Meet the Team
Dedicated, Licensed, & Certified
Founder, Owner, & Director
Jennifer Bonin Brown
Meet our Founder, Owner, & Director, Jennifer Bonin Brown. She holds a Master's Degree in Education from University of New Orleans with a focus on Early Childhood Development. Her minor is in Psychology with a focus on nutrition and its connection to mood, behavior, and brain development. She has worked hard to achieve a level 4 Director designation in 2025, holds an Administrator's Certificate and has gained over 150 hours in continued education. She holds an Ancillary License for ages birth through Kindergarten and Louisiana Praxis for ages kindergarten through 6th. She is actively involved in providing every-day training for the teachers, obtaining scholarships from the Department of Education to ensure all teachers are educated and licensed, building all classrooms, and assisting in providing advanced curriculum & daily lesson plans in each class. She purchases all of the food items to ensure the meals are nutritious and made daily with nearly all organic ingredients. During the entirety of the 2024-25 school year, Jennifer also participated in the New Leader Fellowship program through Agenda for Children, the Lead Agency for Ready Start Network in St. Tammany Parish. This program has helped her gain valuable knowledge to assist her in best serving families and children in the community. Jennifer has lived in Mandeville for the last 20 years where she has raised her three children in the Mandeville and St. Tammany Parish school systems since they were babies in daycare and preschool.
Lead Infant Teacher
Ashley Pingno
Our Lead Infant Teacher, Ms. Ashley Pingno, is dedicated to creating a nurturing and educational environment in our baby room. With her expertise and passion for early childhood education, Ms. Ashley leads our baby room care-giver team to ensure that each child receives personalized attention, care, and guidance. Through her employment with Magnolia Preschool, Ashley was granted a scholarship from the Department of Education and has completed over 100 hours of early childhood education courses to obtain her Child Development Associate's Degree and Ancillary license. Ashley has received observation scores in the Magnolia Preschool baby room at over 6 out of 7 from both the St. Tammany Parish School Board and the Louisiana State School Board.
Dee Boudreaux
Kitchen Manager
Ms. Dee Boudreaux is our Kitchen Manager and Cook. She is dedicated to ensuring that breakfast and lunch are cooked fresh every day, nutritious snacks are prepared, our organic ingredients are kept in stock in the kitchen, and each child in every classroom is served healthy meals and snacks. She was employed as a cook at Abita Middle School for over 20 years and keeps our kitchen in immaculate condition. Ms. Dee is also certified in Pediatric CPR & First Aid.
Assistant Teachers
Our Assistant Teachers provide a supportive and caring role in the classroom. The Lead Teacher and Assistant Teacher work together harmoniously, with careful communication, to create an environment of patience and compassion so that they are able to provide the best care for each child's individual needs.
Marlizhea McMorris
Ms. Marlizhea McMorris assists with providing care of all ages at Magnolia Preschool, from babies through Pre-k. Our Director is working to obtain a scholarship for her to begin working towards her Child Development Associate's Degree and Ancillary License in 2026. She is being trained by Magnolia Preschool's Director and by Agenda for Children on how to use best teaching practices with our advanced curriculum.
Kaitlyn Ponce-Baby Room
Ms. Kaitlyn Ponce is our Baby Room Assistant. Through her employment at Magnolia Preschool, she will obtain a scholarship and work towards obtaining her Child Development Associate's Degree and Early Childhood Ancillary License to teach young children from birth through 5 years old. Ms. Kaitlyn and Ms. Ashley work together to provide wonderful care to our babies who are ages 8 weeks to 12 months old.
Lead Pre-k Teacher
Ms. Tori Depascal
Our Lead Pre-k Teacher, Ms. Tori Depascal, works with our 3–4-year-olds and specializes in facilitating development in Language, Literacy, Social Studies, Science, Technology, & Mathematics. She promotes Social-Emotional, Language, Cognitive, and Physical growth through fun and engaging activities using our advanced Pre-K curriculum. She is passionate about ensuring that the children in our Pre-k class develop skills in a safe and stimulating environment to help prepare them for kindergarten and elementary school. Ms. Tori will receive her Ancillary License to teach young children birth to 5 years old in 2025/26 and has over 10 years of experience teaching preschool children.
Young Toddler Lead Teacher
Ms. Anesha Spikes
Our Young Toddler Teacher, Ms. Nesha Spikes, cares for our toddlers ages 12 -24 months. She has taken over 100 hours of early childhood education courses to obtain her Child Development Associate's Degree and Early Childhood Ancillary License. She is committed to helping our young toddlers achieve language, cognitive, social-emotional, and physical growth and provides a nurturing environment where the children feel safe to explore, develop, and learn. Ms. Nesha has earned a high observational score from St. Tammany Parish school board of over 5 out of 7 in her Magnolia Preschool one-year-old classroom.
Lead Toddler Teacher
Ms. Era'Nisha McKaskill
Our Toddler Teacher, Ms. Era'Nisha McKaskill, is committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for children ages 2-3 years old. She promotes social-emotional, language, cognitive, and physical growth and development through the use of fun, hands-on, play based activities. She has over 5 years of experience working with one- and two-year-olds in St. Tammany Parish. Ms. Era'Nisha is trained by our Director and by Agenda for Children on how to use best teaching techniques with our advanced curriculum. Our Director is working to obtain a scholarship. This scholarship will allow Ms. Era'Nisha to begin taking courses in 2026 to earn her Child Development Associate's Degree and Early Childhood Ancillary License to teach young children birth through 5 years old.