Issuu

ANNUAL REPORT 2025-2026

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Contents BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nischal Pai, President Alan A. Pearson, Vice President Brook Cuddy, Treasurer Corinne Bilerman, Secretary Lucinda Cardinal Thomas B. Casey, III Ethan Dabbs Sarah Krissoff Peter Halloran Albina R. Miller Vita Miller, Emeritus Stephanie Perry Adam Rosen Leslie F. Thorne Peter Ticali

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP Albina Miller Co-Head of School Leslie Thorne Co-Head of School Anthony Kapp Director of Advancement Cathy Weeks Director of Curriculum Andie Levinger Director of Placement

The donors listed in this Annual Report have supported The Parkside School with contributions received between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026. Every effort has been made to include each person or organization who contributed to Parkside during this period. If your name has been omitted or listed incorrectly, please accept our apology and notify the Advancement Office at 212-721-8888 x153. Photography courtesy of Heidi Green Photography, Paola Kudacki, and the entire Parkside team.

Message from the Co-Heads of School

Message from the Board of Directors

OUR STORY 40 Years of Impact

Voices of Parkside

Where Are They Now

Signature Events

The Parents Association

Celebrating the Class of 2026

HOW WE TEACH The Team Around the Child

Arts & Movement at Parkside

The Evolution of Our Curriculum

Inside the Classroom

A Place Where Every Student Belongs

GOVERNANCE & FINANCIALS Board Spotlight

Understanding the Parkside Model

Financials

OUR DONORS Annual Fund

Tribute Gifts

40th Anniversary Gala

Other Giving

Ways to Support Parkside

A Message from the Co-Heads of School Dear Parkside Community, Forty years. We still can hardly believe it — and this year, we didn’t have to imagine what four decades add up to. You showed us.

And in April, you filled Capitale for our 40th Anniversary Gala — the largest and most successful evening in Parkside’s history.

“It takes a village.” We say it so often around here that it has nearly stopped sounding like a saying. But we mean something quite specific by it: no one person teaches a child. It takes the teacher and the speech therapist, the occupational therapist and the social worker, the support staff member who notices something at lunch, the parent who tells us what mornings look like at home. Every point of view matters. Every contribution counts. That is how a child comes to be truly known here — and being truly known is where everything else begins.

And whether you have been with us for years or are just discovering Parkside, you are part of our journey — thank you.

What this year reminded us is that the same has always been true of the school itself. When we opened Parkside in 1986, we thought we were starting a school. What we did not yet understand is that it, too, would be raised by a village — one far larger than the two of us. We saw that village in November, when more than 160 alumni and parents came back together at SLATE for our first-ever All-Alumni Reunion. Graduates from last June stood beside graduates from the 1990s. What struck us was not how much everyone had changed, but how quickly that room felt like Parkside. Once you are part of this place, you never really leave it.

But a village is not only visible on the big nights. It is our Parents Association — the playdates and holiday parties, the breakfasts for our staff, and, this spring, quietly covering the cost of gala tickets so that no family would miss the celebration. It is the teachers and therapists who have spent the better part of their working lives in our classrooms. It is the families who tell other families about us, and the alumni who still call this home. Not one of these contributions is small, and not one of them is optional. That is rather the point. If our 40th year taught us anything, it is that a school is not built once. It is rebuilt every year, by everyone who chooses it. The pages that follow are our attempt to show you who did the building this year. Thank you for being part of our village. It has been the great privilege of our lives. With love,

Albina Miller and Leslie Thorne Co-Heads and Co-Founders of The Parkside School

A Message from the Board of Directors Dear Parkside Community, Serving as President of the Board during Parkside’s 40th anniversary year has been an extraordinary privilege. Ever since my son Mateo graduated in 2019, I have never stopped being grateful for what Parkside gave our family. The Board’s work is less visible than a gala or a graduation, but its purpose is straightforward. We are here to make certain that Parkside is still here — strong, independent, and true to its mission — for the children who will need it decades from now. That means stewarding the school’s finances, supporting its leadership, and planning well beyond any single year. This year gave us a great deal to be proud of. In the spring, Parkside earned its third NYSAIS accreditation following the full Decennial Evaluation — an independent affirmation of what our families already know about the quality of this school. And this community gave generously on every front: through the 40th Anniversary Gala, the most successful event in the school’s history, which supported our endowed Fund for Teacher Excellence; through the Annual Fund, which sustains the daily work of the school; and through the Alumni Reunion and the tireless efforts of our Parents Association.

I want to be direct about why that support matters so much. Nearly every Parkside student attends with public funding, and that funding does not cover the full cost of a Parkside education. The difference between what we receive and what this work actually costs is closed by philanthropy — by you. You can read more about that reality later in this report, and I would encourage you to. Looking ahead, the Board is focused on the long horizon: strengthening our endowment, investing in the extraordinary faculty and therapists who make Parkside what it is, and ensuring that the school’s financial foundation is every bit as durable as its mission. On behalf of the entire Board, thank you. The children who arrive at Parkside decades from now will inherit what four decades of this community have built — and what you helped strengthen this year. Warmly,

Nischal Pai P’19 President, Board of Directors

40 Years of Impact Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future What has changed at Parkside — and what never will. In the summer of 1986, two young teachers were painting bulletin boards in a rented room in a synagogue on West 100th Street. They had a little savings, a truckload of used furniture bought from a shuttered Long Island public school, and a classified ad in the Sunday Times that cost nearly a month’s rent. The ad ran. A five-year-old named Colin signed up. Parkside had its first student. That is where the story starts. Where it goes — from one child to eighty, from a rented room to two townhouses behind the now-iconic red doors of West 74th Street, from a provisional charter to three NYSAIS accreditations — is chronicled in the forty-year timeline we unveiled at the gala, now on display in our halls and at parksideschool.org. But a timeline can only tell you what happened. It can’t tell you what held. And the remarkable thing about Parkside is not how much has changed in forty years — it’s how much hasn’t.

WHAT CHANGED Nearly everything about the practice. The used furniture gave way to SmartBoards. Chart paper became a Woodin Math curriculum, a Summer STEM program, a robotics class. Two teachers became a staff of more than fifty. The school weathered a pandemic, ran two capital campaigns, and earned accreditation three times over. Albina Miller and Leslie Thorne were, as alumni parent and colleague Paula Resnick P’12 put it, “cultivating the whole child a decade before it became a mainstream philosophy,” and the practice never stopped evolving to stay ahead of it.

WHAT DIDN’T The conviction underneath it. “Forty years ago, we started Parkside convinced that every child deserves to be taught in the way they learn best,” the founders wrote this spring. “This has not changed.” Leslie Thorne put the same idea another way at the gala: children learn best “when they are deeply known, understood, and valued for exactly who they are.” That belief was there in the synagogue room in 1986, and it is here in every classroom today.

THE PEOPLE WHO STAYED If you want proof that a school’s spirit has endured, look at who never left. In a profession where turnover is the norm, Parkside is held together by people who have given it the better part of their working lives — sixteen of them for a decade or more, and three of them for all forty years. Together they represent more than 350 years of service to this school and its children. They are the ones who, year after year, have walked Parkside’s children to the door and on to their next journey — “the lifeblood,” as Tom Casey said at the gala, “that has sustained the school every day for forty years.” The list on the next page counts only who is still with us. Two of the longest careers in Parkside’s history belong to women who have since moved on. Anne Tuohy led our Social Work Department for twenty-seven years, from 1993 until her retirement in 2020. And Jane Liescheidt was Assistant to the Co-Heads of School for twentyeight years, the steady center of our front office from 1994 until 2022. Jane passed away in 2024. She is remembered today in two small rocking chairs in our library, dedicated in her name. A tribute, fittingly, to a woman who made room for everyone.

THE PROOF WALKS BACK THROUGH THE DOORS In the fall of 2001, a little boy came home from his first weeks of kindergarten at Parkside and told his mother, “I think they really like me here.” His name is Nick Goutman, Class of 2007. Today he is a licensed social worker and a school counselor — and some of the students he now supports are Parkside alumni themselves. The child who once needed to be told he belonged now spends his days telling other children the same thing. That is the forty-year echo: a school that taught children they were capable, sending them back into the world to do the same for others.

HERE’S TO THE NEXT FORTY Albina told the room at the gala that she doesn’t only look back with pride — she looks ahead with hope, because “the need for Parkside has never been greater.” The furniture will keep changing. The tools will keep changing. The children will keep arriving unsure and leaving certain. And the doors will still be red, and still be open.

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By the Numbers 350+ combined years of service among our sixteen longest-tenured staff

1 ~80 students, from a single five-year-old to a full community

2 50+ founding teachers to educators and specialists

~99% of students are DOE-funded

3 full NYSAIS accreditations 655 alumni out making their own unique mark on the world using the tools they learned at Parkside

160+ alumni and parents at the first All-Alumni Reunion

360 parents, alumni, friends and supporters at our 40th Anniversary Gala

The People Who Stayed

Parkside staff with ten or more years of service, listed by the year they arrived

Albina Miller

Leslie Thorne

Tom Casey

Jacqueline Ament

Co-Head of School

Facility Manager

Dept. Head, Teaching

Since 1986

Since 1995

Jessica Scovel

Rick Alston

Andres Cruz

Andie Levinger

Speech Therapist

Dept. Head, Social Work

Co-Regulation Specialist

Director of Placement

Since 1998

Since 1999

Since 2002

Since 2003

Rick Vargas

Christine Yen

Jakiem Swinger

Cathy Weeks

Support Staff

Dept. Head, OT

Gym Teacher

Director of Curriculum

Since 2003

Since 2007

Since 2008

Since 2012

Jillian Mayonove

Rebecca Frank

Mario Cabrera

Anthony Kapp

Administrative Services

Instructional Coach

Custodian

Director of Advancement

Since 2015

Since 2016

Voices

OF PARKSIDE

For our 40th anniversary, we asked the people who know Parkside best — the families, alumni, and friends who have walked through our red doors — to tell us what the school has meant to them. What came back was a chorus four decades deep: from parents still dropping off their first-year student in Class 3-1 to those whose children are now grown. Shared here with gratitude and with their permission, their words tell the story of Parkside better than we ever could. Nearly every family begins in the same place: the red doors. “From the moment we first walked through those big red doors,” the Adler family remembers, “we knew we were exactly where we were meant to be.” For many, arriving was a kind of relief. “Finding this school,” wrote Paola Kudacki, whose daughter Neon is a current student, “felt like finally exhaling after holding our breath for a very long time.” For the Unterberg family, the feeling was immediate: from the moment they walked in, “we felt like we had won the lottery.” Anne Tuohy, a former Parkside social worker, once found herself waiting by the fish tank in the front hall at arrival time. “The red doors were open,” she wrote, “and child after child came in — most of them bursting in, some drowsy from the bus ride — all of them seeming overjoyed to be back at school. I was struck by how marvelous and unique that response to ‘school’ was. I think it had to do with feeling understood there, and cherished.”

That feeling of being understood is what families describe again and again. One word surfaces over and over: seen. “You created a place where he was truly seen, understood, and believed in,” wrote a Parkside alumni parent, “a place where his strengths were nurtured and his challenges were met with compassion.” The Schaffino family described the same quality as something woven into the building itself: “Some places do more than teach. They listen. They notice. They make room for a child to arrive fully as themselves. Parkside has been that place for our family.” Over time, being seen becomes something a child carries. “She found her voice because it was welcomed,” the Schaffinos wrote of their daughter, Leah. “She found her independence because it was trusted.” Paola Kudacki has watched her daughter, Neon, grow “more connected with her emotions and her peers,” her speech developing so much that “all of a sudden we forgot where we were when we started at Parkside… She feels safe. She feels capable. She feels proud — and so do we,” Paola added. “We are very thankful.” Sometimes the transformation arrives in a single, unforgettable moment. The daughter of a current Parkside parent had always been frightened of fire drills — until her teachers invited her to join the “fire brigade” and gently lowered the alarm for her. “It’s not so bad anymore,” she decided. For her seventh birthday, she made one request: could the whole school have a fire drill that day? Without hesitation, we said yes. After cupcakes and a dance party, the school celebrated not just her birthday, but her bravery — turning a former fear into a joyful milestone.

