Our Team

Priscilla Zárate served as Executive Director at the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), where she serviced over 150,000 English Language Learners in 1,800 schools throughout the NYC five boroughs. As the Executive Director, Ms. Zárate led citywide initiatives including the creation, development, deployment, implementation, and monitoring of supports, resources, and services for English Language Learners (ELLs) across districts, field support offices, and schools. She implemented and expanded high quality Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE), English as a New Language (ENL), and Dual Language (DL) programs. Ms. Zárate build the capacity of superintendents, principals, assistant principals, teachers, and Field Support Centers in the areas of literacy, mathematics, foundational skills, STEM, World Languages, TBE and DL programs. She worked closely with the New York City Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor to create policies that ensure equity, excellence and accessible supports and resources for the academic success of ELLs.

Prior to her appointment to NYCDOE, Ms. Zárate worked for eight years as an Assistant Coordinator for the Bilingual and ENL programs at the Brentwood School District, four years as Coordinator of World Languages & ENL Programs K-12 and eight years at P.S. 149Q - Christa McAuliffe School in Jackson Heights, Queens where she served in a similar position.
Ms. Zárate currently serves as Past President and Executive Board Member of the New York State Association for Bilingual Education (NYSABE). She is the Director of English as a New Language (ENL) Pre-K-12 Programs at the Port Washington Union Free School District in Nassau County. She also serves on the Suffolk County Community College Board of Trustees as well as Suffolk County Hispanic Advisory Board Chairwoman under the Suffolk County Government and Office of Minority Affairs.

Since 2013, she serves as committee member of the Town of Babylon’s Department of Human Services Hispanic Heritage Committee. Ms. Zárate also sits as Board Member and Advocacy Chairperson for the Long Island Latino Teachers Association (LILTA); Board Member of Latina Moms Connect (LMC), Inc., 100 Hispanic Women L.I., and Leadership member of NY-Affirming Fair/Full Inclusive Resources for Multilingual Learners (NY-AFFIRMs).

Richard had a long and productive career in the NYC Department of Education. Most recently, Richard served as Director of Strategic Planning and Accountability. He also served as Executive Director for ELL Data, Policy, and Compliance. During his tenure as the Executive Director, he created many resources and publications that are still in use to this day, including the NYC DOE’s Multilingual Learner Policy and Reference Guide. He also created the NYC DOE’s first ever “At-Risk” system that analyzes 20+ high leverage data points (e.g., academic grades, attendance) to identify students in crisis or potential crisis so that schools can take immediate action. Richard also developed the NYC DOE’s Two-Tier Monitoring System for ELL programs. Prior to this, he was the Regional Senior Assessment Coordinator for half of Manhattan. Richard started his career as an ESL teacher. He holds an M.S. in Educational Administration, and an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Currently, Richard is the founder and president of Spotlight Data Analytics where he supports school districts with data analytic needs, such as developing data systems to monitor student progress. He also works for a NYC-based organization as the data analyst and researcher to advocate for students in need of educational services.

Dr. Jordan González started his career teaching English as a Foreign Language in Madrid, Spain. He followed his passion for bilingual education and became an ENL (formerly known as ESL), and Spanish for Heritage Speakers Teacher for five years, in the New York City Department of Education.

Dr. González served as the Director of Language Acquisition for Yonkers Public Schools, where he led K-12 programs in Bilingual Education (Dual Language and Transitional Bilingual Education), English as a New Language, and World Languages, across forty schools. During those four years, he provided leadership and professional learning to principals, teachers and families on ELL-English Language Learner state regulations (CR-Part 154), ELL programs, and instruction for language development. Dr. González started and cultivated the NYS Seal of Biliteracy program in Yonkers, in 2017, where seniors graduate with formal recognition of their proficiency and academic achievement in English and a World Language.

Currently, Dr. Jordan González serves as the administrative coordinator and lead resource specialist for the Long Island Regional Bilingual Resource Network (L.I.RBERN), where he provides technical assistance, professional development, and support to school districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties as it relates to ELLs. He services 43,153 ELLs, Students with Interrupted Education and Immigrant students throughout Nassau and Suffolk County. Ensuring all schools are meeting the mandated services and needs of ELLs/MLLs as it relates to academics, linguistics, and social emotional needs.

In March, 2023, served as the conference chairperson for the New York State Association for Bilingual Education 45th Annual Conference, bringing to Long Island 600 educators and 175 ELL/MLL parents from throughout all of NYS.

He participates in NYSED taskforce committees for the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages (OBEWL) including the NYS Seal of Biliteracy Taskforce and is currently the Chair for the ELL Graduation Rate Taskforce.

