Teachers & Staff

Loyan Beausoleil, Director and Head Teacher

Loyan Beausoleil is the school’s director and head teacher of the Green Room. She has been with UPNS since 1999. Previously, Loyan taught for the NYC Board of Education, The Earth School, The Educational Alliance and Middle Collegiate Church. Loyan holds a BFA from the University of Oregon and an M.S.Ed. from Bank Street College of Education. She has published on children and trauma, play and separation anxiety with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment and Bank Street College of Education. She also has a strong background in art, having worked as an art teacher, a studio artist and in the theater and fashion industries.

Following September 11, 2001, Loyan began documenting and studying the effects of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on young children who experienced them first-hand, a project called The Youngest Witnesses. She has presented this work at Wheelock College in Boston, the National Association for the Education of Young Children conference in New York City and Chicago, the Playing for Keeps conference at Yale University, the Kentucky State conference on Early Childhood Education and at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. A chapter by Loyan on the project is included in the award-winning book Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11, a compilation of teachers’ experiences of 9/11 that was published by Teachers College Press in 2006.

Edna Gonzalez, Assistant Director and Assistant Teacher

Edna celebrated her 20th anniversary as a teacher at UPNS in 2009. She has been the assistant director of the school since 2004 and is the assistant teacher of the Green Room for four- and five-year-olds. Edna also runs the afterschool and summer camp programs, where she teaches art in different forms. Many children have benefited from her dedication, experience, skills and knowledge. Edna helps to build a strong community in the classroom, where all the children’s cultures are valued, and she shares her own culture through integrating Spanish into her everyday teaching. Edna studied Early Childhood Education at Jersey City University and Medgar Evers College.

Ali Chenitz, Head Teacher

Ali has been the head teacher of the Yellow Room for three- and four-year-olds since joining UPNS in 2007. She has been teaching children ranging in age from birth to six at public and private schools, including general education, special education and inclusion classes. She graduated from Bank Street College of Education in 2007 with a dual degree and certification in Early Childhood Education and General and Special Education from birth to second grade. Ali plays street hockey (no roller blades) on the Lower East Side every Sunday (except in the coldest winter months). She also enjoys needlepoint and art activities.

Dylan Bosseau, Head Teacher

I am thrilled to join the UPNS community, as of September 2009, as a co-lead teacher in the Yellow Room. I have taught young children in a variety of settings for many years, most recently at Bank Street’s Family Center and in an Early Head Start classroom of the Educational Alliance. I have an MSEd from the Bank Street College of Education and an MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work. In addition to my work at UPNS, I also teach acrobatics and partnering techniques to children at the LAVA Studio in Brooklyn. I draw on my work at LAVA as well as training in Expressive Movement Therapy to prioritize movement, creative expression and communication in my teaching. When I’m not teaching, I am training acrobatics or spending time outdoors hiking and canoeing.

Julio Ruiz III, Head Teacher

Julio joined UPNS in 2007 as the assistant teacher for the Yellow Room and became the head teacher of the Blue Room in 2009. Prior to that, he worked at a private school for eight years, where he was head teacher of the Kindergarten class. He obtained a BA in Sociology and Psychology from Fordham University in 2001. Julio recently moved to the Bronx after living in Long Island for 32 years. He enjoys the smaller things in life, such as walking through Central Park during the fall season, or reading a book on the beach with the crashing of waves in the background. He also likes rollerblading through the streets of Manhattan during rush hour, and dancing away at one of New York City’s clubs.

Lisa DeLaCruz, Assistant Teacher

Lisa joined UPNS in 2006 as assistant teacher of the Yellow Room and is currently the assistant teacher in the Blue Room for two- and three-year-olds. Until recently, she also taught in an afterschool program for children with disabilities at the 92nd Street Y. She is studying towards a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Special Education at Touro College. Lisa lives in Brooklyn, where she has lived for most of her life. In her pastime, she enjoys spending quality time with her family and close friends.


Mireille Desalm, Administrative Assistant
Mireille has been UPNS’s administrative assistant since 2004. A native of Belgium, she came to New York in 1998 with her husband Eric Vanden-Eijnden, a mathematician at the Courant Institute at New York University.Previously, she worked in advertisement for 15 years. She is the mother of two wonderful girls and UPNS alumns, Pauline and Colette.