Parkside’s care reaches beyond the child to the whole circle of people around them. C. Zoë Cuddy, whose daughter Cecilia graduated in 2012, still remembers Special Person Day — an occasion, she wrote, unlike any she had seen at another school, when each family honored someone outside the immediate family who played an important role in their child’s life. “Knowing that Parkside recognized and celebrated” those people, she reflected, “reassured me that the school understood something essential: raising and supporting a child with special needs is never done alone.” The families whose children have moved on measure Parkside in years and decades. “Andrew would not be where he is today without Parkside,” wrote a Parkside alumni parent. Valerie Cohen said the school “changed my son Jake’s life and the course of his future.” And the Adler family, now watching their son Eliot finish college more than fifteen years after he first climbed Parkside’s spiral staircase, reflected: “There is no place that has had a more profound or lasting impact on our lives.” Asked recently for advice to offer other college students, Eliot passed along a lesson that began at Parkside: no one should have to navigate life alone.

Micah’s parents, Jenny and Jon Steingart, watched their once shy, quiet son become “a confident young man… a star student… the captain of several different sports teams, and a peer leader for younger boys at his school. He is truly thriving,” they wrote, “and it all started at Parkside.” The graduates say it themselves. “Parkside is the reason I am where I am today,” wrote Conor Devlin, Class of 2006. And Quinn Pearson, Class of 2028, needed only a sentence: “I love The Parkside School, it’s my favorite school in the world.” Four decades of these voices, and so many end where they began — at the red doors, and the feeling of home. “Our family carries Parkside with us,” the Schaffino family wrote, “in her confidence, in her courage, in the gratitude that now fills the space where fear once lived.” Forty years ago, Albina and Leslie opened a set of doors to a single child. Everyone who has walked through them since carries a little of Parkside with them still.

“There is no place that has had a more profound or lasting impact on our lives.” — The Adler Family

Where Are They Now Our alumni, across four decades Forty years of Parkside students are out in the world — teaching third grade in Queens, tuning organs in London, running team operations at the World Cup, and volunteering in our own library on Friday afternoons. This year, more of them wrote to us than ever before. Here is where they are now.

The 1990s Abraham Schneider ’95 is a coordinator for administration at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute. After Parkside he attended Browning and then Brandeis. Writing for the 40th, he shared that “Parkside will always have a special place in my heart.”

Brian Haher ’98 remains one of Parkside’s most enthusiastic ambassadors. This spring he sent Albina and Leslie a heartfelt anniversary gift: remastered images from his school years and original artwork inspired by his Parkside memories. His pride in this community comes through in every note he sends.

Meg Nye ’98 lives in Rocky Point, New York, and volunteers at Warrior Ranch, where she works with horses and supports wounded veterans.

The 2000s Zurie Ferguson ’00 teaches STEAM at the Horace Mann School, guiding students through hands-on projects that connect science, technology, engineering, art, and math. She says she still draws inspiration from her time at Parkside. Amanda Morales ’02 is living in Florida and doing well. She was sorry to miss the All-Alumni Reunion, hopes to reconnect with her longtime friend Jonathan Mercado, and plans to visit Parkside on her next trip to New York. Thomas Tadayasu Roche ’03 worked the NYC mayoral primary, helping turn out voters in the summer heat. He recommends poll work to fellow alumni as a way to stay engaged, and keeps in touch with Sasha Rothman ’04.

Nina Godridge ’05 has come back to where she started. After graduating from Smith College and earning her Master’s in Library Science at Syracuse, she now volunteers in the Parkside library every Friday. She remains close friends with Andrea Zambrano, whom she met her first year here — a friendship now two decades old. Elliot Hightower De Niro ’08 made his U.S. debut as a painter at the Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory. His red-andblack abstract, “Caribbean Colors,” sold before the fair officially opened. He has previously exhibited in Germany.

The 2010s Sarah Holsberg ’10 teaches third grade in a Queens public school. She earned two bachelor’s degrees with honors in 2021 and a Master’s in English Literature from Fordham in 2024, all while teaching full time, and has three published poems. “I use the skills I learned here every day and teach them to my students,” she writes. “I hope that I am anything like the teachers I had at Parkside.”

ALUMNI NEWS

Sylvia Guerrero ’11 is in her second year teaching at Bright Horizons preschool and plans to pursue a master’s in special education, with the goal of becoming a lead pre-K teacher. She sends “a huge thank you to Ms. Miller and Ms. Thorne for believing in me and supporting me and seeing me grow.” Kai Burridge ’12 is a skills trainer for the women’s basketball team at Emmanuel College in Boston, where he is also earning a master’s in Business Analytics. A point guard through his own college career, he now runs basketball camps for children across Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine — an interest first sparked when he assisted the Parkside gym teacher one summer after graduation.

Sarah Silverman ’14 graduated from Hunter High School and began at Harvey Mudd College in California, where she plans to study Physics.

Jake Cohen ’14 is working the FIFA World Cup in Team Operations, the latest stop in a career that has included the Kansas City Chiefs, FC Dallas, the Kentucky Derby, and FIBA EuroBasket. “I came in a confused six-year-old,” he writes, “unsure why I was sent to a new school when all of my friends were somewhere else. In hindsight, it was exactly what I needed.”

Elizabeth Leichter ’12 has settled into a new apartment in Phoenix, where she volunteers with First Place and is pursuing a baking certification. Alexander Soiefer ’13 graduated from college and began his first job as a software engineer at Humming Heads in Japan. His interest in computing traces back to Tech Kids Unlimited during his Parkside years.

Harish Ahilan ’14 graduated from Landmark College with an Associate’s Degree — and delivered the commencement address. He is now pursuing a bachelor’s in Web and Digital Media at Beacon College in Florida.

Maude Lehmann ’15 graduated from Vassar College with a major in English and a minor in Film. She wrote her senior thesis on Moby-Dick, discovered a love of improv, and is drawn toward film, art history, and the world of libraries and archives. Owen Barbagallo ’16 is a sophomore at Temple University, where his archival research on the history of the New York City subway became a public art project. He gathered 186 stationbased facts, built a website called Standing on History, and saw two of them displayed on LinkNYC kiosks near their stations — drawing more than 8,000 impressions in a single week. Leon Cesana ’17 wrote from Milan. He has completed his first year studying Humanistic Studies at John Cabot University in Rome, counts his Parkside years among the best of his childhood, and hopes to become a teacher himself one day. Alex Sun ’18 graduated as co-valedictorian of The Lowell School alongside his brother Matthew. Both are now studying at George Washington University.

The 2020s

Simeon Chew ’18 earned distinctions on his Grade 6 and Grade 7 ABRSM organ exams, graduated from The Birch Wathen Lenox School, and will begin at London South Bank University after a summer of study at the Royal College of Organists — with a week of diving in Honduras in between. “I couldn’t have got this far without you,” he writes. “I will always be grateful for my time at Parkside.” Santiago Caravia Perry ’19 will study mathematics and computer science at the University of Michigan. He finished his senior year at Fairview High School in Colorado as Student Body Vice President, delivering the commencement address. “You have no idea the impact you guys have had on me,” he writes.

Rose Green ’20 is finishing her junior year at Winston Prep. “It was a thrill to perform for over 300 attendees at the Parkside 40th Anniversary Gala,” she writes. “I loved seeing former classmates and staff, and showing off the skills I learned by being in the Parkside plays.”

Callan Dalton ’22 attends The Titus School, made the AGUA Special Olympics swim team in New York City, and plays basketball for Steady Buckets — including a memorable on-court high-five with the Nets. “I love Parkside,” she writes. Elijah Snyder-Richards ’24 landed a walk-on role in The Gilded Age and had a wonderful time on set. Max Blankenbaker ’24 finished sixth grade at The Lang School and will continue there, with a first summer of sleep-away camp ahead. “We will always cherish Parkside,” their family writes.

Maia Younger ’21 is a tenth grader at Lowell High School, having graduated from Lowell Middle School with the Director’s Award for High Honors. She is passionate about art, and spent part of last summer painting a watercolor alongside Parkside art teacher James Lonsdale. Preston Tabora ’22 attended York Prep and spent this summer abroad in Oxford’s business program.

ALUMNI NEWS

On Our Stage Again Nineteen alumni returned to perform at the 40th Anniversary Gala in April, in front of more than 300 guests:

Have news to share?

Jake Bilerman ’23 Patrick Bowers ’15 Annabel Burguieres ’24 Violet Carlin ’23 Simeon Chew ’18 Cameron Cox ’18 Micaela Diamandiev ’21 Julian Douglas ’24 Ruby Glick ’22 Rosie Green ’20

Scan the QR code and send your update via the Alumni Update form on our website.

Alexander Inglese ’08 Sevana Kalaydjian ’23 Devon Krishnaswami ’16 Noah Leon-Wales ’22 Max Lennartson ’15 Iris Reyl ’22 Preston Tabora ’22 Joel Weisstuch ’10 Ethan Weiss ’21

Coming Home Parkside’s First-Ever All-Alumni Reunion

On Sunday, November 16, Parkside hosted its firstever All-Alumni Reunion — a landmark moment in our 40-year history. Nearly 160 alumni, alumni parents, and former and current staff gathered at SLATE to celebrate the mission that has carried across four decades, and the relationships that have carried right along with it. Alumni traded stories from their years at Parkside, reflected on the teachers and therapists who shaped them, and talked about how a Parkside education still shows up in their lives today. For many, the afternoon’s most powerful moments came when former students found the educators who guided them years — sometimes decades — ago. The embraces, the easy conversation, the sudden bursts of laughter across the room: it was a vivid reminder that the relationships built inside Parkside’s classrooms don’t end at graduation. They are the heart of who we are. Thank you to every alum, parent, and staff member who came home for the afternoon — and to alumni parent Heidi Green, whose photography captured its spirit and lets us share it with the rest of our community here.

AOF History THE SPRING BENEFIT Colin Fiedoreck ’91, Parkside’s first student enjoying art instruction

Where a typical public school mandates physical education alone, every Parkside student also receives art, music, drama, and yoga multiple times a week, woven into the day as a core part of how we teach, not an occasional extra. That commitment has always gone further than our state tuition rate was designed to anticipate. For most of Parkside’s forty years, our annual spring benefit has existed to make it possible: funding the richest version of an Arts & Movement program we can build, for every child, every year.

Restaurant Dinners and a Fiesta The tradition began modestly. A Dinner & Dance at a Brooklyn caterer’s hall in 1988. An Ole Ole Fiesta at a midtown restaurant the following year. A Bahama Mama Jamboree in 1992. These were intimate, community-built evenings in support of the Parkside School Scholarship Fund — the young school pulling together whatever it could, one dinner at a time. By 1995, the cause had a name: A Family Concert to Benefit the Arts Program, held at NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall and headlined by Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary. It was an early, unmistakable signal of where this event’s heart would live for decades to come.

A Night at Nobu The 2000s brought a season of genuinely remarkable evenings. As Parkside raised funds for its Renovation and Restoration Campaign and, later, to match a $1 million challenge gift from Ronnie and Gene Isenberg, the benefit grew into black-tie galas at the Harmonie Club, the Beacon Theatre, and Nobu 57 — chaired and hosted, across those years, by Al Roker, Alissa and Joel Isaacson, and Adina Pitt, with honorees including Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower De Niro, Paula Zahn, and Leslie Godridge. The entertainment matched the ambition: performances by Bette Midler, Robin Williams, Donna Summer, John Legend, Billy Crystal, and Paul Simon all graced a Parkside stage during this stretch. Chef David Waltuck — today a Parkside alumni parent, whose son Jacob graduated in 2002 — hosted an early benefit evening at his restaurant, Chanterelle, in 1999, beginning a relationship with this community that continues to this day.

Naming the Cause Beginning with 2013’s Masterpieces in the Making, the benefit’s purpose became explicit nearly every year that followed: Arts and Movement Programs, stated plainly on the invitation. Themes turned playful — the Mad Hatter Auction, a Masquerade, Casino Royale, the Roaring Twenties — even as the mission stayed constant. When the pandemic made an in-person gathering impossible, the benefit simply moved online: Bon Appétit, Parkside! drew the community together over Zoom in the spring of 2021, with cocktails mixed live and music played over piano from MingYi Lin, proof that the tradition could bend without breaking.

Forty years of raising the curtain on Arts & Movement.

Parkside’s 40th Anniversary Gala

This Year, On Stage Every dollar this benefit has ever raised for Arts & Movement finds its way, eventually, onto a stage — including this year, when our students brought Matilda to life. A story about a small girl whose intelligence and courage go unrecognized until the right people finally see her — it is hard to imagine a better fit for a Parkside stage, or a cast more suited to playing it.

