Elementary School Faculty

Early Childhood Education Certificate

Mae Carden Training

Ms. Hardy has been a Jr. Kindergarten teacher at Carden Conejo for six years. She was a stay at home mom until her youngest was three and was attending Pre School here at Carden Conejo . When asked if she would become a substitute, she decided that she would go back to school and get her Early Childhood Education Degree.  Ms. Hardy was asked to be the Jr. Kindergarten aide in 2011 and Kindergarten teacher in 2017. Ms. Hardy attended 3 Carden online training seminars in the summer. Her background and education was in the retail and fashion world. She was a buyer/merchandiser for a few lucrative businesses but after having children, she knew that the long hours and traveling would not work for her family.

Ms. Hardy loves coming to work every day and teaching. It is so much fun watching a child master how to write a letter, learn the sounds and learn how to read sentence structure and subject & predicate. She has seen the growth and the boost in confidence that they experience and it puts a smile on her face. There is nothing more fulfilling than watching a child grow as they learn. She has had amazing mentors and teachers here at Carden Conejo and learns something new from each child.

On the weekends she enjoy hiking with her family and loves going to the beach and baseball games.

Miss Fleming is a Carden Conejo alumnus who attended Carden from Kindergarten through Sixth grade. She is now teaching in the same kindergarten classroom in which she started her education.

After Carden, Miss Fleming went on to attend La Reina High School until her graduation in 2009. She then went to San Diego State University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with an emphasis on neuropsychological development.

Miss Fleming has been teaching the kindergarten summer orientation program with Miss Madison since 2010. She is thrilled to now be a full-time teacher at Carden Conejo.

On the weekends, Miss Fleming enjoys running, hiking, skiing, and going to the beach with friends. She loves her rescue pup Foxy.

University of Southern California, School of Dentistry

Mrs. Lyon is a graduate of the USC’s School of Dentistry.  She graduated with honors in 1999, and received a Bachelor of Science degree.  She worked as a dental hygienist in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills before moving to Westlake Village.

In 2008, she began teaching at Carden Conejo School as a substitute teacher in Pre-school and was later selected based on her experience to teach fourth grade.  The following year she taught second grade and then moved to first grade where she has been ever since.  She loves teaching first grade and keeps the lessons fun!

Mrs. Lyon’s husband, Jim, is a Vice President and senior portfolio manager at UBS financial services in Westlake Village.  Her daughter, Madison, played D1 water polo at Wagner College in New York City and now works as a recruiter for software engineers at a tech company in San Francisco.  Her son, “J.T.”, is a football player at Cal Poly SLO and is majoring in Construction Management & Engineering.  Mrs. Lyon loves to watch her children play sports, enjoys the beach, swimming, reading, and playing scrabble.

Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

Carden Trained and Certified

This is Mrs. Schmidt’s 3rd year of teaching first grade at Carden Conejo. Other teaching experience includes 2 years as a substitute teacher (Grades 1-5) at Oak Park Unified School District and Carden Conejo School.

Mrs. Schmidt is married with one daughter, Samantha, who attended Carden Conejo from Pre-Kindergarden through Grade 5. This is when Mrs. Schmidt fell in love with Carden Conejo School, its staff, facilities, and Language Arts Program. As a Carden parent, Mrs. Schmidt was actively involved in the CCPA for several years as Room Parent Coordinator and Co-President.

Bachelors Degree in Education – University of Rhodesia

Ms. Hallet was born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in Southern Africa. She studied at the University of Rhodesia and graduated with a BA in Education. She enjoyed teaching Kindergarten and First Grade for eight  years before she came to the United States.

Ms. Hallett has been teaching at Carden School for over twenty years.

Outside of school, Ms. Hallett enjoy all kinds of sports. She played tennis, basketball and field hockey at school, and now enjoys watching many of them, but agrees that football, soccer, rugby and cricket are her favorites.

Her other passion is traveling, and she often enjoys visiting her family members living in South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

Bachelor of Science – Behavioral Psychology

National University

UCLA

Early Childhood Education

*Carden Trained and Certified

4th year at Carden Conejo School teaching 2nd grade

Other teaching experience includes:

Pinecrest – Blue Ribbon School

Chatsworth Hills Academy – an International Baccalaureate School

Juan Cabrillo Elementary School Malibu – Blue Ribbon School

Happily married with 2 wonderful daughters – Tessa and Juliana

I love to spend time with my family and to travel!

Member of the National Charity League – a Mother-Daughter Community Service organization. I enjoy volunteering in the Conejo Valley with my daughters.

Debra Gillespie graduated from CSU Northridge with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies. She has received her California Multiple Subject Credential, Cultural Language Academic Development.

