Faculty and Staff

 

Monnica O’Grady earned her BA and California teaching credential from Sonoma State University and her Waldorf teaching certificate from Rudolf Steiner College. She is also trained as a remedial reading teacher. Ms. O’Grady has been a Kindergarten teacher at Woodland Star for eleven years and previously worked in Kindergartens and the primary grades of public schools and private Waldorf schools. She has taught at Woodland Star since 2000.

 

Katie Boyle earned her BFA from the University of California at Santa Cruz, her California multiple subject teaching credential at Sonoma State University and her Waldorf Foundation Training from Rudolf Steiner College. She worked as a Waldorf Kindergarten Assistant for two years, including one at Woodland Star Charter School before becoming a lead Kindergarten teacher at Woodland Star in 2006.

 

Ms. Romer has been the lead Kindergarten teacher for the Dandelion Kindergarten since 2010.  Prior to that time Ms. Romer was the Kindergarten assistant in the Morning Glory Kindergarten at Woodland Star where she successfully worked with the Kindergarten staff and students. Prior to joining Woodland Star Kindergarten faculty, Ms. Romer was the lead Kindergarten teacher at Stonebridge Charter School in Napa.   She comes highly qualified possessing her California teaching credential, she has completed a significant portion of her Waldorf training program and has several years of lead teaching experience.

 

Phil Stone
Grade One Teacher
Mr. Stone earned his MA in Waldorf Education from Touro University, his BS in Computer Science from Cal State LA and his California multiple subject credential from Sonoma State University. He continues to study Waldorf education with on-going professional development courses at Rudolf Steiner College.  Mr. Stone graduated the eighth grade class at Woodland Star in June 2010.  Prior to joining Woodland Star in 2007, Mr. Stone taught at Stone Bridge (Waldorf-inspired) School in Napa, where he graduated the eighth grade class in June of 2007.

 

Ms. Akmenkalns earned her M.A. in Waldorf Education from Touro University, her teaching credential from Rudolf Steiner College/Touro University and her B.A. from Wheaton College. Prior to joining Woodland Star in 2010, Ms. Akmenkalns has taught grades one and two at Live Oak Charter in Petaluma. In addition to her class teaching position at Live Oaks, she spent four  years as Live Oak's handwork teacher developing and delivering the handwork curriculum to students in grades one through six.

 

Kathleen Pearl
Grade Three Teacher
Ms. Pearl earned her Waldorf teaching certification at Rudolf Steiner College and at the Kelowna Waldorf School in British Columbia and her B.A. and teaching credential from the University of Alaska Anchorage.  She is also trained in Waldorf special education through the Gradalis Institute and has done HANDLE training, with a certification in Neurodevelopment in the Learning Environment.  Prior to joining Woodland Star in 2009, Ms. Pearl was a long-time Waldorf kindergarten who has also taught Waldorf grades one through three in addition to teaching in the Anchorage public school system.

 

Ms. Swift received her BA from Sonoma State University, her Waldorf training from the Center for Educational Renewal in Santa Rosa and her teaching credential from Dominican College in San Rafael.  Ms. Swift has completed a four-year Waldorf Remedial Education program as well as her Therapeutic Educational Specialist training from the Gradalis Institute in Boulder, Colorado.  She has training in Social Inclusion Character Education programs as well as Lindamood-Bell Learning process, story telling and sandplay.  Ms. Swift joined the Woodland Star faculty in 2009.

 

Nancy Cherniss
Grade Five Teacher
Ms. Cherniss earned her BA from Bloomsburg State University in Bloomsburg, PA, her Waldorf teacher training from Sound Circle Waldorf Teacher Training Program in Seattle, Washington and her teaching credential from San Francisco State University.  Prior to joining Woodland Star in 2009, Ms. Cherniss has worked at several Seattle area Waldorf schools as a class teacher, math teacher, extra-lesson teacher, resource teacher, substitute and tutor.

 

John Graham
Grade Six Teacher
Mr. Graham earned his BA from Cal State University, Northridge, his Waldorf teaching certificate from Rudolf Steiner College and his California multiple subject teaching credential from Sonoma State University. Mr. Graham has over 20 years experience teaching first through eighth grades at the San Francisco Waldorf School, the Marin Waldorf School and Novato Charter School, a Waldorf-inspired public charter school. Mr. Graham is Spanish bi-lingual and has also taught Spanish, woodworking, games, drama and Kindergarten. He joined Woodland Star in 2003.

