Meet The Cooperative Kids Instructors
Each of the instructors has completed the 25-hour certification training to understand and teach the Love, Limits, & Lessons® discipline course, to work with parents and professionals in implementing the methodology.
Barbara Calcasola
NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
Barbara is the community educator and volunteer coordinator for the Network Against Domestic Abuse in North Hartford County. She works closely with women in need of parenting help and those in the Head Start organization.
Dorene Zhulkovsky
NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
Dorene has worked with children for the past twenty years. She started out as a Pediatric Nurse then, while going to school, worked as a paraprofessional in private and public schools. She has worked with children with and without special needs from different walks of life. Dorene’s experience has taught her that it is impossible to fit children into a mold or into a preexisting theory. Children are unique and special. Each has their own special gifts and abilities. However all of them share the need for love and acceptance. It is so important to approach a child with respect and willingness to learn and care about them. Once you make a genuine connection with a child, a relationship can be established.
Lei La Luksic
NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
With a passion for learning new things and always searching for new ways of teaching, Lei La has been working with children for over 24 years. She is a director at the New England Preschool Academy and has been with the Academy for 16 years. In 1990 she received State of Connecticut Designated Head Teacher for a Child Day Center for children under 3 to School Age, and in 2001, received national administrator credentials from the National Child Care Association (NCCA). Lei La has a grown son in the marines and a 15 year old daughter. She and her husband Robert have been married for 23 years and live in Windsor Locks.
Carol Hiller
NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
Linda York
NORTH CENTERAL CONNECTICUT
Jared HainesNORTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT
Victoria Johnson
SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT
Larry and Patricia Bumpus
SOUTHEASTERN
CONNECTICUT
Larry and Patricia Bumpus have a total of 10 children (yours, mine and ours). They have provided foster care to over 70 children; and adopted 5 (ours). Patricia has been a Mentor for school aged children. She provided Day Care Services prior to becoming a foster parent. In his role as Head instructor for Kazoku Judo Dojo (Family Gentle Way Club) from 1988 – 2011, Larry mentored to hundreds of children. After attending a CAFAP Conference workshop presented by Bill Corbett, Larry and Patricia realized that applying the methodology of “Love, Limits & Lessons” with their family and training others to learn these methods was to be the focus of the extra time available to them after Larry’s retirement from State Service. They love parenting together and are confident the ideas presented in the “Love, Limits & Lessons” training will improve the quality of life for your entire family.
Dennis Fenton
CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
Dennis Fenton lives in Westborough, Massachusetts. He has a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a Masters degree in School Counseling from Worcester State College. For thirteen years, Dennis taught at the first and second grade level, and spent the last twenty four years as a school counselor for grades four through eight. "To me, helping families and children cope with stressful day-to-day issues is very rewarding. Cooperative Kids helps people discover the common sense approach to parenting that is so easily lost in the challenging times we live in."
Norma Villanueva
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Norma is a certified bilingual parent educator and conference speaker, and has been working with families for many years in many different capacities. She is a Board Member and volunteer at the Lion’s Den, an outreach center for children, as well as a member of the management team of the Springfield Parent Academy. She has 2 grown children and resides with her husband in Springfield, Massachusetts.