Chef Anita Lo during Parkside’s virtual benefit in 2021

This year, in honor of our 40th anniversary, the tradition of the Spring Benefit took a special form: the 40th Anniversary Gala at Capitale, which supported our endowed Fund for Teacher Excellence rather than Arts & Movement directly. It was, fittingly, the most successful evening in the benefit’s history — a fortieth year that looked back at four decades of these evenings even as it looked toward the next forty.

SAVE THE DATE

For many years, student-made artwork was the highlight of the live auction. This all-school piece was a feature of the auction in 2022.

In 2027, the tradition takes a new shape: our first-ever Family Benefit, welcoming children alongside the grown-ups who have filled this room for forty years. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 17 — more details to come, but save the date for a celebration built for every member of the Parkside family.

The 40th Anniversary

GALA A night at Capitale, forty years in the making. On Wednesday, April 22, 360 members of the Parkside community filled Capitale’s historic ballroom to celebrate forty years of The Parkside School. Current parents, alumni, alumni parents, teachers, therapists, staff, board members, and friends came together across generations — many seeing each other for the first time in years, some meeting for the first time, all there for the same reason.

Co-founders Albina Miller and Leslie Thorne opened the evening with a grand entrance from Capitale’s mezzanine to a standing ovation. Parkside alumni parent Kelly Spitzley P’13 emceed with warmth throughout the night, and former board member Ray Spitzley P’13 offered a toast in Albina and Leslie’s honor. NYS Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal presented a proclamation from the State of New York recognizing Parkside’s forty years of service, with NYC Council Member Gale Brewer also in the room. Tributes followed from Board President Nischal Pai P’19, alumnus Nick Goutman ’07, founding board member Tom Casey, Stefan Freeman on behalf of the Isenberg family, current parent Linwood Brown P’28, longtime friend Paula Resnick P’12, and Jackie Ament, Parkside’s longest-tenured teacher — each carrying a different piece of the same story.

“Founding a school is an act of faith. It demands courage, resilience, and the willingness to move forward even when the path is unclear… We held tightly to a vision: that Parkside would be a place where every child feels seen, challenged, and inspired. And together, that’s exactly what we built.” — Albina Miller

“Parkside has never been about a building or a program. It has always been about people… children who arrived unsure of themselves and left knowing they were capable, intelligent, and worthy.” — Leslie Thorne

The Alumni Performance Nineteen alumni performers, spanning the Classes of 2008 through 2024, brought the house down — directed by former Music and Drama teachers Melissa Ferraro and MingYi Lin, with fellow former music teacher Abby Huskisson stepping in with critical late-stage support. For Ferraro, who spent twelve years as Parkside’s drama teacher, directing her former students again was its own kind of homecoming. “Getting to direct the Parkside Alumni Players for the 40th Anniversary Gala was one of those rare, full-circle experiences that I know I’ll carry with me forever. For twelve years, I had the enormous privilege — and occasional insanity — of being Parkside’s drama teacher, asking students to learn endless lines, sing countless songs, take enormous creative risks, and somehow trust me when I said, ‘I promise, this is going to work.’ They always rose to the occasion. “To have so many of those same students come back years later and jump right in again — with the same humor, heart, fearlessness, and wonderfully unique Parkside spirit — was incredibly moving. We worked hard, laughed a lot, reminisced, and somehow it felt like no time had passed at all. Parkside gave me some of the most rewarding years of my life as a teacher, and getting to stand in a rehearsal room with my former students again — this time with some as adults — was an extraordinary reminder that the relationships we build there don’t end when someone graduates, or a teacher moves on.” — Melissa Ferraro, former Parkside Music and Drama Teacher

A Community-Made Celebration Even the smallest details of the evening carried Parkside’s fingerprints. The painted vases at every table, each one unique, were created by current students in James Lonsdale’s art classes, with each class drawing inspiration from a different artist or technique. Guests took them home at the end of the night, a small token from the children of Parkside to everyone who came to celebrate them.

A Record-Breaking Night Between ticket sales, sponsorships, the silent and live auctions, and the paddle raise, the evening raised more than $530,000 in support of the Fund for Teacher Excellence — the most successful night in the benefit’s forty-year history, and a powerful vote of confidence in Parkside’s mission, faculty, and future. Forty years ago, two visionary educators opened a door. Today, it stands wide open — and the next forty years are just beginning. Thank you to everyone who filled that room, and everyone who celebrated with us in spirit.

The Parent Workshop Series Every year, Parkside’s Parent Workshop Series brings the expertise from our classrooms and therapy rooms directly to families — real strategies, from people who use them every day, for the questions parents are actually navigating at home. This year, the series grew: alongside insights from our instructional leadership team, we brought in more outside experts than ever, from pediatric occupational therapists to clinical psychologists, to widen the range of perspectives our families could learn from. October 15, 2025 Understanding Emotions and Developing Strategies for Success Speaker: Lauren Baker, pediatric occupational therapist with more than 15 years of clinical and consultative experience in New York and Toronto

All feelings, big and small, are a natural part of child development — and while parents can’t control their children’s feelings, they can help manage them. Lauren explored self-regulation: what it is, why it matters for a child’s success at home, at school, and in the world at large, and practical strategies parents could use to help their children build these skills. October 22, 2025 Multisensory Reading at Parkside

November 19, 2025 Introduction to Woodin Math Presented by our instructional leadership team

An engaging overview of the Woodin Math approach, highlighting the dynamic activities, hands-on materials, and interactive games that build numeracy skills in our classrooms, along with strategies for reinforcing math learning at home. January 27, 2026 Strategies for Resolving Conflicts in Your Home: Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) Speaker: Dr. Dominic Auciello, clinical psychologist

The CPS model rests on a simple premise: challenging behavior happens when what’s being asked of a child exceeds their capacity to respond adaptively. Dr. Auciello introduced this nonpunitive, collaborative approach to problemsolving — one built to decrease conflict, strengthen relationships, and help both kids and adults practice empathy, perspective-taking, and honest communication. April 29, 2026 Unlock Your Child’s Potential: Everyday Strategies to Strengthen Your Child’s Executive Functioning Skills Speakers: Carly Furino and Randall Klein

Presented by our instructional leadership team

A closer look at the power of multisensory reading instruction — how integrating visual, auditory, and tactile strategies enhances the way Parkside students experience reading — paired with practical techniques parents could put to use at home right away.

Executive functioning — the brain-based skills behind planning, organization, time management, and follow-through — is essential to independence at home and success at school. Carly and Randall walked parents through the neurology behind executive dysfunction and brain plasticity, along with everyday strategies they could use right away.

Five sessions, five different lenses, all aimed at the same goal: helping parents feel as equipped at home as our teachers and therapists are in the classroom. 24

A Place to Share the Journey This year, Parkside’s Social Work Department once again offered a parent support group, meeting Friday mornings for six-week sessions with the option to renew. The group was co-facilitated by Rick Alston, LCSW, who brings more than twenty-five years of experience working with neurodivergent children and families, and Cara Levinson, LCSW, who has been part of Parkside’s community for four years. In Conversation: A Parkside Podcast launched as part of our 40th Anniversary year. Hosted by Andie Levinger, Director of Placement, the monthly series features candid conversations with teachers, therapists, parents, alumni and leading voices in the field about what it takes to support children with language-based learning differences.

Parents came together to share strategies, struggles, and triumphs with others who, as the group puts it, “walk in your shoes” — a place to “feel what you feel” without judgment, and to find the kind of connection that makes it easier to face what comes next.

We started at the beginning, with co-founders Albina and Leslie on Parkside’s origins and the whole-child philosophy that still anchors the school. Later episodes have featured Dr. Sima Gerber, a longtime consultant to our Speech and Language Department, on meeting a child where they are, and Clara Elser on the role of creativity in educating the whole child. Each first-season episode closed with speech therapist Jessica Scovel adding a practitioner’s view. We imagined our own families as the audience, and we found a wider one: teachers, therapists and parents facing the same questions. After forty years of learning how to do this work, it felt like time to share what we’ve learned.

SCAN TO LISTEN

The Parents Association Building community, one event at a time From its earliest days in the 1990s, the Parkside Parents Association has always been about parents showing up for the school and for each other, in ways both grand and small. The PA has been integral to Parkside’s Spring Benefit since its earliest years, helping build the evening that has become the school’s signature celebration each spring. But its real work happens everywhere in between: Sunset Cocktails that carry the community through the summer, a New Parent Cocktail Party that turns nervous newcomers into fast friends, a Book Fair that fills our halls each winter, and a Holiday Party that has become one of the most beloved nights on the Parkside calendar. When the pandemic closed our doors, the PA didn’t pause — it got creative, finding inventive ways to keep the community connected over Zoom, proof that Parkside’s spirit doesn’t need a room to survive.

This year, the PA outdid itself again: a Plant and Bake Sale, a Shake Shack Donation Day, and a Teacher Appreciation Week that left a lasting impression on the staff it was built to honor. None of it happens without volunteers. Thank you to this year’s PA Executive Committee — Claire Stevick, President; Christopher Moore, Secretary and Co-Treasurer; Paula Cavanaugh, Co-Treasurer; Ivy Venafro; Rachel Levine; and Patrick Weir — and to every parent who showed up, brought a dish, ran a table, or simply said yes when asked to help. Forty years of Parkside has meant forty years of parents choosing to be part of something bigger than any one family. That is the Parents Association, then and now.

Keep Moving Forward Celebrating the Class of 2026 On Wednesday, June 17, Parkside gathered at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan for our Graduation and Achievement Ceremony — a fitting close to our 40th Anniversary year. Sammy Jennings, Class of 2026, opened the program on piano with “Ode to Joy” and “Marche Militaire.” Rooms 5-2 and 5-4 performed songs from this year’s school play, Matilda, and shared their achievements with a room full of proud families. The afternoon’s address belonged to Noah Akrong ’19, who returned to speak with this year’s graduates about life after Parkside — and about the path that brought him back. Before Parkside, Noah told the room, he had started having learning difficulties at his previous school. Parkside became “the turning point” in his learning journey: a reading teacher, a speechlanguage teacher, an occupational therapist, and a counselor, all working with him at once. He remembered using drawing to show his teachers what he understood, performing in stage plays that gave him the confidence to later play violin in front of audiences with his brothers, and one teacher in particular — “Ms. Ament, my fifth-grade teacher, who encouraged me to enjoy history and Math.” He still remembers the “knock my socks off” marks she gave him for a job well done. From Parkside, Noah went on to Lowell Middle and High School, where he played soccer, basketball, and softball, volunteered on the backstage crew for the school play, and this spring graduated with a Regents Diploma. Accepted to five colleges, he chose SUNY Old Westbury, where he will study literature and media.

“We all have strengths and weaknesses, but the most important advice I would give you, the graduates, is to always keep moving forward.” — Noah Akrong, Class of 2019 Albina Miller closed the formal program with her End of Year Address, and Leslie Thorne offered closing remarks before the Class of 2026 recessed to “Walking on Sunshine” — a joyful send-off for twelve graduates stepping into their next chapter, and a reminder, in our 40th year, of just how far that path can lead.

MATRICULATING SCHOOLS Graduates will continue their educational journeys at Winston Preparatory School, The Lowell School, The Summit School, The Cooke School, The Community School of Bergen County, and Mary McDowell School. These placements reflect the range of strengths, talents, and dreams that our students carry forward. While we will miss their presence in our classrooms and hallways, we know they leave Parkside ready for success, supported by the confidence and strategies they have gained here.

The Team Around the Child How Parkside’s occupational therapists, speech therapists, and social workers work alongside teachers, and why so much of it looks like play Contributors: Rick Alston, Christine Yen, and Greta Lincoln Walk past a therapy session at Parkside and you might see two children running a pretend restaurant, a student elbow-deep in a bowl of slime, or a small group building an elaborate world out of Legos. It would be easy to assume they are just playing. That assumption is one our therapists hear often — and gently correct. “Our sessions may look like we’re ‘just playing’ with a child,” says Greta Lincoln, head of the Speech and Language Department, “when really, we could be targeting skills like sequencing events, expanding length of utterances, diversifying vocabulary, or encouraging flexible thinking — all while playing restaurant, making slime, or building with Legos.” The same is true in Social Work and Occupational Therapy. At Parkside, play is not a break from the work. It is the work. “Relationship building through play is the foundation of what we do,” says Richard Alston, head of Social Work. “Play creates the experience of trust, attunement, pleasure, self-regulation, and meaning between a child and therapist.” Through that trusted relationship, he explains, children learn to solve problems, face their fears, and name what they feel — because the ability to recognize and verbalize a feeling “tames” its intensity. A feeling, his students come to learn, can be big, but it always changes, and it always passes. The goal is to build what he calls “elbow room” in a child’s mind and body: space to value themselves and their peers.

