Sandra (Chap) Chapman has taught for 18 years in Independent Schools. She taught Third Grade at Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (LREI), Fifth Grade at Manhattan Country School, and Three and Four year olds at the Bank Street School for Children. Having taught children 2.5 to 11, Chap has a broad range of knowledge regarding students and their social, cognitive, physical, spiritual, and emotional selves.

Chap is currently the interim Director of Diversity and Community at LREI. She is Co-Chair of the NYSAIS Diversity Committee and Chair of this committee’s Annual Diversity Conference. Chap co-chaired the New York metro chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network (GLSEN) from 1998-1999 and edited an unpublished guide entitled, Teaching All Our Children: A Curriculum Guide on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Inclusion for All Schools. She has presented on LGBT themes at NYC-AEYC and NAEYC Conferences, at NAIS’s People of Color Conference, at various Independent Schools in the New York area, and at the upcoming NAIS Annual Conference in February 2008.

Chap and her partner of 11 years, Laura, are both educators and diversity practitioners in independent schools. They often find themselves discussing similar challenges, sharing resources, and strategizing ways of approaching their work, particularly the many triumphs and disappointments of parenthood. Chap and Laura have two children, Sophia Rose, 7½, and Andrei Tomas, 3½. Sophia is a Second Grader at Fieldston Lower School and Andrei is attending preschool at Riverdale Neighborhood House. Chap has lived in NYC all of her 30 something years and is a proud Boriqua/Dominicana, born and raised in Spanish Harlem, NYC.

Chap and her family look forward to spending time with their diverse friends and family. Through their occasional Sabbath meals on Friday evenings, they learn more about their friends’ Jewish culture and beliefs. Discussions with their daughter’s Muslim friend have helped them to better understand this family’s practice of Ramadan. Their children’s Godfather enriches their lives with stories of his experiences growing up in California as a Chinese-American man. A strong belief in the Chap household is an ancient African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” She enthusiastically pursues and maintains a diverse village of people to call upon.

Chap also adheres to the Zimbabwe saying, “If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing.” So let us dance and sing together!

Chap is an expert for the School Questions for LGBT Parents in New York City forum.