Our Staff
Preschool Director
Gina DeGennaro says, “I have the privilege to serve as the Preschool Director at Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church. I have been working with children for over thirty years in a variety of learning environments. I hold my bachelors in elementary education and have taught in the classroom for many years with all different age groups. My passion is early childhood education and I am honored to work with such an amazing team of kind and compassionate teachers. I love to see the work of God come together and this preschool is a fine example of just that. We have been blessed to hire the best staff, enroll an amazing group of families, and be showered with materials by the most generous parishioners known. It has been delightful to see Father Terry’s vision unfold. I am humble to come to my job each and every day and fulfill this purpose that has been assigned by the Lord.
On a personal note, I am a native New Yorker and have been in Georgia for a long time. I have truly enjoyed raising a family in this beautiful state and calling it “home”. I have been married to my husband Joe for many, many years! He also is an educator and is currently a special education teacher for Troup County. We have two grown children, Anthony and Michael. I love spending time with family and friends.
I am grateful to serve each and every one of you and look forward to growing our preschool family each year.”
You may reach Mrs. Gina at gdegennaro@smmcatholic.org or 678.854.9990.
Assistant Director
Heather Alley is the Assistant Preschool Director. She states, “I started at Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Preschool in February 2017 as the assistant for Pre-K3 and Pre-K4. I attended the University of West Georgia after high school. I have been married to my husband Mike for sixteen years and we have a fifteen year old son named Stephen. My husband and I are also busy with owning a local business called Storks Newnan which delivers food from restaurants that do not deliver. In my spare time, I enjoy watching my son play on the drum line for the East Coweta Marching Indians. I love country music, the Atlanta Braves, and Alabama Football. In my free time I like to read, attend concerts, spend time with my family and friends, and go to movies.
Working with children and the staff at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Preschool has truly been the most rewarding blessing to me. There is nothing better than seeing a child light up when learning. “
You may reach Mrs. Heather at halley@smmcatholic.org or 678.854.9988.
Pre K-4 Teacher
Melissa Rafford is the Lead Teacher for our four year old program. She says “My journey to SMM was truly an act of God; being recently relocated from South Florida. I was praying for the opportunity to continue working in my passion, early childhood education. I happened to come across the preschool website and immediately felt God’s calling to email Ms. Gina. A few days later here I am. I am incredibly thankful to be able to share my love of God and education with the kids.
A little more in-depth back story about myself; I was born in NY but raised in South Florida since the age of 3. On my first visit to Newnan, I knew I would call this town our home one day. I have 2 sons, one who is on the autism spectrum. I have been homeschooling my youngest since the age of 2 and ran a local homeschool cooperative school in our community for 5 years. I’ve been working in the education industry for over 20 years and have had the opportunity to work with children of all ages and learning abilities, making my love for a hands-on, multi-sensory learning experience for our children my passion.
Working with children is truly my calling and I enjoy every single second of it. It’s truly the most rewarding and fulfilling experience a person can have. I look forward to working together with the school to build lifelong learners out of the children in our school.”
You may reach Ms. Melissa at mrafford@smmcatholic.org or 678.854.9990.
Pre K-3 Teacher
Jennifer Fleming is the Lead Teacher for our three year old program. She says, “Both my husband Kevin and I were born and raised in New York. His career relocated us to Dallas, Texas just after we became married. Later, we moved to Georgia and we currently reside in Sharpsburg with our three young sons; Padraig Cavyn, and Keagan. We have a sweet Persian Cat named Ballybunion and a silly little Labradoodle named after a character in the children’s series Land Before Time, (Cera).
With baseball being a passion of each of our boys, you’ll generally find us at one field or the other, watching practice or cheering at games and weekend tournaments.
In the past, I have served as an assistant in evening Faith Formation here at Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church. Our youngest son attended Saint Mary Magdalene Preschool for three years. During that time, we created many friendships. It truly was an environment that enriched the life of our family.
It’s a blessing to be able to continue as part of this wonderful community, by having become a Lead Teacher for Pre-K3. I consider it an honor to help bring other families the same joy that we found here. “
You may reach Mrs. Jen at jfleming@smmcatholic.org or at 678.854.9990.