Each department brings its own expertise. Occupational therapists help students develop the skills to participate as independently as possible throughout the day — attention, self-regulation, fine and visual-motor skills, far more than the handwriting practice people often imagine. Speech and language therapists support everything from vocabulary and comprehension to sound production and social communication. Social workers use relationship and play to help children regulate, connect, and grow. But what makes Parkside Parkside is what happens when those three areas of expertise stop being separate.

“Integration is a cornerstone of occupational therapy at Parkside,” says Christine Yen, head of the OT Department. On any given morning, an OT might push into a Writing lesson, coaching a student in real time with the playful cues Parkside kids know by heart — “magic c letters,” “frog jump letters,” “skyscrapers” and “shortees” — while quietly noticing posture, pencil grasp, and stamina, and slipping in a sheet of adapted paper onto a slant board before frustration takes hold. Afterward, the strategies that worked go into the team’s monthly notes, so that every teacher, assistant, and therapist can use the same words and the same supports. “This collaborative approach,” Yen says, “helps students generalize skills beyond the therapy room.” Sometimes the collaboration begins before a challenge even arrives. When Parkside’s youngest students in 3-1 prepared for their very first Visitors Assembly this year — a milestone that can be as overwhelming as it is exciting — the speech therapists sat down with the classroom teacher, gathered the list of expected guests, and worked with OT and Social Work to build a simple illustrated story previewing the big day: where it would happen, who would be there, when, and what to expect, right down to a photo of the Parkside gym set up for the event. “It reinforced to students,” Lincoln says, “that their teachers and therapists are here to support and encourage them while trying something new.” Nowhere is that teamwork more visible than in TheraFun, one of this year’s new additions, where occupational, speech, and social work therapists push into the classroom together. Alongside Friendship Time, it is a space where children practice assertiveness, active listening, and perspective-taking — the everyday social muscles that are easy to name and hard to build — guided at once by three kinds of expertise working in concert. The results of this patient, connected approach are not always dramatic, but when they arrive, they are unmistakable. Christine Yen thinks of one student who, over two years, went from struggling to stay in his classroom to standing before the entire school to read his Achievement Ceremony

speech. What changed was not one intervention or one therapist, she says, but a team that took the time to understand him and support him consistently, everywhere he went. One day he put it better than any evaluation could: “My brain told my body I need to move,” he explained, “so my body brought me down to OT.” In a single sentence, he had done something remarkable — noticed what he needed, and known how to ask for it.

“My brain told my body I need to move — so my body brought me down to OT.” Forty years in, the tools have changed — the field’s understanding of neurodiversity and trauma has deepened, and each new therapist brings fresh ideas to the team — but the mission the therapists describe has held remarkably steady. “What has remained constant,” Yen says, “is our commitment to meeting each child where they are, building meaningful relationships, and helping students become as independent and successful as possible.” Alston frames it as a lens that keeps widening: seeing each child’s neurodiversity not as something to fix, but as an innate brilliance to affirm. That is the quiet engine behind so much of what happens at Parkside — three departments, one team, and the belief that when you support the whole child, the child does the rest. Even when, to the untrained eye, it looks a lot like play.

Arts & Movement at Parkside Art, music, drama, and movement, across the school Contributors: James Lonsdale, Jake Alrich, Jakiem Swinger, and Grant Henry Ask the teachers who run Parkside’s art room, gym, yoga, and music and drama program what they do, and you will hear the same idea in three different voices. “Art at Parkside is not optional — it is intentional,” says James Lonsdale, Art Teacher and Department Head. Physical Education, says Jakiem Swinger, is a place where “every movement has purpose.” At Parkside, the arts and movement are not breaks from the real work. They are where a great deal of the real work happens.

ART In Mr. Lonsdale’s classroom, art begins with safety: “a safe and welcoming creative space where students can experiment, take artistic risks, and build confidence” across a range of techniques and mediums. Gifted young artists get weekly extension classes to push further. And art at Parkside reaches beyond the classroom walls: students take on real, collaborative projects — exhibitions, set design, calendar and greeting card design, fundraising initiatives — work with actual stakes and an actual audience. Along the way, students meet artists and movements from a wide range of cultures and eras, historical and contemporary alike. “Every student has a unique and powerful visual language,” says Mr. Lonsdale, “and my greatest privilege is helping each of them discover and develop it… every young artist deserves to know that their own creative voice matters.”

MUSIC & DRAMA The students call him Mr. A. He calls them Players — a small word choice that says a great deal about how Jake Alrich sees them. His Music and Drama classroom builds toward performance, but the destination is only part of the point. “The class has a particular focus on collaboration and improvisation,” he says, “values which cut across all areas of performance, and many other human endeavors besides.” Students build an awareness of musical elements — pitch, rhythm, form — alongside dramatic ones: story, character, action. And because performances happen often, the work of learning a part and rehearsing it carries real weight; it is preparation for something that will actually happen in front of people. For Mr. A, the relationships come first. “The most meaningful part of this very meaningful job is the relationships I build with students,” he says. “These connections… are essential to building a healthy ensemble dynamic with each class, gaining the individual trust that will make side coaching possible, and creating a reservoir of good energy to be drawn upon during the difficult moments of every performance cycle.” Parkside’s small classes and individualized approach, he adds, make that kind of personal instruction possible “on a level far beyond any other school I have ever worked in.”

YOGA “Every movement has purpose” holds just as true downstairs from the gym, where Grant Henry spent this year building something new. Yogie Land, as he calls it, is grounded in Social Emotional Learning and Universal Design for Learning, and it asks less of children than mastering a pose and more of them than simply relaxing. “The true focus is on helping children regulate their emotions through breathwork, meditation, and interoceptive awareness,” Mr. Henry says, “learning to recognize and respond to the sensations within their own bodies.”

PHYSICAL EDUCATION Jakiem Swinger — Mr. Jay, to every student who has ever taken his class — describes the gym as “a judgment-free space where students of all abilities are encouraged to take risks and build confidence through movement.” Fundamental skills — running, jumping, throwing, catching, balancing — are taught at each student’s own pace, which means every child gets to experience real achievement, not just participation. But the skills being built go well beyond the physical. Cooperative games and team challenges become lessons in communication, selfregulation, teamwork, and empathy. Mistakes are treated as part of learning; effort is treated as the measure of success. “Physical Education is about so much more than physical fitness and sports,” says Mr. Jay. “It is a place where every child belongs, every movement has purpose, and every challenge builds confidence.”

The curriculum is led by a friendly guide named Yogie the Dogie, and it blends educational games, breathing exercises, recorded meditations, and visual media into what Mr. Henry calls a multisensory approach — “particularly effective for children with language-based learning differences, offering non-linguistic pathways for emotional understanding and self-regulation.” A child does not need the words for what they are feeling to learn, through Yogie Land, how to notice it and steady themselves anyway. “At its heart,” Mr. Henry says, “Yogie Land is about helping each child develop the ability to pause, take a deep breath, and truly understand what they’re feeling. In a world that moves quickly, these moments of awareness and calm are powerful tools — for learning, for relationships, and for life.”

One Philosophy, Four Rooms Walk from the art room to the gym, to yoga, or to the music and drama room, and the settings could not look more different — paintbrushes in one, a ropes course in another, a drum set in the third. But the underlying belief is identical in each: that a child who cannot yet find the words to explain themselves can still be reached, and can still be known, through what they make, how they move, and how they play. At Parkside, that is not an extracurricular idea. It is the curriculum.

The Evolution of Our Curriculum A conversation with Cathy Weeks, Director of Curriculum Parkside’s curriculum has changed a lot in forty years, but its purpose hasn’t changed at all. We asked Cathy Weeks, Director of Curriculum, to walk us through what’s different, what’s stayed the same, and where it’s headed next. Q: If you had to describe Parkside’s curriculum today to someone who has never seen it, where would you start? A: I think I’d start with how individualized it is. It’s not just that we group children by their learning needs — we really try to tailor the teaching to who our children are and what they care about. For example, we had a teacher notice that a student in their reading group is learning violin, and go find a book about a musical family, just to hook that particular child into reading. We do start with small groups, five to eight children for something like social studies or science, and for reading and math, and in some cases writing, we group by level and by need in groups that can be as small as two students and as many as six. But even within those small groups, there’s more tailoring happening — some of it inside the group, some of it as remediation outside it. It always comes back to looking at where each child is right now, and what they need to move forward.

Q: How has the curriculum changed since you’ve been here, or over Parkside’s forty years, as you understand that history? A: Social studies and science have gotten so much more robust than when I first started here almost fifteen years ago. At that time, there was a different culture in education generally. Teachers created everything themselves and did a lot of their planning work individually, so there wasn’t as much consistency from classroom to classroom. Now we have a full consultant model. Lisa Greenhut, who’s an educator at the American Museum of Natural History and was a curriculum developer at the Churchill School, puts together complete units for our teachers — the lesson plans, the web resources, the book titles, the projects, the materials, the essential questions, all in one consistent format. That has given teachers so much more to work from, and it has also freed them up to spend real time on children’s social-emotional development alongside the academics, which takes an enormous amount of thought on its own. We also brought the Writing Revolution into the program seven or eight years ago, when a group of us — me, our instructional coach at the time, Leslie, and a number of interested teachers — went through the full training together. This program gave us better structure and format around teaching writing, and the framework of students progressing from sentence to paragraph to essay level in their writing. Q: Is there a specific shift that stands out to you — a program we adopted, a tool we brought in, a moment the approach changed in a real way? A: I would say Woodin Math. This program was piloted several years ago and then we committed to it, because it turned out to be so much more accessible for the way our children think and learn. It definitely is a different way of teaching math, and it takes some adjusting on the parent side too. When those dot patterns start coming home, I think it can feel a little daunting at first. That’s part of why we run Woodin parent workshops every year, so families get an orientation to the program and receive support in how to help their children with it at home.

Leslie Thorne, Co-Head of School, who piloted the program herself, put it this way: “We did not choose Woodin because our students need ‘different math.’ We chose it because they need mathematics taught in a way that makes its underlying structure visible, meaningful, and memorable.” For children who can perform a procedure one day and seem to lose it the next, she says, Woodin gives them a conceptual framework to return to — something to fall back on, rather than a string of disconnected steps to re-memorize. Q: With so much having changed in the tools and the specifics, what has stayed exactly the same about how Parkside teaches, from 1986 to today? A: I’d say the compassion and the way we build everything around student needs. Parkside teaches and works with children with an enormous amount of care and understanding, and that really comes from the top and filters all the way throughout the building. The way people here talk about children, and interact with them, is genuinely unusual. It’s just not like that everywhere, and I don’t think that’s changed at all in forty years.

Q: How do we make sure a strategy that works for a child in speech or OT actually makes it into what happens in the classroom, and vice versa? A: Making sure a strategy generalizes is a huge goal for us, because our children do tend to compartmentalize. Our therapists are always working to help a child connect what they do in a session to what they’re doing in the classroom. But there’s just as much communication running the other way — teachers and therapists talk constantly, so if a teacher tries something new and it gets great results, the classroom team usually knows about it that same week, whether it’s showing up in writing or in social studies or wherever it’s useful, and then therapists can build on the success in their appointments. Our team meetings formalize a lot of this too, since they’re documented and we can always go back and review them. Much of what is discussed in those meetings is about classroom culture and social-emotional growth, but academic concerns do come up too, and when they do, they get looked at from whatever angle makes sense for that child. Q: Why do our students need multisensory, explicit instruction in particular? A: Honestly, I think most children would benefit from multisensory, explicit instruction — that’s what the whole ‘reading wars’ conversation nationally has been about. For a long time, these methods got kind of siloed into the learningdisabilities field, until people started realizing that most children don’t just pick up reading by osmosis or by exposure to interesting books, they need specific skills taught explicitly, through more than one sense at once. That approach is coming back into fashion now, and we’re seeing new reading curricula built around it. At Parkside we’ve been doing it for forty years, so in a way we’ve been ahead of the curve the whole time. And I really do think it works at every level, for every kind of learner, not just the children we serve.

