Administration

Christina Tettonis is the superintendent of The Hellenic Classical Charter Schools (HCCS). She
served as the principal of HCC's first school in Park Slope from 2007-2019, before
spearheading the opening of its second school on Staten Island in 2019. 
 
Under her leadership, The New York State Education Department designated HCCS in Park
Slope a National Blue Ribbon School in 2019. HCCS has been distinguished as a reward
school for five consecutive years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). Reward schools exhibit high
rates of student progress and achievement, and must demonstrate their ability to close gaps in
student performance. HCCS ranks among the top charter schools (Pre-K to 8) in New York City
for exceeding targets in student achievement, rigorous instruction, collaborative teachers,
supportive environment, effective school leadership, strong family-community ties and trust. 
 
Christina was a member of the Deputy Chancellor’s Principal Advisory Group and has been an
active alumni fellow and advisor for The Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished New York City
Principals at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also a Board of Trustee for the
Brooklyn Public Library and The Literacy Trust. She was a Board of Trustee for The Brooklyn
Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College. 
 
Christina was principal of Public School 170 for the New York City Department of Education
from 2002- 2007 and served as Director of The Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program for
Community School District 20 from 1997-2002.  She began her public school career teaching
students at Public School 186 and Public School 105 in Brooklyn, New York. Her first teaching
position was at Holy Cross Parochial School. 
She holds a Masters degree in elementary education with a concentration in reading instruction
and a sixth year certificate in administration & supervision and a school district administrator
certification.    
Christina was born and raised in Brooklyn. She is the eldest daughter of Greek immigrant
parents. She is married and has twin sons.

Joy Petrakos is the Chief of Operations of the Hellenic Classical Charter Schools in
Brooklyn (HCCS-PS) and in Staten Island (HCCS-SI). She is the former Founding
Director of Operations of HCCS-PS and served in this position from 2005-
2019.  Joy is responsible for the operations, finance and grant processes of both
schools. She also serves as the Greek government liaison, Director of Admissions,
Director of Accountability, and oversees all compliance matters among many other
responsibilities.
 
As a founding leader, Joy initiated recruiting students, hiring teachers and staff. She
developed school systems and operations in HCCS-PS’s first school year in 2005.
Along with the academic team, as the chief operations leader, Joy was responsible for
receiving three full five year school renewals, and a successful school replication in
Staten Island by The New York State Board of Regents. In addition, she was a member
of the leadership team that received The National Blue Ribbon recognition in 2019.
Under her direction, the schools have established financially sound operations with 15
successful audits and no significant findings. She currently manages two school
budgets totaling over 10 million dollars, completed a 12 million dollar expansion project
in 2014 and has successfully written grants in excess of one million dollars. She
developed financial systems, implemented policies and serves as the public relations
and legal contact.
 
Joy was born and raised in Queens, New York and is the eldest child of Greek
immigrant parents. She currently resides in Long Island with her husband, their two
daughters who are both special education teachers, and their dog Max.

Natasha Caban is the Principal of the Hellenic Classical Charter School (HCCS-PS). She is the
former Assistant Principal and served in this position for 11 years, as well as the former Special
Education Coordinator and teacher from 2005 – 2007.
As coordinator of Special Education, Natasha established and developed the current special
education program in the first year of operation in 2005. During her tenure, she ensured that all
student IEP’s and related services were in compliance according to state laws and regulations. In
addition, she was responsible for all testing and served as the testing coordinator and liaison.
These responsibilities continued along with assisting with HCCS-PS full five year renewals as
Assistant Principal.
Natasha was born and raised in Brooklyn. She is the eldest daughter of a former DOE Assistant
Principal and her mother is a DOE employee. She is married and has a daughter.

Cathy Kakleas has worked at The Hellenic Classical Charter School since its inception in 2005. As a first grade teacher she worked diligently to engage her students and develop a passion for reading in her classroom.  She was a mentor for new teachers and her classroom was used as a lab classroom where she had opportunities to share effective teaching practices with her peers.

In 2011, Cathy became the Literacy Coach for grades Kindergarten through Eight. She attended beginning and advanced levels of Reading and Writing institutes at Columbia University’s Teachers College to prepare for her new role. During her four years as a Literacy Coach, Cathy organized and facilitated study tours on Socratic Seminars for other public schools and for educators in the Schools That Can network.  She also organized a Foundational Skills institute hosted by Hellenic in partnership with The Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University.  In the summer of 2015, Cathy participated in Danielson’s Framework for Teaching Clusters Pilot, titled “Enhancing Professional Practice”.  Participation in this pilot was the inspiration for school wide implementation of inter-visitations driven by professional conversations and teacher reflections.

In 2016, Cathy became the Dean of Academics for the Hellenic Classical Charter School. As Dean of Academics, she provided guidance and support to all instructors. She oversaw a team of teacher leaders comprised of a math coach, middle school ELA lead, and AIS teachers.  She also oversaw the Pre-k program at Hellenic Classical Charter School. The Pre-k program scored higher than the NYC DOE average in all three domains of the CLASS assessment in 2017.

Currently, Cathy Kakleas is the principal of the newly replicated Hellenic Classical Charter School in Staten Island. 

Cathy Kakleas was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She is the oldest child of Greek immigrant parents. She is married and the mother of three adult children.  She currently resides in Staten Island.