Educators

Erin Hoffman

Erin is our Primary (PreK4-K) classroom teacher.

Hello! My name is Erin Hoffman and I am a Montessori trained teacher for pre-k and kindergarten. I will be teaching the kindergarten class at LFS! I'm excited to blend the Montessori methods and materials with the Quaker values. I have taught at 3 different schools (in AZ and PA) over the past 20 years with a few breaks to move back home and have our boys. I'm thrilled and honored to begin this journey at Lancaster Friends School.

A few of my practices and views on teaching:

  • Follow the child.

  • Peace education will change the world.

  • See and hear them with openness to teach and learn from them.

  • For learning to take place there must be interest, fun, and joy!

  • Observe and then teach how they learn.

  • Positive language can change the whole environment.

  • Honor the love and light within each individual.

  • Teaching is more than just academics!

Fun fact: I did a summer long archaeological dig through the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. My digging partner and I found such an interesting multipurpose tool that we were on the news after the crew hiked in with their cameras through a river and fields with poisonous snakes!

Gedion Carido

Gedion is our Early Elementary (grades 1-3) classroom teacher.

My name is Gedion Carido. I am a certified PK-4 teacher in Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Pangasinan State University, Philippines, and a master’s degree in International Teaching from Framingham State University, Massachusetts. Throughout my teaching career, I have taught students in parochial, public, and international schools in the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. Currently, I’m an Adjunct Community Education Instructor for Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 teaching U.S. Citizenship and ESL classes to adult immigrants and refugees.

Three life experiences inform my approach to teaching kids:

First, my time as a character education teacher at an American international school in Bangkok provided the opportunity to work with students on developing their best selves through taking leadership in community service projects. From this teaching experience, I came to understand how the virtue of individual perseverance must also be tempered with compassion and the spirit of teamwork. I look forward to helping students discover their leadership skills that temper self-empowerment with empathy and emotional intelligence.

Second, my immigration to the United States and achieving citizenship was a milestone event in my life that impacted the values I bring to a classroom. As a newcomer to 21st century America, I took a deep dive into American civics, history, and politics so I could participate more fully in my new republic. Through this time of study as I prepared for naturalization, I came to cherish the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the civic virtues that protect them. I hope to bring to LFS students a sense of enthusiasm about striving for the Common Good through active participation in projects that build equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Third, travel to new countries has shaped my world view to its very core. Through teaching in international schools and vacationing in other lands with my marriage partner, I try to immerse myself in other languages, cultural trends, world religions, and geographic landscapes. Along the way, wonderful people have shared with me their camaraderie, wisdom, and daily life realities.

These experiences have fostered a sense of awe about what may be encountered when one goes out and lives boldly and openly. I wish to share the images and artifacts that I have brought from other countries and encourage my students to become world citizens who approach this Global Village with a sense of curiosity, wonder, and positive engagement.

As I enter my first year of teaching, I look forward to bringing these experiences to the support of Quaker values and spirituality at Lancaster Friends School.

Andrea Carty (she/her)

Andrea is our Upper Elementary (Grades 4-6) classroom teacher.

acarty@lancasterfriends.org

My name is Andrea Paz y Miño Carty. I am a Montessori trained teacher with my Masters in Elementary Education from Temple University. I have taught children from preschool to 6th grade and enjoyed all of those experiences. Having been exposed to public school and Quaker education as a student, I have a deep appreciation for an excellent education with a firm foundation on the core Quaker values. My passion for social justice and my belief in the inherent value of every person is what brought me to Quakerism and what inspires me as first Head of School for Lancaster Friends School.


My husband and I moved to Lancaster with our children in 2003 when he accepted his position in the athletic department at F&M. We have enjoyed being part of that community and our oldest daughter graduated from F&M in 2022. We also have a daughter entering her third year at Bates College, while our son is entering his third year at Westtown, a Quaker school.


I have enjoyed experiences teaching in multi-age classrooms and look forward to teaching 4-6. Allowing students to learn from each other, work together to problem solve, and build lasting relationships in an authentic, inclusive community is a large part of what makes teaching so rewarding.


I believe that teaching is my calling, what I am led to do, how I can have a positive impact on the world. My kindergarten self did not agree, as when I was asked what I wanted to be, I answered “a grandmother.” I hope to enjoy that position someday.

Portrait photo of Andrea Carty

Trex Proffitt (he/him)

Trex is a part of our Middle School team, teaching Math and History.

tproffitt@lancasterfriends.org

"My name is Trex Proffitt and I've served as a professor at F&M, Muhlenberg College, Emory University, and the University of California. After a career in higher education, I became a middle school teacher in 2016. My family and I have lived in Lancaster since 2005. My wife works as a house dean at F&M, my daughter is a rising senior at F&M, and my son is entering his first year at Yale.

I love teaching middle school students because their growing brains are as capable as they'll ever be, but they also are young and playful, so they have fun while they learn.