Q: Where do you see Parkside’s curriculum heading over the next several years? A: Overall I’m proud of where we are with our curriculum in all subject areas. I think the quality of what we have to offer is strong across the board, and now it’s really about continuing to get better at what we do.

Q: Is there a moment when you saw the curriculum “work” for a student in a way that stayed with you? A: There’s one story that’s always stayed with me, even though it’s from a few years back now. There were two fifth floor students who were very reserved — hard to engage, reluctant to produce work in reading or math or writing. They were more observers than participants, most days. Then we brought a new science unit to their classroom about the moon, with all these wonderful web resources, and something just sparked in both of them. They wanted to come up to the front of the room and help run the simulation, which as I remember was a kind of virtual moon walk. And their excitement transferred to other academic areas — they started writing more, reading nonfiction about the moon, bringing that interest into every subject we could connect it to. For the first time, they were the ones leading the discussion instead of sitting back from it.

Leslie and I talk a lot about where we want to take that growth over the next several years. Independence is a big piece of it — strengthening executive functioning so children can increasingly plan, organize, problem-solve, and manage more complex, multi-step projects on their own. We also want to create more opportunities for student leadership and agency, helping children use their voices, take responsibility, and see themselves as capable leaders in our community. Digital literacy is another area we’re thinking hard about. It’s not just about limiting screen time — we want our children to become thoughtful consumers of technology, understanding how what they watch and engage with affects their attention, learning, emotions, and relationships. And through all of it, we’ll keep strengthening the integration that has always made us distinctly Parkside — bringing together academics, language, regulation, social-emotional development, movement, and the arts. We don’t see Parkside becoming a different school. We see it becoming an even more intentional version of the school we’ve spent forty years building: continually learning from research, refining our practice, and preparing children to leave us with greater confidence, self-knowledge, and independence.

I’d also put last year’s Fishtank ELA pilot in that same category. Students were tackling genuinely challenging books — Chinese folktales, poetry, Greek myths, books we weren’t even sure they’d want to engage with — and they loved it. Children who had been, over the years, quite reluctant to participate or engage had their interest sparked, and they couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.

How Admissions Has Evolved By Andie Levinger, Director of Placement This year, we have leaned into collaboration as a key aspect of the admissions process. As we build a vibrant school community and culture where all children are seen and heard, we aim to understand children deeply even from our initial interactions. Getting to know someone requires curiosity, deep listening, and good observation. How does collaboration in admissions foster that get-to-know-you process? Open and extensive conversations with a child’s current team — parents, current teachers, therapists, and doctors — add nuance to what we observe of a child’s behavior. Interdisciplinary playdates, when applicants visit Parkside, generate observations from different professional vantage points. The better we know children even before they enter our red doors as students, the more seamlessly we can meet their needs and help them flourish as students, friends, and community members.

Inside the Classroom How we teach reading, and one project that brought it to life Contributors: Jacqueline Ament, Emily Acquista, and Julia Scheibe

HOW WE TEACH READING At Parkside, reading instruction meets every child exactly where they are. For students still building foundational decoding skills, teachers use M-RAP, a phonics-based program grounded in the idea that “teaching is not simply telling.” Students learn consistent anchors for how the mouth forms each sound, then use those anchors to stretch words apart and sound them out — building, as 3-3 Co-Teacher Julia Scheibe puts it, “a clear pathway from speech to language, mouth movements, comprehension, and ultimately, reading.” What that looks like in practice is thoroughly multisensory. A student might look at a letter, say its sound, and form its shape out of play-dough, or trace it in a sensory bag filled with paint. Word-building drills move from an isolated sound, to that sound in a word, to the word in a full sentence. In an activity called “flips,” visuals anchor word sounds and spelling to activate short-term memory; on a “stretching board,” students move a finger across the page to lengthen and blend each sound together. “Overall,” says Head Teacher Emily Acquista, “lessons make sure both students’ bodies and minds are activated.” Once decoding is secure, instruction shifts toward comprehension — taught through the BRAIDY Story Grammar Marker, which breaks a story into its parts (character, setting, problem, solution, feelings) using visual markers students recognize through repeated exposure. “As students become stronger decoders,” Acquista explains, “comprehension is built upon through visual aids that help

to break down character feelings and perspectives, and increase awareness of literary elements and strategies.” This is, in the end, why the approach works. A traditional classroom moves at a fixed pace and often assumes students will pick up patterns on their own; Parkside’s teachers do the opposite. “We are able to really take the time to work through each skill so that students have a strong foundation, before moving on to the next skill,” says Acquista, “and no one is left behind or left confused.” Scheibe sees the results daily: “It is amazing to see firsthand their confidence flourish as they eagerly and fluently read aloud to the class, a task that was once a difficult challenge.”

A PROJECT THAT BROUGHT IT TO LIFE: GREEK MYTHS ON STAGE In Jacqueline Ament’s 5-2 classroom, reading comprehension this year took the form of Pandora, Arachne, and Echo & Narcissus. Students dug into classic Greek myths, interpreting different characters’ perspectives and writing their own opinions on how the Greeks made sense of their world — the kind of literary analysis that could, on paper, sound like any classroom exercise. What made it unforgettable was what came next: a full Readers Theater performance, entirely shaped by the students themselves. “The group shared ideas together,” Ament says, “from which props to use to the background scenery to how to deliver a line, how best the character would move on stage.” The class was so engaged that they staged the myths again and again, rotating roles each time so that every student brought their own interpretation to a part. “The kids talked about this unit,” Ament says, “all school year.” Down the hall, a different room found the same spark in an entirely different subject — designing original animals, complete with invented life cycles and habitats, to bring a nonfiction unit on the animal kingdom to life. Curiosity like this, it turns out, is not confined to any one classroom, subject, or reading level.

A Place Where Every Student Belongs Culture, identity, and connection, woven into how students learn By Courtney Takahashi, DEIB Coordinator At The Parkside School, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are woven into the way students learn, create, and connect with one another. Throughout the 2025–2026 school year, students explored cultures, traditions, histories, and identities through classroom curriculum, hands-on projects, literature, art, and schoolwide experiences.

introduced students to its principles, symbols, and celebration of family, community, culture, and heritage. Through these experiences, students were able to move beyond simply recognizing holidays on a calendar and instead engage with the stories, values, art, and traditions connected to them.

This work began from the very first days of school. Across departments, classrooms were provided with a range of skin-tone crayons and art materials so that students could see themselves, their families, and their communities represented in their creative work. This simple but intentional practice helped establish an important message at the beginning of the year: every student belongs at Parkside, and every identity deserves to be seen and celebrated.

This year, Parkside was also fortunate to welcome members of our own community to deepen students’ learning. Rachel Levine, Associate Director of Family Programs at The Jewish Museum and a Parkside parent led an all-school assembly introducing students to the traditions and meaning of Hanukkah. The learning continued beyond the assembly: Rachel provided classroom materials that allowed students to create their own menorahs and extended the experience to Parkside families by providing complimentary passes to visit The Jewish Museum. The collaboration connected school, family, and community learning, giving students an opportunity to explore Jewish culture through both hands-on activities and the arts.

Students explored a wide range of cultural traditions through hands-on classroom experiences. In recognition of Diwali, students learned about the Festival of Lights and created their own diyas, connecting art-making with lessons about the meaning and traditions surrounding the holiday. For Indigenous Peoples’ Day, classrooms explored Indigenous histories, cultures, and perspectives, helping students deepen their understanding of the people and communities who have shaped our country — and how Indigenous people are still present in New York today. Students also learned about Lunar New Year and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, providing opportunities to explore the traditions, stories, contributions, and experiences of AANHPI communities. Lessons surrounding Kwanzaa

At Parkside, DEIB is not limited to a particular month, holiday, or event. It is reflected in the materials students use, the stories they read, the questions they ask, and the experiences they share. By incorporating culturally responsive learning throughout the school year, we continue to build a community where students feel represented, remain curious about others, and understand that our differences are an important part of what makes Parkside stronger.

Board Spotlight

The volunteers who steward Parkside’s mission, finances, and future Every school has a Board of Directors. Not every board is made up, as much of ours is, of people who found their way here through a child who needed exactly what Parkside offers. Below, meet the volunteers who give their time, their expertise, and often their own family’s story to keep this school strong for the next forty years.

Nischal Pai P’19 President Nischal Pai brings nearly three decades of experience in asset management and wealth management to his role as Board President. A Managing Director and Senior Investment Strategist at OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, he previously managed more than $1.5 billion in equity strategies at U.S. Trust/Bank of America. Nischal holds an MBA in Finance and an MS in Physics from the University of Akron and is a CFA charterholder. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, their two teenagers, and their dog, Lola.

Alan Pearson P’01 Vice President Alan Pearson and his wife, Leslie, joined the Parkside community in 1996, when their son Jacob started at the school. Alan joined the Board in 2008 and served as President from 2014 to 2024. A CPA, he spent his career as Chief Financial Officer for a large international construction company before retiring in 2015. He now contributes his financial expertise and deep institutional memory as one of the Board’s longest-serving members.

Brook Cuddy P’12 Treasurer Brook Cuddy has more than twenty years of experience investing in public and private equity, currently as a Partner at Mutima Capital Management, focused on emerging and frontier markets. He previously worked at JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch. Brook has served as a Parkside board member since 2011 and currently serves as Treasurer, a commitment rooted in his daughter’s experience at the school from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Corinne Bilerman P’23 Secretary Corinne Bilerman is a human resources and talent development executive currently at Pagaya. She previously held leadership roles at FanDuel and worked earlier at American Express and Goldman Sachs. She holds a B.Com. from McGill and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A Parkside parent whose son, Jake, graduated in 2023, Corinne joined the Board in 2019 and served as Secretary through June 2026.

Cindy Cardinal

Lucinda “Cindy” Cardinal is an attorney who practiced employment and labor law for more than twenty years before moving into public service, including as Chief of Staff to New York City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, District 6. She holds a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a B.A. from Barnard College. A longtime friend of the school, Cindy joined the Board in 2017 and stepped down in 2026.

Tom Casey

Tom Casey is a founding board member of The Parkside School and has served as its Facility Manager for all forty years of the school’s history. He holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Illinois, Urbana. Tom’s involvement began through his wife, Leslie Thorne, who co-founded Parkside with Albina Miller shortly after the two met in a graduate teaching course. His hands-on experience in construction and building maintenance has shaped every space Parkside has ever called home.

Ethan Dabbs P’20 Ethan Dabbs is a Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where he leads the firm’s biopharma work across North America and serves as its Northeast System lead. He joined BCG in 2006 after earlier roles at PwC and Agency.com. Ethan holds a B.A. in Psychology from Yale and an MBA from the Wharton School. A Parkside parent whose son, James, graduated in 2020, Ethan joined the Board in 2019 and serves on its Finance and Governance Committees.

Peter Halloran P’13 Peter Halloran is the founder and CEO of Pharos Financial Group, an alternative investment firm he established in 1997, and Executive Chairman of Titanium Exploration Partners. Before that, he spent a decade on Wall Street at Salomon Brothers, Morgan Grenfell and CS First Boston. He holds a B.A. from Yale. A Parkside parent whose daughter, Catherine, graduated in 2013, Peter joined the Board in 2013 and will chair the new Development Committee beginning this fall.

Sarah Krissoff P’25 Sarah Krissoff is a trial attorney at Cozen O’Connor, specializing in white-collar criminal defense, investigations, and business litigation, following more than a decade as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She holds degrees from Brown University and Columbia Law School. A Parkside parent whose son, Jacob, graduated in 2025, Sarah has seen firsthand the impact of the school’s approach and is honored to help steward its mission as a member of the Board.

Stephanie Perry P’21’23 Stephanie Perry joined the Parkside community through her daughter, Zoe, a 2021 graduate, and her son, Liam, a 2023 graduate. Crediting the school with the social, emotional, and language growth she watched both children experience, she joined the Board to help Parkside continue serving children with language and speech needs from all communities. A passionate advocate for children in the education law sector, Stephanie holds a J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law and is trained in dispute resolution and mediation. She serves professionally as Senior National Director of Entertainment Contracts at SAG-AFTRA, and lives in Harlem with her husband, William, and their children.

