Meet Ms. Engelhardt

Maja Engelhardt, 1st Grade

I worked at a parent participation preschool in Palo Alto for eight years. During that time, I came to understand and believe in the value of parent involvement. Parent education topics that were covered in my class included discipline, limit-setting, conflict resolution, and the importance of play.

Teaching is my second career. My first career was as a social worker. I worked for child protective services after getting my masters degree. It was a very stressful job and after having my first child I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me at that time. I made the switch to education and am glad I did!

I had been teaching Kindergarten at Bubb for two years and was very happy there. When the school had to go from 5 kinder classes to 4, as the teacher with the least seniority, I needed to find a position elsewhere. I felt that a parent participation program would be a nice fit for me. Since joining PACT, I have found the staff to be supportive and the parents very welcoming.

I value communication with the parents, so I’m looking forward to having them join me in the classroom. This is “our” classroom- and that includes the parents. I hope being in the classroom will become a natural part of the family’s school experience.

My parents are both from Germany, and I have strong family connections there. I speak both German and Spanish. My husband, Benz, is from Mexico, and we have two children, ages 14 and 10. Both of them attended Adalante, a Spanish dual-immersion school- it’s been a great fit for our family.