Pre K-2 Teacher
Kim Santana is the Lead Teacher for our 2 year old class. She says “I am thrilled and grateful to find myself at St. Mary Magdalene Pre-School, where my son currently attends, and honored to step into the role of teacher for the 2’s class. With over 25 years of hands-on experience in guiding children of all ages and abilities, my journey includes 15 years as a Kindergarten paraprofessional. In the afternoons, I transitioned to after-school care, creating a vibrant and supportive environment for 3rd-5th grade students to thrive academically and socially.
On a personal note, I am a proud Central American Latina originally from the beautiful beach city of Santa Monica, California. Fluent in speaking, reading, and writing Spanish, I embrace all ethnic backgrounds and cherish working with children of diverse abilities. My husband, Roddy, and I recently relocated to Newnan, Georgia, in March 2023. Together, we have three precious gems: our two beautiful adult daughters, Valentina in Arizona, Vivian in California, and our youngest, Roddy Lorenzo. My cherished moments involve family time, travel, hiking, and watching NFL Football.
Firmly believing in God’s amazing plan, I am dedicated to enriching the lives of my little amigos in the 2’s class.”
You may reach Mrs. Kim at ksantana@smmcatholic.org or 678.854.9990.
Teachers’ Assistants
LeeAnn Keever is the Teacher Assistant in the Pre-K 2 classroom. She says “I am so excited to be the assistant teacher for PK2! I have a passion for understanding and nurturing the developmental needs of young minds. I have a degree in Psychology from Mary Baldwin College, with earlier training in Early Childhood Education. I have cared for children and contributed to education in various capacities, beginning with babysitting at age 12 and continuing throughout my life. My work experience includes the privilege of working at Covenant House in AK, serving as nanny, running an in-home daycare, homeschooling my children for three years, assistant CCD teacher for 2nd grade and supporting LifeTeen at my parish.
Beyond professional roles, my greatest adventure has been raising my children. “In raising my children, I have lose my mind but found my soul”. This quote was proudly displayed on my kitchen refrigerator and encapsulates the profound joy and challenges of parenthood and continues to inspire. I enjoy music in almost all forms, reading, getting outside, my dog, and getting to know new people, places, and things. My continuous love of learning extends to growing in faith through various Bible studies, creative pursuits with woodworking in learning to build and refinish furniture, and various DIY home improvement projects. I love the beach and now that my children are grown, my favorite sport to watch is hockey. (Go BOLTS!!!)
I am so excited to be a part of your child’s educational journey!”
You may reach Ms. LeeAnn at lkeever@smmcatholic.org or 678.854.9990.
Liz Sullivan is the Teacher Assistant in the Pre-K 4 classroom. She says “Hey! I’m Liz. I’m an Army brat (born in Atlanta) that has lived all over the world with my parents (most time spent in Wiesbaden, Germany) and again with my husband, who is a disabled veteran. When my husband was approaching his last year in the Army, we moved back home to Georgia and have been back since 2017. Although I am originally from Fayetteville, we decided to settle in Sharpsburg. 2017 was a busy year for us: we bought our first house, Tyler did his 9th and final year of the Army in Kaiserslautern, Germany and our children were almost ready to start school, something our daughter was so excited about. In fact, both our children, Emery (11) & Oliver(9), went to St. Mary Magdalene and absolutely loved it.
I recently finished at Georgia Military College with my Associates in Secondary Education with a focus on English. I plan to attend Georgia State in the fall to finish up! Although I plan on working with middle & high school students after I get my bachelors, I am so looking forward to working with the littles and gaining this priceless knowledge on how to run a classroom, make lesson plans and literally, how to be a teacher. The opportunity St. Mary Magdalene Preschool has given me to continue to learn and grow in my intended career path is extraordinary.
When I’m not working or trying to get my kids to clean their rooms, you can find me reading, mainly non-fiction books about WW2 or biographies; I LOVE to learn and am constantly looking for ways to expand my knowledge. I also love to journal (something I try to do everyday!), go to concerts with Tyler, cook meals for my family and friends and cuddle with our 3 cats (Rivers, Stormi, Beesly) and 2 dogs (Tilian and Rando). We even have a tortoise named Steve (not much a fan of cuddling but, he sure is cute). You can always find me with an iced latte in my hand and a book in my purse.
I absolutely love people and kids and I look forward to learning and growing alongside the children here at SMM!”
You may reach Mrs. Liz at esullivan@smmcatholic.org or 678.854.9990.