Among the CCP staff listening to those gleeful voices is a new face — San Carlos resident Agnes Chan who, as of Thursday, assumed the position of CCP executive director.
Chan took over from Bart Charlow, who was serving as interim executive director after the departure of Taara Hoffman.
 Agnes Chan, new executive director of Coastside Children'€™s Programs, works on some projects with CCP student Noelia Macias, 9. |
“You can make a lot of difference in early childhood education and (grades) K through 12,” she said. “There are a lot more barriers because of testing and rigorous academic standards. Kids do so much in school, and it is a joy working with them in a different capacity.”
Chan experienced growing up in Taiwan and Paraguay since grandparents lived there, as well as in the United States where her parents settled. She attended high school and college in Massachusetts, earning a bachelor’s degree with a double major in psychology and child development from Tufts University, and continued with a master’s degree in education policy from Stanford.
Chan delights in supporting CCP programs that encourage kids to learn in a safe, nurturing place.
“Learning has to be fun — engaging to the child,” so that the child can go to the teacher to ask for more knowledge, she said.
Prior to joining CCP, Chan worked as the Director of Education and Outreach at Palo Alto Community Child Care. She was the quality enhancement manager for 4Cs of San Mateo County, where she led programs like the San Mateo Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards.
She worked as a consultant on child care classroom quality and is a board member of the Wah Mei School, a Chinese-American bilingual preschool in San Francisco.
“Agnes is very bright and very strong in children’s programming,” said Dwight Wilson, past CCP board chair. “She’s the right choice for our Coastside communities.”
Cognizant of the high turnover typical in child care, Chan says she will retain her experienced staff.
And she says she’ll get kids exploring Coastside spots like the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tidepools, Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero and Half Moon Bay Library.
What does she feel is important to bring to young children? A sense of excitement to enhance what they learn in school, she said, plus encouragement to ask questions and unleash imagination.
She also plans to continue Spanish in CCP programs, saying she sees benefits in diversity.
What challenges does she think early-childhood teachers face today? Foremost is the economy, she said, which she hopes to combat with CCP’s subsidy programs.
Her goal, she said, is to balance academics with social and emotional experience. A starting point, she said, is to spread the word about CCP.
“I feel the after-school programs do that, (with) teachers to model social skills,” she said. “I hope that parents recognize that we provide more than babysitting. We’re raising the whole child.”
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