Primrose School of Willow Glen team is super excited to welcome Ms. Monica Thompson as a Director of the School.Born and raised in the Bay Area town of Union City, Monica graduated Cumlaude from James Logan High School, then attended Ohlone College to study Sign Language and Early Childhood Education. She has been working in the Early Childhood Education field since 2004 when she moved to the central valley and became a Prekindergarten teacher for a 100-year-old preschool. Monica was quickly regarded as a dedicated and well-rounded instructor, so after a move back to her hometown of Union City years later, her next venture leads to becoming the Assistant Director at Kinder-care Learning Center in Fremont. After reaching recognizable milestones within the company and being offered several positions of her choosing, she decided to become the Director at Kindercare Milpitas. Over the last year, she has been highly recognized by the President of Kinder-care, Wei-Ling Chong, and received several accolades such as Highest Enrollment Award in Q3 and Highest Labor Retention in 2018. A monumental moment was her recent recognition at the 50th Anniversary of Kindercare Summit in Florida for receiving the Quality of Leadership Award during the intense, lengthy process of getting the Milpitas Kinder-care Accreditation with NAEYC. Her dedication to running a center that abides by NAEYC's rules and regulations prove that she can confidently take over the role of Primrose of Willow Glen Center Director.Monica's experiences have allowed her to collaborate with a diverse group of people to meet the common goal of developing the whole child and discovering each child's unique genius. Her philosophy is based on her uncompromising belief that all children can thrive, given a positive learning environment, strong and knowledgeable leadership, a committed and focused educational team, encouraging community, and a supportive family unit. All of which Primrose School possesses. That is why she is eager to join the Primrose family and is looking forward to working closely with the families and staff toward the common goal of raising strong, independent human beings.During her downtime, Monica enjoys spending time with her partner Tasha as well as her close-knit family by going to the beach, taking road trips, and visiting her son Niles who is a D2 Football coach at Northwestern University in Oklahoma.Her hobbies include reading mystery novels, watching documentaries, and attending local music festivals.

Ms. Monica Thompson

School Director

Mrs. Ayah Shanawany

Assistant Director of Operations

Ms. Selene Li

Assistant Director-Ed Coach

Ms. Michelle Guerreiro

Marketing and Enrollment Coordinator

Mr. Gerardo "Jerry" Baltierra

School Chef

Mr. Eddie Chavez

Health and Safety Coordinator

Mrs. Perlita Pery

Kindergarten Teacher

Mrs. Kelly Crawford

Prekindergarten Teacher (Classroom 1)

Ms. Brianna Lloyd

Prekindergarten Teacher (Classroom-1)

Ms. Veronica Cervantes

Prekindergarten Teacher (Classroom-2)

Ms. Priscilla Martinez

Prekindergarten Teacher (Classroom-2)

Ms. Maria Lopez

Preschool Teacher (Classroom-1)

Ms. Tammy Mandarelli

Preschool Teacher (Classroom-1)

Ms. Stephanie Oregel

Preschool Teacher (Classroom-2)

Ms. Auttum Espinosa

Preschool Pathway Teacher

Ms. Maggie Shelly

Preschool Pathway Teacher

Ms. Joelle Orlando

Preschool Pathway Teacher

Mrs. Jennifer Magana

Early Preschool Teacher (Classroom-1)

Mrs. Lilia Singh

Early Preschool Teacher (Classroom -2)

Mrs. Teresa Upchurch

Early Preschool Teacher ( Classroom-3)

Ms.Thao Phan

Toddler Teacher

Ms. Teresa Arreola

Toddler Teacher

Ms. Nelly Alvarenga

Toddler Teacher

Ms. Zoe Blankenship

Toddler Teacher

Ms. Andrea Holt

Older Infant Teacher

Ms. Quynh Nguyen

Older Infant Teacher

Ms. Cherie Dotson

Young Infant Teacher

Ms. Natalie Jones

Young Infant Teacher

Mrs. Kathleen Baltierra

Support Teacher

Ms. Maria Martinez

Support Teacher

Ms. Jyoti Arora

Support Teacher

Ms. Lourdes Galvan

Support Teacher

Meet Sima Shah, proud Owner of Primrose School of Willow Glen. As a longtime resident of California’s Silicon Valley, she is excited to help introduce San Francisco Bay Area parents to the premier child care and early education experience Primrose has provided to many other children around the country.Research-based and Innovative Education is Sima’s passion. She earned a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles after immigrating to the U.S. with her husband Amar Chokhawala. Sima worked as a computer engineer while also molding young minds as an adjunct professor of at several local colleges and universities in Computer Science Department. Amar was an early Google employee before he founded his own software company, Reflektion in 2013, where he will continue serving as Chief Executive Officer.When their first daughter, Amiya, was born in 2005, Sima struggled to find trusted and high-quality care, and eventually decided to keep her daughter at home with a full-time nanny. After the birth of her second daughter, Risa, in 2008, Sima decided to enroll Amiya into a Bay Area preschool. Not long after, Sima found the program lacked the holistic approach she’d hoped to find. It focused too much on structure and teacher guided activities, and did not provide enough opportunities for play and exploration. As a result, Sima tried to create her own “balanced program” by sending her daughter to a structured school three days a week, and child-initiated play based program for the other two days.It was during this time Sima and her husband first learned about Primrose Schools through an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal; however, there were not any Primrose schools in California at the time.“I knew that children needed both exploration and structure, and I kept thinking that someone had to already have a program that is more balanced. When I found Primrose, I was so pleased to see that they built their entire curriculum around this idea of balance,” said Sima. “Never having experienced it myself, I was skeptical until I flew out to Colorado to visit my first Primrose school. The moment I entered the school, I was wowed by the entire experience: people, culture, approach, environment and curriculum.At Primrose School of Willow Glen, Sima will strive to provide a nurturing atmosphere and environment that fosters all aspects of their students’ development. Her goal is to promote the social-emotional aspect of growth, which enhances learning for children. She wants parents to feel welcome and confident that Primrose is the best option for their children.“In today’s world, if both parents work, a child spends at least 40 hours a week at her education facility. We always think of making our homes inspiring and comfortable for our children. At Primrose School of Willow Glen, we want the same for our students. Our facility will be filled with the same quality of care, attention and comfort children experience at home,” said Sima.Primrose School of Willow Glen will feature the exclusive Balanced Learning® approach which blends purposeful play with nurturing guidance from teachers to encourage curiosity, creativity, confidence and compassion.

Franchise Owner

Meet Sima Shah, proud Owner of Primrose School of Willow Glen. As a longtime resident of California’s Silicon Valley, she is excited to help introduce San Francisco Bay Area parents to the premier ...