Fun fact: I've walked across a bed of hot coals twice in my life. It was easier than teaching. I'm a level 1 squash coach and have been coaching and organizing squash since 1995."

tproffitt@lancasterfriends.org

Malinda Clatterbuck(she/her)

Malinda teaches Middle School English, Science to grades 4-8, and assists with P.E.

mclatterbuck@lancasterfriends.org

"Malinda Harnish Clatterbuck was born and raised in southern Lancaster County, in the home where she now lives with her partner, Mark, and two children (they are kind of grown up and off to college now). She has worked in either education or the church her entire adult life all across the country, from the tribal schools on a reservation in Montana, to independent schools of Wichita KS, to a university in Washington DC. She most recently was a pastor at a local progressive mennonite community, and has been serving the Lancaster area as a counselor and spiritual director with her own practice. In the past 10 years Malinda has really been active as a community organizer and activist around environmental justice issues (and also women's rights, LGBTQ rights, criminal justice reform, peace building, as well as fair housing and fair education movements). Her work is based in the belief system that as human beings we are connected to all other things that have life, and our goal is always to cause as little unnecessary harm to the self, to others, and to the natural world as we can. With this in mind, she values working toward healing and formation in her own life, and in the lives of those around her."

Portrait photo of Peggy Bright

Peggy Bright (she/her)

Peggy teaches music to students in grades K-8.

pbright@lancasterfriends.org


Victoria Carty (she/they)

Victoria works with all students K-8 teaching Spanish and Health, and is the DEIJ Coordinator.

vcarty@lancasterfriends.org

My first job, like so many other people, was babysitting. I got to babysit for my middle school math teacher, watching her young son and then her infant. I babysat them over the course of several years, watching them grow and change, and I even got the chance to see them in classroom settings in later years. I continued babysitting, working in summer camps, doing weekly childcare for Lancaster Monthly Meeting, and substitute teaching up until the pandemic. In October of 2020, I got the chance to work with a learning Pod in downtown Lancaster serving students of local public schools, mainly Ross Elementary. I'd always been on the fence about teaching as a career path, but this experience really encouraged me to pursue education.

I can still remember one of my first Spanish classes in first grade. My teacher asked if anyone knew the word "arriba" and I pulled my knowledge (guided by the wonderful Dora the Explorer) out of my pocket. I felt such a sense of pride and joy being able to learn another language, and my passion continued from there. I continued taking Spanish through middle and high school, completing my high school's Spanish program, and going on to double major in Spanish and Public Health at F&M, where I am now a senior.

My own education led me through Montessori from 1st to 8th grade, and then to Westtown for a Quaker boarding school experience for high school. My most valuable take away from my education thus far has been that education is about learning how to learn. In my experience, I've learned that learning another language requires conversation and making mistakes. No one will make it through Spanish class, including myself, without tripping up once or twice. These mistakes encourage us to use our resources, to learn how to use a Spanish dictionary, our critical thinking skills, and the words and phrases that we do have to communicate. The exploration of a world to which we have become accustomed through the lens of a new language can be eye-opening and joyful for people of all ages.

I've been involved in Quakerism since I was 6 years old, and have attended Lancaster Monthly Meeting since then. I have recently been invited to become a Member, and will be completing that process soon. I also attended Quaker high school and was a student clerk on the Quaker Leadership Committee there. I also helped out occasionally with FDS on Sundays at the Westtown Meeting, which transitioned nicely into working Sunday childcare at LMM.

My educational interests outside of teaching include American government & politics (hence my Public Health Gov track major), health education, English including creative writing and poetry, and biology.

What I love about teaching: I love experiencing the world through fresh eyes. I have always loved working with kids and hearing what they have to say, they can be some of the best people to talk to. It's such a win for everyone when a student has that moment of realization about a new concept and begins to manipulate it in their own way. I am always honored to be a part of a child's life; every moment is so precious!

Fun fact: I've been to the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador! I was able to go to Ecuador for 3 weeks during my senior year of high school, and I spent one week in Quito, one in Cumbayá, and one in the Amazon. We had to fly in a tiny propellor plane and then go down the Amazon river in a motor-powered boat, and then travel down a smaller stream in a row boat. It was an amazing experience and I would go back to the rainforest in a heartbeat!

Marie Dennis

Marie works with all students K-8 teaching Art.

mdennis@lancasterfriends.org


Marie is extremely passionate about all things artsy and creative but is especially enthusiastic about the use of art in creation of social change. Marie has worn many hats over the years and has a degree in Studio Art form Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA as well as having attended graduate school at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Throughout the years she has worked as a College Math Teacher, Reproductive Health HIV/AIDS Counselor, Domestic Violence Advocate, Inner City Short Term Missions Director, Foster Care Case Manager, Interior Design and Branding Consultant and most recently a stay at home mom to her two beautiful children Brecken (5) and Riley (9).


Marie has had a passion for social justice for as long as she can remember. Her first memory of the impact of systematic oppression and inequity was at an outreach event for Philadelphians experiencing homelessness she participated in with her church when she was in kindergarten. She distinctly remembers seeing children and families who were exactly her age waiting in line to receive free food and was forever changed by the knowledge that kids just like her were going to bed hungry on a regular basis. That same year she participated in an Urban/Suburban exchange program and got to see first hand the privileges she had that her new friends did not. Following these transformational experiences she would stay up at night brainstorming about ways to help other children and families and while most kids were dreaming of barbie dolls Marie would lie awake in bed at night planning a shelter that would allow families to experience the same safety, security and dignity she was fortunate to experience. While she never did build that shelter, her passion for equality for all has continued to be a constant in her life and she is incredibly excited to share this passion with her students at LFS for another year. Teaching art at LFS gives her a chance to marry her two greatest passions, art and justice, by helping to lift up the voices of those most often marginalized to the next generation of world changers. She is excited to continue the development of her Art of Social Justice Curriculum that she had the opportunity to share with the students of LFS last year.


When not doing art you can find Marie hiking, gardening, biking, reading, checking out new vegan restaurants or spending time with her husband John, her kids and her miniature poodle Buddy.