Adam Rosen Adam Rosen is a New York City real estate executive and founding partner of Koeppel Rosen LLC, a commercial real estate management and leasing firm he co-founded in 2014. He also serves as a partner at Rosen Equities, his family’s real estate investment company. Adam is a graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he concentrated in sociology, and brings a multigenerational family legacy in real estate to his work on the Board. His sons, Miles and Leon, are current Parksides students.

Peter Ticali Peter Ticali is a martial arts trainer and the President of Creative Impressions Group. A longtime family friend of Albina Miller, Peter began working with Parkside in its very earliest days, helping Albina and Leslie create the school’s letterhead and stationery. He has also led CPR trainings for Parkside’s staff over the years. Peter has served on the Board since 1986, the year Parkside was founded, making him one of its longest-serving members.

UNDERSTANDING

the Parkside Model

An honest look at how Parkside is funded and why giving matters The Parkside School is one of only a few remaining schools in New York City for children with language-based learning differences that is a state-funded (853) school. Families apply and are admitted through the same kind of process as any private school. Once a child is enrolled and funding has been approved by the Department of Education (DOE), a family’s ability to pay is no longer what determines whether their child can attend. That model is central to who we are. It is also, increasingly, rare. And it depends on something many families never see: the gap between what the state pays for a Parkside education, and what a Parkside education actually costs.

THE 853 RATE Each year, New York State sets a tuition reimbursement rate for schools like Parkside, known as the 853 rate, after the section of state law that governs it. For the 2025–2026 school year, that rate was $69,626 per student, covering our ten-month academic program and two-month summer session. That state-set rate forms the foundation of our budget, but it does not reflect the individual needs of each child or the full cost of providing the highly individualized, therapy-integrated education that every Parkside student receives. The difference between what the state provides and what it actually costs to educate our students is one of the reasons philanthropic support is so important.

WHAT THE RATE DOESN’T CAPTURE Public schools are required to provide the special education and related services called for in a student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP), alongside the standard academic and enrichment areas every student receives. As an approved private school receiving public funds, Parkside is held to those same New York State Education Department Part 200 requirements — but what distinguishes our program is how those services come together. Rather than treating instruction and therapy as separate tracks, our teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and specialty teachers work collaboratively throughout the school day, addressing each child’s academic, developmental, social-emotional, language, motor and regulatory needs as one integrated program, not a collection of separately scheduled services. That distinction matters, because it helps explain why the actual cost of educating a Parkside student extends well beyond a conventional classroom-teacher model. We are not simply delivering an academic program alongside a list of related services; we are operating a single, highly integrated educational and therapeutic program, built around specialized personnel and small-group instruction. The state-set 853 rate does not increase simply because the cost of providing this level of individualized support is greater — and that difference between what we receive and what the program actually costs is what we call the tuition gap.

THE TRUE COST OF A PARKSIDE EDUCATION Based on our FY2026 audited financials, Parkside’s total cost of operating the school — education, therapies, administration, and the fundraising required to sustain it — came to roughly $88,800 per student – for 12 months. Against a state rate of $69,626, that leaves a gap of over $19,000 for every child we serve, every year.

WHEN THE GAP FALLS TO A FAMILY For some Parkside families, the 853 funding process begins before their child ever walks through our red doors. When the state has already approved funding, the family can begin at Parkside knowing that tuition will be covered at the state-approved rate, based on their child’s attendance, and no additional money is allocated for lawyer fees. For other families, the process takes time. A child may need to begin school while the family is still waiting for the city/state to approve funding. In 2025-2026, twelve Parkside families began their child’s education at Parkside before funding had

been approved. These families paid a deposit and tuition out of pocket while Albina Miller worked alongside them—participating in IEP meetings, communicating directly with the Department of Education, and advocating for the funding their child needed. Once funding is approved, the family is reimbursed by Parkside for any monies paid over the amount the city has approved. The 853 process ultimately makes it possible for families to access the specialized education and services their children need at Parkside, but reaching that point can require time, advocacy, and financial commitment from families while funding is being secured.

We are deeply grateful to the many families who, in that moment, choose to give some or all of that reimbursement back to Parkside through the Annual Fund.

CARTER AND CONNORS FUNDING You may notice a line in our financial statements for “Connors/Carter funded” tuition — $502,645 this past year. These are named for two established legal pathways in New York special education law that exist for exactly the situation described on the previous page. Carter funding, named for a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court decision, allows a family to pay tuition and later seek reimbursement through a hearing. Connors funding, named for a subsequent case, allows the Department of Education to pay a school directly on a family’s behalf when they cannot afford to pay tuition upfront. Both exist because the process of securing funding for a specialized placement like Parkside’s can take time — and families and schools alike need a bridge while it does.

WHAT PHILANTHROPY ACTUALLY BUYS None of this is only about closing a budget line. It is about what that gap allows Parkside to offer every child: classes of eight students with a 4:1 teacher-to-student ratio; occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, and social work built into the school day rather than pulled out of it; and a level of individualized attention that even many fully private specialized schools, charging families directly, do not provide at this depth. The state rate makes a Parkside education possible. Our community’s giving is what makes it exceptional.

Forty years ago, Albina Miller and Leslie Thorne built a school on the belief that every child deserves to be taught in the way they learn best, regardless of what their family could afford. The gap between what the state provides and what that belief actually costs has never fully closed on its own. Each year, our community’s giving closes much of that gap. For the rest, we have leaned on our endowment — this past year, about 6% of our budget. We do so gladly, to keep our promise. But an endowment is meant to secure a school’s future, not to cover its everyday costs. The more our annual giving grows, the less we need to draw on it, and the stronger and more sustainable Parkside becomes. That is what your support makes possible: a community choosing, year after year, to keep a forty-year-old promise, and to make it last.

To every family, alum, and friend who helped close that gap this year through the Annual Fund, the 40th Anniversary Gala, and so many quieter acts of generosity in between, thank you.

FINANCES 25-26 INCOME Tution (State funded)................................................. $5,194,309 Tuition (Connors/Carter funded)............................... $502,645 Governmental grants....................................................... $64,215 Contributions..................................................................$679,734 Special events, net of direct expenses...................... $325,398 Other/Miscellaneoush income....................................... $77,174 TOTAL INCOME................................................ $6,843,475 EXPENSES Program Services (Education)................................. $6,043,180 Management & General............................................ $1,008,841 Fundraising...................................................................... $227,210 TOTAL EXPENSES.............................................. $7,279,231

FUND USES Compensation & Benefits, 87% Building &Operations, 5% General & Administrative, 4% Fundraising & Events, 2% Program & Academic Supplies, 2%

This year, returns from our modest endowment covered about 6% of Parkside’s operating budget, but the endowment exists to secure our future, not to pay everyday costs. The more annual giving closes that gap, the more the endowment can do the work it was built for, and that is one of the clearest reasons your support matters.

FUND SOURCES Tuition, 78% Contributions, 9% Endowment, 6%* Special Events, net, 5% Givernmental Grants, 1% Other Income, 1%

CONTRIBUTIONS 25-26 ANNUAL FUND BY DONOR TYPE Parents.............................................................................. $255,718 Alumni Families.............................................................. $158,606 Corporations & Foundations....................................... $101,676 Board of Directors............................................................ $24,755 Grandparents & Special Persons...................................$24,370 Current & Former Staff.................................................... $10,434 Friends................................................................................ $15,489 TOTAL ANNUAL FUND.........................................$591,048 OTHER GIVING 40th Anniversary Gala...................................................$534,227 All-Alumni Reunion...........................................................$14,787 Teacher Time Fundraiser.................................................. $5,545 Parents Association............................................................ $2,819 Social Work..........................................................................$3,000 Yearbook..............................................................................$1,000 General Fund.............................................................................$85 TOTAL OTHER GIVING.........................................$561,463 TOTAL GIVING................................................... $1,152,511

Participation PARENTS

ALUMNI

BOARD

90%

28%

100%

Annual Fund

99%

51%

100%

Overall

Thank you.

“Thank you for creating a rare gem, Parkside, where love, hope, and professionalism transform the lives of children and their entire families.” — The Issler Geron Family

ANNUAL FUND Bridging the gap and supporting everything from staff salaries and benefits to classroom technology, supplies and curriculum, the Annual Fund is Parkside’s fundraising priority. We extend our sincerest thanks to every donor who gave in response to our annual appeal.

Leadership Donors 1986 FOUNDERS CLUB $50,000+ Adebayo and Amelia Ogunlesi + Adam and Perry Rosen TUITION GAP PARTNERS $22,000+ Mary Liz Alexander ++++ Carl Ogunlesi ‘96 Anni and James Robertson RED DOOR SOCIETY $15,000+ Ethan and Jenna Dabbs ++ Peter Gilligan and Sohini Chowdhury + Divya Mathew and John Philip Susan Miller + Thomas and Bonnie Uger CIRCLE OF FRIENDS $5,000+ Anonymous (3) Alex Buly and Luiza Kurzyna Richard Chern and Krista A. Miller Jay Crosby and Susanna Stephens Jonathan and Jamie Holland + Matthew Keegan and Kimberly Caparso David and Jodi Klaristenfeld Alison Lankenau ++++ Tongwei Liu and Julia Tung Maury Miller and Vanita Shastry + Ira and Paula Resnick +++ Lane Schaffer and Karen Rabinowicz ++ Brian Sica and Anne Barreca Jorge Sosa and Sarah Taylor

Consecutive Year Giving + 5 or more years ++ 10 or more years +++ 15 or more years ++++ 20 or more years

Jon and Jenny Steingart ++ Loretta Stratton Lois and Barbara Whitman ++++ Kurt Yang and Annie Liu Kye Ye and Shu Tu CLASSROOM PATRONS $2,500+ Vipul Adlakha and Ruchy Gupta + Jorden Bickham + Brook and C. Zoe Cuddy ++++ Thomas Delaney and Patrick Mullin ++ Anton and Vinaya Diener John Dwyer and Grainne Saxe Jimmy Feng and Harvinder Pawar Alexander Freed and Elizabeth Nesoff Chris Horger and Sarah Carpenter Nikolaos Kagkalos and Niki Zacharopoulou Serhat and Beth Krause Cathy Lankenau-Weeks and Chris Weeks ++ Eugene and Laura Mazzaro ++ Christopher and Deborah Milite ++++ Maria Mitchell Ryan and Tracey Nash Michael and Claire Stevick

Supporters Norberto Abbate and Corinne Gallo Rachael Abrams Andrew and Alison Adler Chantal Aflalo and Michael Weinstein Tansel and Sila Alan + Sol Alberione Danit Almog + Richard and Carol Alston ++ Marc and Elaine Altholz Jacqueline Ament and Nelson Berberena ++++ Anonymous (8)

Ziv and Megan Arazi + David and Elli Basner Stacy Basner Concetta Bencivengo Rachel and Mark Berman Stuart and Dina Berrin James and Kathleen Bowers Beth Brenzel + Todd Bressi and Amy Lempert + G. David Brinton and Janet Mattick ++++ Martha Brown Christopher Browne and Caroline Seklir Patrick Brune and Fred Greenblatt ++ Richard Buckholz and Heidi Bush + Rhea Bundrant and Nicola Bailey Maya Burkova Hollis Burridge and Michaela Schwartz Gordon and Patsy Bussard Cindy Cardinal and Daniel Tamkin + Brad and Ashley Carlin + Frances Lo Casto Tim and Paula Cavanaugh + Russell Chan ‘11 Frank Chaney and Ronda Wist Raghav Chari and Isha Gary + David Chitayat and Xhingyu Chen + Lawrence and Dianne Cohler-Esses Sherry Cohn Kevin Collins and Leonor Lorenzi + Jeffrey and Alana Cooperman Steven Copulsky and Marie Zehngebot Paul and Janet Cord + Karena Cronin Rafael Cumberbatch and Nicole Sadio-Cumberbatch Brenda Davis and Duane Pinder + Charles Davis and Cynthia Cosme Paul Devlin and Gretchen Morgenson + Steven Diener Sheldon and Laurie Dosik Nick and Karen Dragani Josh Drimmer and Christine Lee Brett Edelstein ‘04 Coretta Essilfie April Everett Shelley and Steven Faro Michael and Irina Fazio Elena Fennell Jack and Marianne Ferraro Marc Filoche

