Our Teachers
Head Teachers / Directors
Kate Hayes-Marshall
MANAGING DIRECTOR / SPANISH LANGUAGE DIRECTOR
Kate is responsible for the school’s overall performance. She ensures compliance with national, state and local early education regulations at all times. Kate designs, teaches, and oversees all aspects of our Spanish language program.
Kate holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and Spanish Language and Literature with a minor in Special Education from Portland State University.
She has worked with the Head Start Program as a Family Advocate as well as managed recruitment of ECE teachers for both Head Start and Early Head Start.
She lives with her precocious 10-year-old girl, Lucia, also bilingual, who sometimes joins class to read to the kids and to assist mom..
Zoë Hayes-Marshall
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR / EDUCATION DIRECTOR
Zoë is responsible for the design and implementation of our educational and social programs. She oversees adherence to the school mission and values with all activities and interactions with students and teaches classes. Zoë oversees job performance of teachers and coordinates hiring with the Managing Director.
Zoë’s degree is in Child and Family Studies from Portland State University. She has been teaching in early childhood education for 15 years.
Zoë is originally from Melbourne, Australia but was raised in SW Portland. She has a passion for teaching in early education and believes these moments in a young child’s life set a foundation for their future.
Along with her husband, Zoë is raising two young boys and resides in the community.
Our Teaching Staff
Little Olive Tree teachers are early childhood professionals. Many have degrees in ECE, Child Development, Elementary Education or a related field. All teaching staff has experience in early childhood center based programs. Teachers participate in on-going training. They are required by the Child Care Division to take a minimum of fifteen clock hours of training each year, including eight hours of child development of ECE. In addition, they have to maintain current first aid and CPR and food handler cards, as well as training in child abuse reporting.