ADMINISTRATION

As the founder and Director of East Hill Academy it is my goal to meet the challenging needs of our students by seeking new ways of teaching that will improve the skills of students struggling to achieve.  EHA fulfills these goals through a well trained staff that understands the different types of learning disabilities, along with the social, emotional and behavioral challenges unique to each student.  Our students exhibit significant difficulties in learning through traditional teaching methods. Therefore, we must continually find new ways to improve the delivery of our curriculum.

My educational background (BA in Psychology, and MA in Clinical Psychology) enables me to provide our staff with the clinical background knowledge they need to better understand how the student learns. In addition, I have 30 years’ experience working with children in community mental health system, as well as the Juvenile Justice system  who have serious emotional, behavioral and learning disabilities. I also have been involved in developing and successfully implementing school based pilot programs providing education and treatment to children at risk.

Jan Soelzer, Financial Director  – Jan Soelzer is the Financial Director for East Hill Academy.  She has a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and brings with her years of experience working in business finance.  Mrs. Soelzer manages and coordinates the daily operations of all EHA’s school sites. Mrs. Soelzer directs office personnel and assists in the hiring of staff.  She also oversees the student enrollment process.  Mrs. Soelzer supervises the  scholarship  funding programs  as well as the private pay families. 

Breanna Gifford, Assistant Director – Breanna Gifford is East Hill Academy’s Assistant Director. She has a MA in Psychology. She began working for East Hill as a teacher over 10 years ago and has worked her way up into administration. 

Teachers at EHA have a minimum 4 year degree and complete a rigorous 8 week training program provided by EHA during the summer months. 

Most of our Teaching Assistants have a minimum 2 years of college or AA degree and complete the same rigorous training program provided by EHA during the summer months. 

Office personnel have the requirements necessary to operate the front office and are fully supervised by the Director and Operations manager. 

As East Hill Academy continues to grow and provide more educational services to children with learning disabilities it will be necessary to hire and train additional staff.  At the present time EHA works to keep teaching assistants on staff to help where needed, in addition to the assigned staff.  We try to anticipate our staffing needs at least 1 year in advance.  This allows for the development and proper training of all staff members involved in the classrooms.