterson Park. Luisa was a nanny for many years, and now she has the opportunity to work at The Highlandtown Preschool, sharing her knowledge with the children while learning alongside them.
Patricia Jimenez, Office Administrator
Patricia Jimenez is originally from Mexico, and the Highlandtown community welcomed when she made it her home in 2009. She met her husband here, and now they have an eight-year-old daughter and a rabbit. As a mother, it brings her joy to work in the preschool office and assist families in ensuring their children are in a safe place while they work. She also enjoys helping people from other countries who arrived here, as she did, to settle into this community.
Patricia speaks English and Spanish.
Pastor Madeline Tallman
Pastor Mark Parker
Pastor Mark Parkeris a native of Baltimore City. He has served as pastor of Breath of God Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, since 2009. Breath of God has roots in Highlandtown going back to 1900, but is always looking to find new ways to serve our neighbors and share God’s love within our community. Mark and his family live in Highlandtown, and his daughter was one of the first students at the preschool. Mark speaks English and Spanish.
Mark has been involved with young people and education in a variety of capacities since 2000. During college and graduate school those efforts included two mentoring programs, a high school leadership program, and running the summer camp at the Downtown Sailing Center. Here in Southeast Baltimore, Mark helped to launch a summer camp and after school program, supports our local public schools, and is involved with youth sports. He particularly appreciates our existing partnerships with our local schools, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Creative Alliance, Patterson Park Audubon, Soccer Without Borders, Patterson Park Academy of Music, and the Southeast Youth Collaborative.
Mark is dedicated to this mission of nurturing children, preparing them for success in school, supporting working families, and providing equitable and just access to education for children of all backgrounds.