Jim Kicidis

Center Owner and Director

Jennye Knox

Associate Director

I am a Charlotte native and I have a passion for supporting children and their families. I majored in Voice Performance and minored in piano at East Carolina University and earned my Orff Schulwerk certification in elementary music from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. I have been privileged to serve youth and families in a variety of settings, including charter, private and parochial schools, and residential and day treatment environments.
One of the people that most inspires me is Dr. Maria Montessori, an innovative educator of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the first woman to graduate from medical school in Italy.

“It is necessary, then, to give the child the possibility of developing according to the laws of his nature, so that he can become strong, and, having become strong, can do even more than we dared hope for him.”
“Education should no longer be mostly imparting of knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities.”
Dr. Maria Montessori

Jodi Malone

Director, Collaborative Partnerships Group

Barbara Peacock

Director of Education

I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University)and am certified by North Carolina in Secondary Mathematics and English. I have 15 years total teaching experience: 5 years each in public schools, homeschool, and private schools.

My favorite quotes include:
"Progress requires dilgence and follow through."
and
"Education is not the process of putting the learner under control but one of putting the learner in control of his or her learning."
Alison Preece, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Beverly Hunter

Tutor, Beginning Reading Administrator

I am a graduate of East Carolina University where I received a degree in Elementary Education, followed by a Master’s Degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I have lived in Charlotte for over 35 years, teaching in both the Charlotte Mecklenburg and Cabarrus County school systems. When I announced to my students that I would be retiring at the end of the school year, one of them said to me, “Why are you retiring? You have a lot of teaching left in you.” After a year of retirement, I found that to be so true which brought me to the Sylvan Learning Center. I have been here for the past 6 years. I love to read, I love cats and obviously I love teaching and hope that I can inspire that wish to learn!
“The important thing is not so much
that every child should be taught,
as that every child should be given the wish to learn.”
John Lubbock

Carol Pignatiello

Lead Math Tutor

My education background includes a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, with teaching certification K-12. Throughout my 30 years experience tutoring math, I have covered a broad range of courses, from elementary math through Calculus. I even helped to tutor college prep, military and realtor exams. I have been with the Sylvan family since 2003, and it still delights me when the “light bulb” of understanding goes off. I have a true love and passion for math, and strive to instill that same love in each and every student who comes to my table!

“The future is not someplace we are going to, but a place we are creating.
The paths to it are not found, they are made.” ~Jane Garvey

Kendall Cameron

Tutor

Kristen Diley

Tutor

Zonja Glover

Tutor

Jody Neill-Shaughnessy

Tutor

Lauren Snyder

Tutor

Tiffany Tobin

Tutor

Sarah Viapiano

Tutor

"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism."
-- David M. Burns

Michael Weiss

Tutor

Vanessa White

Tutor