Aviva and Nathaniel Fintz Gary Fogelman and Sharon Selby Adam Francique and Pebel Segura-Francique + Joan and Kevin Frawley Brian Freyburger and Sylvia Lee Erez Geron and Orna Issler + Alissa Ginsberg and Julie Wood Simon Glick and Leah Edmunds + Mark and Leslie Godridge + Daniel and Sara Golden + Kerry Golden Yelena Goltsman Lyosha Gorshkov Daniel and Beverly Green ++ Malcolm Green and Denise Doig Thomas and Mary Jane Haher ++++ Keith Haller and Randi Hirschberg + Peter and Margarita Halloran +++ Alessandra Haskin and Richard Miller Jody Heher David and Alexis Hill + Patrick Hoffman and Reyhan Harmanci Peter and Lisa Holsberg + Rebecca Hornstein ++ John and Rosalie Hughes Joel and Alissa Isaacson Anna Jennings + Marco and Mayra Kalisch + Anthony Kapp and Alexander Sikkema-Kapp ++ David Katz Michael Katz and Irene Moy Morton Katz Tali Ann Katz Asma Khaliq and Aamir Sofi Loretta Kloda Robin and Joel Kozicka Jim Kunen and Lisa Karlin + Dominique Laffont Andrew Lambert +++ Iredeoya Lavezzari Ben and Wendy Lehmann Christopher and Esther Leon-Wales Amy Levine Jeffrey and Rachel Levine + Susannah Levine Andrea Levinger-Phelan and Peter Phelan + Richard Liescheidt Joseph and Kay Lindenfield + Carolyn and Michael Malcolm Olga Mamaeva

Stu Markowitz + Claudia Marks ++++ Alfred and Erna Mastanduno Dante Matero Richard and Amy McDaid + Judy and Efrain Mendez Grant and Christina Miles Albina Miller and Preston Faro ++++ Akiko Miyake + Dorothea Moore +++ David and Barbara Morris + Boaz Mourad and Stacey Matthias + Ozier Muhammad and Lisa Redd + Paul and Linda Mulhauser Christine Munnelly Mary Murphy David Nachman Lola Narzullaeva Corey Nascenzi Joseph and Carol Nye Kevin and Doreen Odell Michael and Tanzilya Oren Nischal and Aline Pai ++ Dante L. Panora ‘09 Joe and Tina Paresi Josette Paresi Mehul Patel Fabien and Oksana Pavlowsky + Alan and Leslie Pearson +++ Stephen Pearson + Cary and Elyse Pollock ++++ Jimmy and Rhonda Quan + Natalie Rose ‘14 Nathan Rosen and Priva Simon + Jeffrey Rothman and Nancy Sacks ++ Roisin Saxe Julie Sazant ++ Marissa Schattner

Jane Schnee Minna and Mark Schneider Jessica Scovel and Tony Low Simon and Elana Shafir + Chakrakodi and Mangala Shastry + Paul and Claudia Shaum Mark Silberberg and Tracy Butler Robert Silverstein and Wanda Olson + Andor Skotnes and Teresa Meade ++ Darren Skotnes ‘88 Hayward and Barbara Smith + Andrew and Sabrina Snyder Joan Snyder and Maggie Cammer Alexander Soiefer ‘13 Nicholas Stern and Barbara Samuels + Matthew Stevick Nancy and Glenn Stevick Rob Tannenbaum and Gabriela Shelley + Andrew and Suzanne Taub Gilbert Taylor and Linwood Brown Susan Thomas and Steven Hutchinson Leslie Thorne and Tom Casey ++++ Katie Tuss + Marianna Vandysheva Rachel Vannucci and Mick Bonde ++ Joseph and Ivy Venafro + Johann von Hoffmann and Leah Shalev Dana Wasserman-Brett and Brian Brett Patrick and Suzannah Weir + Matthew and Joanna Weiss Cynthia Williamson Kathryn Wolfson and Howard Jacobson Christine Yen Jie Yu and Xina Ren + Rinat Yunayev Diane Zeitlin Antoine and Michelle Zemor

Alumni Family Donors Andrew and Alison Adler Chantal Aflalo and Michael Weinstein Mary Liz Alexander ++++ Anonymous (2) Ziv and Megan Arazi + David and Elli Basner Stuart and Dina Berrin Jorden Bickham + James and Kathleen Bowers Beth Brenzel + Todd Bressi and Amy Lempert + G. David Brinton and Janet Mattick ++++ Martha Brown Richard Buckholz and Heidi Bush + Hollis Burridge and Michaela Schwartz Brad and Ashley Carlin + Russell Chan ‘11 Frank Chaney and Ronda Wist Raghav Chari and Isha Gary + Lawrence and Dianne Cohler-Esses Sherry Cohn Kevin Collins and Leonor Lorenzi + Steven Copulsky and Marie Zehngebot Paul and Janet Cord + Brook and C. Zoe Cuddy ++++ Ethan and Jenna Dabbs ++ Brenda Davis and Duane Pinder + Thomas Delaney and Patrick Mullin ++ Paul Devlin and Gretchen Morgenson + Sheldon and Laurie Dosik Nick and Karen Dragani Coretta Essilfie Joan and Kevin Frawley Erez Geron and Orna Issler + Simon Glick and Leah Edmunds + Mark and Leslie Godridge + Daniel and Beverly Green ++ Thomas and Mary Jane Haher ++++ Peter and Margarita Halloran +++ David and Alexis Hill + Peter and Lisa Holsberg + Rebecca Hornstein ++ John and Rosalie Hughes Joel and Alissa Isaacson Marco and Mayra Kalisch + Michael Katz and Irene Moy Robin and Joel Kozicka

Andrew Lambert +++ Alison Lankenau ++++ Ben and Wendy Lehmann Christopher and Esther Leon-Wales Susannah Levine Joseph and Kay Lindenfield + Tongwei Liu and Julia Tung Carolyn and Michael Malcolm Claudia Marks ++++ Eugene and Laura Mazzaro ++ Richard and Amy McDaid + Christopher and Deborah Milite ++++ Maria Mitchell Akiko Miyake + Boaz Mourad and Stacey Matthias + Ozier Muhammad and Lisa Redd + Paul and Linda Mulhauser Ryan and Tracey Nash Joseph and Carol Nye Kevin and Doreen Odell Adebayo and Amelia Ogunlesi + Carl Ogunlesi ‘96 Nischal and Aline Pai ++ Dante L. Panora ‘09 Fabien and Oksana Pavlowsky + Alan and Leslie Pearson +++ Cary and Elyse Pollock ++++ Jimmy and Rhonda Quan + Ira and Paula Resnick +++ Natalie Rose ‘14 Nathan Rosen and Priva Simon + Julie Sazant ++ Lane Schaffer and Karen Rabinowicz ++ Minna and Mark Schneider Paul and Claudia Shaum Mark Silberberg and Tracy Butler Robert Silverstein and Wanda Olson + Andor Skotnes and Teresa Meade ++ Darren Skotnes ‘88 Hayward and Barbara Smith + Joan Snyder and Maggie Cammer Alexander Soiefer ‘13 Jon and Jenny Steingart ++ Nicholas Stern and Barbara Samuels + Rob Tannenbaum and Gabriela Shelley + Andrew and Suzanne Taub Matthew and Joanna Weiss Kathryn Wolfson and Howard Jacobson Antoine and Michelle Zemor

Corporation & Foundation Donors The Abner Rosen Foundation American Express Apple + Arnhold Foundation, Inc. ++++ Bank of America ++ Broadridge Canva Dotdash Meredith F5 Inc. The Frank V. Sica and Colleen McMahon Foundation Freedom 3 Capital The Hilda Mullen Foundation ++ Ira M. Resnick Foundation ++++ Kule-Korgood and Associates Marsh Meta + Morgan Stanley + NBC Universal Parkside Parents Association + Polak & Guerrero Fund The Prudential Foundation Matching Gifts Russell Reynolds Associates TIAA Serves The Walt Disney Company Foundation Yahoo Inc.

TRIBUTE GIFTS Throughout our 40th Anniversary year, members of the Parkside community made gifts in honor and in memory of those who hold special meaning to them. We are grateful to the following donors, and we are honored to recognize those they chose to celebrate and remember.

Memorial Gifts

Honorary Gifts

In Memory of Marquita Hannibal-Francique Adam Francique

In Honor of Harish Ahilan ’14 Para Ahilan and Nirilla Anthonimuthu

In Memory of Helen, Nettie, Mildred, and Irma April Everett

In Honor of Cindy Cardinal and Dan Tamkin Freedom 3 Capital

In Memory of Andrew Rosenbloom Susannah Levine

In Honor of Ellis Carter Cynthia Williamson

In Memory of Reenah Schwartz Hollis Burridge and Michaela Schwartz

In Honor of Tom Casey Christopher and Deborah Milite In Honor of Anton and Vinaya Diener Steven Diener In Honor of Olive Golden Kerry Golden Daniel and Sara Golden In Honor of Albina Miller Christine Munnelly Mary Murphy In Honor of Albina Miller and Leslie Thorne David and Alexis Hill John and Rosalie Hughes Christopher and Deborah Milite Maria Mitchell In Honor of The Speech and Language Department Patrick Brune and Fred Greenblatt In Honor of John Taylor Jorge Sosa and Sarah Taylor In Honor of Ethan Weiss ’21 Sherry Cohn Matthew and Joanna Weiss

40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA On April 22, 2026, the Parkside community gathered at Capitale in New York City to celebrate four decades of The Parkside School at our 40th Anniversary Gala. Proceeds from the evening support the Fund for Teacher Excellence, ensuring that Parkside can continue to attract, retain, and support the exceptional educators who make our work possible. With deep gratitude, we recognize the sponsors, patrons, donors, and volunteers whose generosity made this milestone celebration a resounding success.

Gala Sponsors

PARKSIDE BRONZE SPONSORS $5,000

VISIONARY PRESENTING SPONSORS $50,000

David Chitayat and Xhingyu Chen Emily Faro Diana Gersten & Law Offices of Regina Skyer & Associates, LLP Mark and Leslie Godridge Serhat and Beth Krause Albina Miller and Preston Faro Riemer & Braunstein, LLP David Salsberg & Pediatric Assessment, Learning & Support (PALS) Kelly and Ray Spitzley Leslie Thorne and Tom Casey Craig and Robin Unterberg Will Whitesell and Felicia La Forgia The Parents of Class 3-1 The Parents of Class 3-2 The Parents of Class 3-4

Anonymous (2) Alison Lankenau & Cathy Lankenau-Weeks FOUNDERS PLATINUM SPONSORS $25,000 Mary Liz Alexander Charles and Hilary Reyl & Select Equity COMMUNITY GOLD SPONSORS $15,000 Marcia McCabe Ira and Paula Resnick Thomas and Bonnie Uger ANNIVERSARY SILVER SPONSORS $10,000 Jon and Jenny Steingart Gabe Wiener Foundation

40 FOR 40 SPONSORS $2,500 Richard Chern and Krista A. Miller Jimmy Feng and Harvinder Pawar Anthony Kapp and Alexander Sikkema-Kapp Sophie Laffont Bob Maclay and Karen Lundry Maury Miller and Vanita Shastry Michael and Diana Nahmias Chris Weeks Fernanda Weeks & Wendy Weeks

Gala Patrons With gratitude, we thank the many patrons whose ticket purchases, paddle-raise gifts, and auction participation supported the evening. Vipul Adlakha and Ruchy Gupta Andrew and Alison Adler Para Ahilan and Nirilla Anthonimuthu Tansel and Sila Alan Sol Alberione Danit Almog Jacqueline Ament and Nelson Berberena Anonymous Parkside Parents Association Donna Assumma Mike Bako and Sara Wingate Bako Benjamin Basner ‘14 Norman and Arlene Basner Stacy Basner Michael and Corinne Bilerman Andrew Boss and Sarah Krissoff James and Kathleen Bowers Beth Brenzel Audrey and Jake Brodlie Alla Brouk Heidi Broumand Martha Brown Christopher Browne and Caroline Seklir Valerie Bruno-Olynyk and Max Olynyk Alex Buly and Luiza Kurzyna Cindy Cardinal and Daniel Tamkin Brad and Ashley Carlin Ash Carter and Danielle Mendoza Patricia Casey Carrie Catapano Kristine Champagne Paul Chew and Bindia Malhotra Simeon Chew ‘18

