Administrative Staff

Mussarat Qureshi

Principal

About

Maisoun Zaza

Vice-Principal/Kindergarten Teacher

My name is Maisoun Zaza and I am so happy to be your child’s kindergarten teacher this year. I live in Huntsville and am married with three children and two cats! I enjoy reading, gardening, and playing with my cats. This will be my twelfth year teaching at IAH. I grew up in Damascus, Syria and attended school and college there. I came to the United States in 1992, straight to Huntsville! I graduated with a radiology degree from Damascus and worked for two years as an X-Ray technician before moving to the U.S. I worked as an assistant teacher for two years before starting to teach kindergarten.

Kindergarten is a challenging and exciting year in the life of a child. For many children, this is their first experience away from home- all day, every day. We will be busy with rigorous language arts and math concepts, and exploring science and social studies. Additionally, the children will have Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies, as well as art and physical education. My goal is to help my students to do their best academically and to teach them to apply Islamic teachings to their everyday life.

Teachers

Nadia Khazendar

Preschool Teacher

Jana Barfield

First Grade Teacher

About

Jacqueline Wallace

Second Grade Teacher

About

Sadiyah Ahmed

Second Grade Teacher

Asalaamu Alaykum, Peace Be Unto You! My name is Sadiya Ahmed and I am a second grade teacher at IAH this 2020-2021 school year. I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where I attended Truman State University to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in English literature and a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education. After college, I lived and worked as a substitute teacher in Auburn, Alabama with my husband, Tanveer. Now, we are blessed to live and work here in beautiful Huntsville, Alabama.

I am overjoyed to begin my teaching career as a part of IAH’s learning community. I am most excited to teach and share with second grade my love of reading, math, art, science, social studies, and writing.

Kasey Rodriguez

Third Grade Teacher

Hi! I am Kasey Rodriguez. I was born and raised here in Alabama. I have lived here my entire life. I am from a neighboring city, Decatur. I graduated high school in from West Morgan High School. I am married with four wonderful children. I have three boys and one girl. My oldest is Hunter who is 26; he also has a son that just turned two. My middle son is 22, his name is Stone. Then I have a set of twins, Lola and Logan who will be turning 13 soon.

I attended Calhoun Community College to earn an Associate’s degree and then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Athens State University. I previously worked as a teacher’s aide and a homebound teacher. I have taught at the Islamic Academy of Huntsville almost 9 years. I taught first grade for two years and am currently teaching third grade at IAH.

I love teaching. I am a caring and nurturing person who enjoys watching students grow and learn. I enjoy having students work in groups on projects during class to encourage communication and learning from peers. I use technology when teaching to get students acquainted to using media with education. I encourage discussion and expression of student’s feelings and experiences during lessons so that all feel equally important and accepted.