Meet Our Bright Tomorrows Childcare Staff

Henry Ibarra, MS, Director

When asked what he does for a living, Henry’s favorite response is, “I get to play all day!” His career of playing with young children started in 1989. Henry trained in several curriculums for early childhood, including High/Scope with Bloomingdale Family Program in New York City, and Creative Curriculum and Classroom Assessment Scoring System while directing a 10 classroom Head Start Program for Newark Preschool Council in New Jersey. He also attended the Master Teacher Seminar offered by NJ DOE and used this training to coach four different teachers to win Preschool Teacher of the Year honors from 2011-2014 as determined by the City of Newark BOE preschool master teachers. Henry holds a Master of Science in Early Childhood Education, as well as NJ PK-3 and Supervisor certifications. He joined Bright Tomorrows in September 2017 and has office hours from 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM.

Cyndi Kopsaftis, Coordinator

Cyndi started her career at Bright Tomorrows in 2004. Her most fun roles at Bright Tomorrows include time as the assistant, then lead teacher in the infant room; center coordinator; and mother. She moved into the role of Center Coordinator in 2010, which includes scheduling children and staff, and billing. With hours of 6:30 AM – 3:00 PM, she makes sure that every child’s day gets started on the right foot. She also provides invaluable support to parents for all questions and concerns.

Lisa Angelini, Lead Teacher

Lisa Angelini is the lead teacher of the Piglets Room for 4 year olds, and is also the head teacher for the center. She came to Bright Tomorrows with 17 years of experience in education, including teaching kindergarten, first grade, English as a foreign language in Madrid, Spain, and English as a second language to local elementary students. As she put it, she is "committed to creating a classroom of kindness, compliments, dignity, respect, safety, and belonging to give the children the freedom to love themselves and each other.” Lisa has a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education, is a New Jersey certified teacher (K-8), and is certified to teach English as a foreign language. Her promise is "always to be present in the NOW with her students for them to experience the brightness in themselves and to see it in and around their world.”

Ana Aguilar, Lead Teacher

Ana is the Lead Teacher in the Tiggers Room for 3-year-olds and came to Bright Tomorrows in October 2020. She has a Child Development Associate certificate and has been working with preschool-age children for more than 15 years in Florida and New Jersey. Ana is bilingual and implements creative lesson plans that involve art, music and movement, literacy, and playing while learning. She loves to help children grow and develop to their full potential.

Michelle Cobb-Warner, Lead Teacher

Michelle is the Lead Teacher in the Rabbits Room for two-year-olds.  Ms. M (as she prefers to be called) has a Child Development Associate credential from Rutgers University Center for Children and Childhood Studies.  She has worked with young children in family child care and center-based child care settings, encouraging children through structured and unstructured play.  She has a passion for building speech and language through a variety of activities that provide those “Aha!” moments.   Her favorite activities to do with children are baby yoga, art, music and movement, nature discovery, bubble dancing, circle time, and themed sensory bins.  Ms. M says, “The best learning happens through freedom of creativity and play.”

Mary Dizon, Lead Teacher

Mary is the Lead Teacher in the Roos Room for one-year-olds. She has been with Bright Tomorrows for over five years and worked in daycare for over 10. She has a Child Development Associate credential for infants and toddlers and enjoys watching children in her care grow into independent people. Her favorite activities to do with children are finger painting, playing in the sand, encouraging children to use a fork and spoon, building with blocks, reading books, singing songs like the ABC song, and talking about colors, numbers, and shapes, to name just a few things. Mary’s motto is, “The bigger the mess, the more fun we are having.”

Theresa Spear, Lead Teacher

Theresa is the Lead Teacher in the Infants Room, also known as Pooh’s Hut. She joined the Bright Tomorrows family in September of 2019 and is a college graduate with 15+ years of experience in childcare working with infants to preschool-age children. Theresa enjoys helping babies with their language development by talking to them throughout the day. She responds to
the sounds they make and talks with them so they make more sounds and babble. She enjoys reading books, playing music, singing songs, clapping hands, and dancing with her little friends. She also loves taking them on walks outside. “We laugh and play all day in the Infants Room!”