Debbie Carden is thrilled to be returning to The Capitol School after an almost two decade hiatus. She began her career in education working as a co-teacher in the Hill Cluster, where she learned from the best. Her son, Zac, attended the Capitol School for many years. Debbie is a military brat who lived in Greece as a baby and graduated high school in Belgium. She chose the Capitol School as her son’s preschool because it was the only International School around. He is about to complete his masters degree this month in Atlanta and he and his mom both credit the Capitol School for so much of his success in college and graduate school as well as in life in general. Debbie has an undergraduate degree from UA in Psychology with a minor in communicative disorders. She completed master’s degrees from UA in school psychometry and early childhood special education. She also completed coursework for the gifted education master’s program and the human development and family studies master’s program as well as coursework for the educational specialist program in school psychology. She has an Associates of Art degree in occupational therapy assistant (OTA) and is a certified OTA. Since leaving Capitol School, she has worked as a certified child life specialist in hospitals, a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a gifted teacher, a pediatric COTA, a children’s librarian, and a children’s mental health therapist. She can hardly believe she is returning to the same classroom at Capitol School that she left many years ago to pursue a graduate degree. Many of the students she taught all those years ago have gone on to great things (one just graduated vet school and one was teacher of the year last year) and she is absolutely positive that she has the distinct pleasure to get to teach the best 2 1/2-5 year-olds on the planet during the 2026-2027 school year!