Marsha Cole Catherine Constable Thomas Cornack Quincy Cotton and David Alpert Jacklyn Covell Glenn Cox and Alisha Ostacher Cox Jay Crosby and Susanna Stephens Leslie Crowe Brook and C. Zoe Cuddy Ethan and Jenna Dabbs Amy Daley and Hari Krishnaswami John and Erin Dalton Thomas Delaney and Patrick Mullin Paul Devlin and Gretchen Morgenson Anton and Vinaya Diener Susan Doughan Nicolas and Masayo Douglas Josh Drimmer and Christine Lee Jessica Durrett and Scott Hansher Johnny Dwyer and Sarah Magid Coretta Essilfie Lisa Faro Michael and Irina Fazio Luisa Fernandes ‘11 Jack and Marianne Ferraro Aviva and Nathaniel Fintz David Fitz-Patrick Gary Fogelman and Sharon Selby Ann Foley and Joshua Sapan Nina Forde Anna Franch Alexander Freed and Elizabeth Nesoff Brian Freyburger and Sylvia Lee Jonathan and Ciara Frohlinger Scott and Elizabeth Gellman Peter Gilligan and Sohini Chowdhury Alissa Ginsberg and Julie Wood Cass Golkin ‘96 Malcolm Green and Denise Doig

Rick Greenberg and Debbie Zlotowitz Keith Groff and Julia Cassidy Thomas and Mary Jane Haher Peter and Margarita Halloran Jonathan and Jamie Holland Matt Holmes Lisa and Mario Inglese Anna Jennings Nikolaos Kagkalos and Niki Zacharopoulou Nareg and Marlene Kalaydjian Paloma Kalisch ‘09 Avtar and Salinee Kang Matthew Keegan and Kimberly Caparso Suzanne Kennedy William Kladakis David and Jodi Klaristenfeld Sarah Klein Mary Ann Krause Vijay Kumra and Tanja Kumra Carl Lennartson and Susan Arthur Christopher and Esther Leon-Wales Jeffrey and Rachel Levine Richard and Jane Liescheidt Stephen Lin and Crystal Kim James Lonsdale and Andy McKewan Katherine Malone and Ben Coccio Tigran Martayan Rosemarie and Thomas Martin MasterCard Divya Mathew and John Philip Michelle Mejia Yamilex Mejia Judy and Efrain Mendez Sonia Mendez-Castro Brian Metzger and Stacey Thomas Grant and Christina Miles Vita Miller Morlon Mitchell Dina Monte

Christopher Moore Amanni Mselle ‘97 Paul and Linda Mulhauser Christine Munnelly Noreen Munnelly Corey Nascenzi Nischal and Aline Pai Dante L. Panora ‘09 Joe and Tina Paresi Fabien and Oksana Pavlowsky Alan and Leslie Pearson Kyle Pearson Jason and Andrea Pelhank James Penfold and Paola Kudacki William and Stephanie Perry Joan Petito Dhana Pinder ‘99 Michael and Adina Pitt Craig Powell Heidi Ravis Mary Louise Strong Rivera and Charles Rivera Anni and James Robertson Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Fred Rottman Fredric and Vivienne Rottman Lane Schaffer and Karen Rabinowicz Ingrid and Oscar Schaffino Bruce Schiamberg and Victoria Mayer Nancy Seklir Brian Sica and Anne Barreca Hayward and Barbara Smith Andrew and Sabrina Snyder Brian Snyder Micah Steingart ‘20 Michael and Claire Stevick Heather Strohl ‘16 Tricia Tabora and Evan Jehle Andrew and Suzanne Taub Gilbert Taylor and Linwood Brown

Alex Adams Thorne Laura Thorne Peter Ticali Katie Tuss Dirk Vander Wilt and Emily Wang Rachel Vannucci and Mick Bonde Idania Varillas and Hristian Diamandiev Joseph and Ivy Venafro Johann von Hoffmann and Leah Shalev Patrick and Suzannah Weir Zvika Weisstuch Amanda Wiener Lynn Wilderman Leland Woodbury Kurt Yang and Annie Liu Christine Yen Ali and Christine Yildirim Andrea Zambrano ‘05 Francine Zitz Bernadette Zumot

Auction & In-Kind Donors We are grateful to those who donated goods, services, and experiences to our live and silent auctions. Alex Buly and Luiza Kurzyna Tim and Paula Cavanaugh David Chitayat and Xhingyu Chen Jess Durrett & Down the Road Education Johnny Dwyer and Sarah Magid Ann Foley and Josh Sapan Leslie and Mark Godridge Keith Groff and Julia Cassidy Pablo Helguera and Dannielle Tegeder Serhat and Beth Krause Christina Miles Albina Miller & Leslie Thorne Alan and Leslie Pearson Emily Pearson Polsky Sports & Entertainment Vivienne Rottman Oscar and Ingrid Schaffino Marissa Schattner & Reimagine Parenting Shana Lee Jewelry ShuttleCub The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Anne Tuohy and Neil Scriptunas Robin and Craig Unterberg David and Karen Waltuck Siqin Ye and Shu Tu

40th Anniversary Gala Committee Jacqueline Ament Julia Cassidy Thomas Delaney Aviva Fintz Marcia McCabe Leslie Pearson Karen Rabinowicz Hilary Reyl Jessica Scovel Vanita Shastry Sabrina Snyder Jenny Steingart David Waltuck

Special Thanks EMCEE Kelly Spitzley SPEAKERS & PRESENTERS Nischal Pai, President, Board of Directors New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal Nick Goutman ’07 Paula Resnick Tom Casey Stefan Freeman Linwood Brown ALUMNI PERFORMANCE Directed by Melissa Ferraro and MingYi Lin Jake Bilerman ’23 Patrick Bowers ’15 Annabel Burguieres ’24 Violet Carlin ’23 Simeon Chew ’18 Cameron Cox ’18 Micaela Diamandiev ’21 Julian Douglas ’24 Ruby Glick ’22 Rose Green ’20 Alexander Inglese ’08 Sevana Kalaydjian ’23 Devon Krishnaswami ’16 Noah Leon-Wales ’22 Max Lennartson ’15

Iris Reyl ’22 Preston Tabora ’22 Joel Weisstuch ’10 Ethan Weiss ’21 40TH ANNIVERSARY VIDEO PRODUCTION Julia Cassidy Vanita Shastry TIME, TALENT & SUPPORT Maria Barbone Capitale Mary DiPerna Dan Green & Design Lithographers Heidi Green Photography Abby Huskisson Julian Kheel Esther Leon-Wales Andrea Levinger James Lonsdale Sarah Magid Jillian Mayonove Julie McKaskin Dominique Reyl Grier Richards Alex Sikkema-Kapp Street Spitzley ’13 Corey Tutwiler (DJ Corey TuT)

With Gratitude to the Parents Association With heartfelt thanks, we recognize the Parkside Parents Association, whose generous support subsidized Gala tickets so that every Parkside family could take part in the celebration. 2025–2026 PA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Claire Stevick, President Christopher Moore, Secretary and Co-Treasurer Paula Cavanaugh, Co-Treasurer Ivy Venafro Patrick Weir Rachel Levine

OTHER GIVING With heartfelt thanks, we recognize the donors who supported Parkside through the following funds and initiatives during our 40th Anniversary year.

All-Alumni Reunion This year Parkside proudly hosted its first-ever All-Alumni Reunion at SLATE, and we are grateful to the alumni whose participation and generosity made this milestone celebration possible. Para Ahilan and Nirilla Anthonimuthu Ilana Amzallag ‘02 Aimee Bandler David and Elli Basner Laura Beck Michael and Corinne Bilerman Isis-Rose Borus ‘24 Andrew Boss and Sarah Krissoff Fabio Botarelli ‘97 James and Kathleen Bowers Heidi Broumand Michael Burguieres and Michelle Landauer Dora Butner ‘11 Ryan Camareno and Judy Frangie-Camareno Brad and Ashley Carlin Dot Cates and David Addison Russell Chan ‘11 Miles Chaney ‘12 Raghav Chari and Isha Gary Paul Chew and Bindia Malhotra Glenn Cox and Alisha Ostacher Cox Brook and C. Zoe Cuddy John and Erin Dalton Thomas Delaney and Patrick Mullin Mary DiPerna Anna Dolan ‘25 Nicolas and Masayo Douglas Brett Edelstein ‘04 Olivia Ferre ‘15 Ivory Figueroa ‘20 Joan and Kevin Frawley

Ted and Christine Gerstein Simon Glick and Leah Edmunds Thomas and Mary Jane Haher Catherine Halloran ‘13 Pablo Helguera and Dannielle Tegeder Russell Hill ‘02 Sam and Katie Holliday Rebecca Hornstein Tsuyoshi and Kaori Inoue Nareg and Marlene Kalaydjian Gerald Karikari ‘21 Susan Kerschbaumer Graham King ‘18 Carl Lennartson and Susan Arthur Christopher and Esther Leon-Wales Jon and Sharmee Mah Carolyn and Michael Malcolm Angelo and Julia Marketos Laurie and Tim Marshall Richard and Amy McDaid Denisa (Rosa) Mcintyre Amanni Mselle ‘97 Paul and Linda Mulhauser Sona Nielsen Keith Palmer Dante L. Panora ‘09 Fabien and Oksana Pavlowsky William and Stephanie Perry Michael and Adina Pitt Ron and Liat Raz Francisco Renta and Marlo Navarro Ira and Paula Resnick Charles and Hilary Reyl Marie Rice Karina and Michael Rizzi Natalie Rose ‘14 Shaun and Blair Rose Benjamin Rosenfarb ‘15 Fred Rottman

Alfonso Sanchez Abraham Schneider ‘95 Mark Silberberg and Tracy Butler Darren Skotnes ‘88 Hayward and Barbara Smith Molly Snyder-Fink Alexander Soiefer ‘13 Valerie Stark Jon and Jenny Steingart Marc and Dikla Strohl Yoko Tajimi and Maurice Shalah Andrew and Suzanne Taub Idania Varillas and Hristian Diamandiev Matthew and Joanna Weiss Will Whitesell and Felicia La Forgia Corbin and Andria Younger Benjamin Zisfein ‘96

General Fund Gifts to the General Fund provide flexible, unrestricted support that allows Parkside to direct resources wherever the need is greatest. Shake Shack Enterprises, LLC

Yearbook Support for the Yearbook helps underwrite the creation of Parkside’s annual yearbook, a lasting keepsake of the school year. Parkside Parents Association

Social Work Gifts in support of Social Work sustain the counseling and student-support services that help every Parkside child thrive. The Anna Freud Foundation

Ways to Support Parkside The Annual Fund

Designated Gifts

The Annual Fund is the cornerstone of Parkside’s fundraising efforts, and the most direct way to help close the tuition gap. These unrestricted gifts support everything from classroom instruction to therapy services, reaching every one of our students. We welcome every family, alum, and friend of Parkside to participate at whatever level feels right for you. Participation matters as much as the size of your gift.

If there is a particular part of Parkside’s program you would like to support, we would be glad to talk with you about a gift for that purpose. Designated gifts are a meaningful way to see exactly where your generosity goes, and we will work with you to match your interests to the school’s greatest needs.

Recurring Gifts Make a continuous impact by setting up a recurring gift. Monthly or quarterly donations provide Parkside with a steady stream of support, allowing us to plan for the future and continue enriching the student experience year-round.

Planned Giving By including Parkside in your estate plans, you can ensure the long-term success of our programs and leave a lasting legacy. Planned gifts provide critical support for future generations of Parkside students, allowing us to continue our mission for years to come.

Gifts of Securities A gift of securities, such as stocks or bonds, is a tax-effective way to support Parkside. Donating appreciated securities can result in significant tax savings while making a meaningful contribution to the school’s growth.

Matching Gifts

GET IN TOUCH

Many employers will match their employees’ charitable gifts, often dollar for dollar, which can double or even triple your impact at no extra cost to you. Check with your company’s HR or giving program to see if it matches gifts to Parkside, or let us know and we will gladly help with the paperwork.

To make a gift or to discuss any of the options above, please contact: Anthony Kapp Director of Advancement akapp@parksideschool.org 212.721.8888 x153 parksideschool.org/giving

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48 West 74th Street, New York, NY 10023 parksideschool.org

We Are Parkside.