Eleanor Buckley Sugarman has been the teacher director at Gentle Dragon Preschool since 1992.

She has been an early childhood educator for over twenty years and holds her BA from Connecticut College and her M.Ed. from Lesley College. Her undergraduate studies included nursery through middle school certification and a major in Child Development. Her graduate work was a self-designed program in Curriculum Development and Administration. She maintains her teacher certification in Massachusetts for elementary through middle school teacher and principal, and is Director 2 qualified with OCCS.

Eleanor has worked in both parent cooperative and traditional preschool settings and is a parent herself of three children. She has been a parent at a coop, and sat on the school council at her sons' elementary school.

She believes that a strong parent-school relationship is an important component of a child's first school experience, and holds two conferences a year with each family. Parents and teacher can set similar goals for the child together, and the two-year program gives the child extended time for growth and change. Communication is further enhanced by daily contact and through direct experiences when parents help in the classroom.

Eleanor is pleased to have a parenting resource library at Gentle Dragon to share with the community. As families move through the school, her long-standing presence provides continuity and stability to the school.