Dr. Sandra (Chap) Chapman is Director of Equity and Community at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School (LREI), a progressive in the West Village section of , NYC. A native New Yorker, born and raised in El Barrio, or Spanish Harlem, in City, she uses the pronouns she, her, hers. Her mother migrated from Puerto Rico and her father immigrated from the Dominican Republic. All of Dr. Chap’s formal educational experiences occurred in , from her early childhood days in Head Start and elementary school in Spanish Harlem, to college at Fordham University in Lincoln Center, to Bank Street College of Education for her Masters in Education. Dr. Chap even ventured to upstate New York where she acquired her doctorate degree.

In her role at LREI, she works on issues related to equity, diversity, social justice and inclusion. In addition to her years at LREI, Chap has worked at and the Bank Street School for Children, all independent schools in New York City. With over 28 years in NYC independent schools, and a lifetime of experiences as a Latina lesbian who grew up financially poor and culturally rich, Chap has a unique perspective on issues of identity.

Dr. Chap has a broad range of knowledge regarding students and their social, cognitive, physical, spiritual and emotional selves. She works closely with faculty, administration, the Board of Trustees, parents and four year olds through twelfth grade students to support LREI’s mission. Chap runs regular parent forums, facilitates meetings with the co-chairs of the LREI Parent Affinity groups, and leads classroom discussions on community building, identity development and various social justice themes. She administers faculty meetings and often co-organizes the school’s Professional Development Days. Dr. Chap sits on the Board of Trustees' Committee on Diversity and Community, which gives regular updates to other trustee members as well as discusses school-wide equity initiatives.

In December, 2015 Chap completed her Educational Doctorate in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher College and her dissertation was titled, The Role of Racial-Ethnic Identity and Family Socialization on Student Engagement: Latino Youth in Select New York City Independent Schools. Chap is a member of a grassroots organization that supports Latinx educators in independent schools (Latinx Educators in New York Independent Schools (LENYIS). LENYIS runs an annual Latinx Youth Conference in the spring. For over five years, she has served on the faculty of the National Association of Independent Schools Diversity Leadership Institute, where she facilitates conversations on racial identity development. Recently, Chap has joined forces with The Perception Institute to presents workshops on implicit bias, racial anxiety, racial identity development, stereotype threat, microaggressions.

Chap, and her wife Imani, are proudly raising Sophia (18), Andrei (14) and Ale (5).