Lastly, Dr. González is a TESOL and Bilingual Education faculty member at St. John’s University, where he prepares the next generation of K-12 teachers for certification and ELL instruction. His research interests include feedback in second language writing development, language and literacy instruction within culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, and ELL educational policies.

Lucy Marie Notaro, LMSW is a bilingual (Spanish-English), and bi-cultural social worker and applied behavior therapist with 38 years direct practice experience working with inner city and immigrant children, adults, families, and communities. She currently resides in Rockland and Suffolk Counties, NY, and works with adults, children, families, parents, schools, and groups on Long Island and throughout the New York Hudson Valley.

Ms. Notaro’s vast professional experience includes offering trauma-informed professional development workshops, consultation, and services to schools, medical practitioners, and other professional and community groups on the mental health impact of immigration on unaccompanied youth, youth at risk of caregiver deportation, and their families. This effort arose from her interviews, mental health evaluations, and psychotherapy with adults and youth seeking United States Residency and after witnessing the absence of increased education and support to effectively respond to the multi-tiered needs of immigrant youth, their caregivers, their educators, and their communities. Ms. Notaro is no stranger to collaboration and consultation within educational settings as she worked as a District-Wide Child Abuse Mandated Reporter Consultant at CSD #11 in the Bronx, NY, as a School-Victim Assistance Project Coordinator at JHS 43, CSD #5 in Harlem, NY and as a behavior modification consultant and supervisor in various educational settings on Long Island, Queens, the South Bronx, and Rockland County. She has first-hand experience of the benefits in a multi-disciplinary approach to working with youth and their families, particularly while she provided home, school, and center based Early Intervention, Committee on Preschool Education (CPSE), and Committee on Special Education (CSE) applied behavior analysis (ABA), Behavior Modification, Parent Training, and Social Work services to immigrant families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Ms. Notaro currently owns and operates a social work practice with offices in Patchogue, Beacon, and Nyack, NY where she provides individual and group psychotherapy, community mental health workshops, mandated offender treatment, mental status examinations, domestic violence evaluations, therapeutic supervised visits, parenting skills support, and mental health evaluations for clients with immigration, criminal, family law, and child protective service cases.

Her practice interests include culturally competent direct clinical practice with immigrant families, forensic social work, mental health and behavior assessment, interpersonal trauma, therapeutic parenting, and behavior modification via Applied Behavior Analysis. Ms. Notaro has provided services within school, home, agency, legal, community and temporary housing settings, and has also provided foster care staff and foster parents skills development clinical consultation and workshops. She served as a member of the Queens Borough President’s Task Force Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and was an annual conference speaker. She is a public speaker on domestic violence and mental health concerns within immigrant communities and provides twelve-week virtual Spanish-language support groups on mental health, domestic violence, and parenting children with trauma.

Ms. Notaro is committed to providing services to non-United States Resident immigrants and their children, particularly as focused on the impact of trauma on immigrant lives and communities. She is a member of multiple organizations to include the Suffolk County Hispanic Advisory Board, the Rockland Immigration Coalition, the Rockland County Adult Mental Health Sub-Committee, and the New York State Association for Bilingual Education. Ms. Notaro graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College, CUNY in 1989 with a BA in Child Development, and from Adelphi University in 2004 with a master’s degree in social work – Generalist Practice.

Juanita Diaz is a dedicated educator with over 20 years of experience in the field who believes that students must always be first. Mrs. Diaz began her journey as an elementary school teacher in Bushwick, Brooklyn with the NYCDOE since it was important to her to stay connected to the community she grew up in. Juanita's tenure as a teacher was varied and allowed her to teach and foster learning in students as young as 4 years old through 5th graders.
Juanita Diaz continued her development enrolling in a leadership academy offered by the NYCDOE. That opportunity led to her becoming a Site Coordinator for a newly opened Pre-K site in Queens under the NYCDOE. During those years, Juanita Diaz further developed her pedagogical and collaborative knowledge, and obtained NYS administrative licenses for district and building level supervision.
Juanita Diaz took her passion for students and learning to Long Island in 2017 becoming the principal of Marshall School in Hempstead, N.Y. Juanita Diaz oversaw her school's expansion, revamp, and adoption of International Baccalaureate candidacy. Mrs. Diaz remains proud of the amazing work the team accomplished at Marshall School. In 2021, Mrs. Diaz transitioned to become principal of Manorhaven Elementary School in Port Washington, N.Y. Juanita Diaz spent two years as principal of Manorhaven Elementary School, advocating for programming that promotes equity, rigor, and excellence. In her current role in Port Washington as Director of Elementary Curriculum, she is an intricate part in committee work looking to transform and uplift the district's practices around instruction and professional development.