Mrs. Gillespie has been teaching for 20 years, in Kindergarten, First, and Second grade classrooms. She has experience teaching using the Carden Method for four years at the Carden School of Camarillo and Carden Heights Academy.

Mrs. Gillespie enjoys swimming, reading, and going to amusement parks with her family.

Bachelor of Arts; Child and Family Studies with a specialization in Child Welfare; Portland State University.

Mrs. Martin moved from Oregon where she worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children for 7 years, as both a supervisor and a child advocate.

Mrs. Martin has worked at Carden Conejo as a substitute teacher in the first, third, and fifth grades.  This is her 2nd year of teaching full time.  She is Carden trained and certified.

Mrs. Martin enjoys all the beautiful spaces California has to offer.  She likes hiking, going to beaches, and exploring different parts of Southern California with her family.

Bachelors in Education, Temple University, Philadelphia

Elementary and Early Childhood Education Degrees

Mrs. Martilik graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she received both her Bachelors in Education and her dual teaching degrees in Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Shortly after she obtained her certificate, she moved to Southern California with her husband and son where she was introduced to the Carden Method by a fellow colleague while volunteering at her local library.

Mrs. Martilik was fortunate enough to teach at Carden School of Camarillo for ten wonderful years.  She has attended numerous Carden training classes and observations. Mrs. Martilik is committed to motivating her students to achieve their full potential and to instill in them lifelong skills and the knowledge necessary for a successful future.

In her free time, Mrs. Martilik is an avid reader and challenges her mind with word games and crossword puzzles.  She loves to learn something new each day.

BA in Interdisciplinary Educational Studies

Carden Training

Miss Schmitz is a Carden Conejo alumnus who attended Carden from Pre-School through Sixth grade. She will be teaching Kindergarten this year in her former Kindergarten classroom. She shares a strong Carden background with her grandmother, and former owner of Carden Conejo, Mrs. Georgan Schmitz. Similar to her grandmother, Miss Schmitz shares the same love for Carden Conejo as her grandmother did.

Miss Schmitz attended La Reina High School after her time at Carden and graduated in 2016. She then furthered her education at California Lutheran University where she graduated in the spring of 2020 with a major in Interdisciplinary Educational Studies, and a minor in Art. She plans on furthering her educational career at the University of La Verne’s off-campus in Oxnard, where she will be receiving her Teaching Credential and Masters degree.

Miss Schmitz has been teaching here and there throughout her time in college and has previously been a part-time Pre-K aide and Play Program Assistant at Carden Conejo. She also works as a full-time camp counselor in the summers with Mr. Schlosser at Camp Carden. She is ecstatic to finally be working full time during the school year as a homeroom teacher.

Miss Schmitz really enjoys working with children. She is very creative, and artistic which will help her bring a new artistic perspective into the classroom for her students. She also has years of Carden experience by growing up through the school as well as Carden Training. She values teaching and building a strong teacher-student relationship with her future students.

BA in Sociology from CLU

Clear Credential and Master’s in Education from CLU

This will be Mrs. Deach’s 21 st year teaching in the private school environment. She taught
Kindergarten for two years then moved onto 3rd grade for eleven years, and has since been teaching
4th grade for the past eight years. She is definitely excited to make her way into the Carden
family this year!

While her Carden method training is ongoing, she feels she has the same high expectations for
her students with many of the same Carden methods from her years of experience, and the
love of the job. She loves each new school year because each year she looks forward to the
opportunity to teach her students and to lead by example. So that they too, can reach their
academic potential. She loves to watch them grow academically, socially, and psychically
throughout the year and beyond.

Mrs. Deach has two children, Ashley a 9th grader at TOHS, and a son, Drew a 7th grader at Los
Cerritos Middle School. Along with her husband, she likes to travel over the summer, ski trips
with her family over winter break, and simply hang out in their backyard. In her free time, she
likes to do CrossFit, read People Magazine, and spend time with family and friends.

Mrs. Deach is a huge Dodgers fan!

Bachelor of Business Administration, Managerial Sciences, with a Minor in Hospitality – Georgia State University

Miss Costin is a Carden Conejo alumnus who attended Carden from First Grade through Eighth Grade. Then she went on to attend Newbury Park High School and graduated in 2016. Afterward, she attended Georgia State University, where she earned her B.B.A. in Managerial Sciences, with a Minor in Hospitality in Spring 2020.

Miss Costin joined our faculty in January 2021 and is thrilled to be back at Carden Conejo as a full-time Aide for Ms. Hardy’s Kindergarten class.

Miss Costin has a background in event planning and design, so she thrives in creative environments, like the Kindergarten classroom. In addition, she has prior experience working with children at a summer day camp throughout her teen years. She also loves to cook, travel, and hike in her free time.