 

Robert Bucher
Grade Seven Teacher
Mr. Bucher received his BA from Sonoma State and his Waldorf training at Highland Hall in Los Angeles.  Mr. Bucher spent 12 years as a class teacher at the City of Lakes Waldorf School in Minneapolis where he took a class through grades 1-8.  In addition to his class teaching experience, Mr. Bucher has developed Waldorf curriculum and authored research papers on spelling and grammar approaches in Waldorf schools. He has traveled extensively and spent several years overseas teaching English at the elementary and high school levels. He joined Woodland Star in 2009.

 

Sharon Williams
Grade Eight Teacher
Ms. Williams received her Masters in History from San Francisco State, her BA from University of Hawaii, her Waldorf teaching training from Center for Educational Renewal in Santa Rosa, CA and her teaching credential from Dominican University.  Ms. Williams began her tenure at Woodland Star in 2009 and prior to that time, worked for the several years as a substitute teacher at several area Waldorf inspired charter schools in grades 1-8.  In addition to her class teaching experience, Ms. Willliams brings a passion for drama, history, art and math.

 

Gaylan Paige
Special Education Assistant and Aftercare Director
Ms. Paige earned her BA from San Francisco State University and has worked in education for the last twenty-five years. Ms. Paige directed the After School Program at the San Francisco Waldorf School for fourteen years and has worked as a special education assistant, teacher, Kindergarten teacher, school librarian and special programs instructor. She has founded and directed several businesses, including a consulting firm that specialized in children and family issues and challenges. Ms. Paige joined  Woodland Star in2001.

 

Heather Zavaleta
Spanish and EL Teacher, Grades K through 8
Maestra Zavaleta earned her BA in Spanish, graduating with Highest Honors from UC Davis. She earned her multiple subject credential with BCLAD and her single subject credential in Spanish from U.C. Davis. She has taught grade school, high school, adult school and ESL in the California public school system. She lived and taught for two years in Oxaca, Mexico and has traveled extensively throughout Mexico. Maestra Zavaleta is the mother of a Woodland Star student and joined our faculty in 2008.

 

Wendy Aguilar
Handwork Teacher, Grades 1 through 5
Wendy Aguilar teaches Handwork in grades one through five. She earned her BFA degree from Carnegie-Mellon University, her California teaching credential from Sonoma State University, her Handwork teaching certificate from Rudolph Steiner College, and her Waldorf teaching certificate from the Center for Educational Renewal. She has taught Arts and Crafts in South Carolina and in Bay Area public middle and high schools. Ms. Aguilar also teaches the developmentally disabled at the Sonoma Developmental Center. She joined Woodland Star in 2001.

 

Loyce Haran has taught private and group sewing instruction in Sonoma for many years. She joined the Woodland Star faculty in 2004.

 

 

Sheila Reilly
Administrator
Ms. Reilly has served as Administrator at Woodland Star since 2008. In 2007 as the Assistant Administrator, Ms. Reilly ushered the school through its WASC accreditation and led the five year charter renewal.  She earned her BA from Eastern Illinois University, her nursing degree from Santa Rosa Junior College and is completing her MBA at Sonoma State University. She has studied Waldorf education for many years and has completed her Waldorf Education Foundation Training from Rudolf Steiner College. A parent of two Waldorf, students, Ms. Reilly has been actively involved with Woodland Star serving on the Parent Council, Charter Council, Admin/Finance Committee, multiple Hiring Committees and directing parent education.

 

Ms. Jacopetti, as Program Director, is responsible for oversight of the curricular and pedagogical aspects of our school and works closely with the Administrator in running our program. Ms. Jacopetti comes with many years of private and public Waldorf school experience. She has taught grades 1-12 as well as being a curriculum director, school mentor and field supervisor for the Steiner College/Touro University Waldorf teacher training program. In addition she has worked with the Woodland Star faculty for the past several years as a consultant performing teacher evaluations and curriculum consulting.

 

Susan U’Ren is a graduate of Santa Rosa Junior College and worked many years in bookkeeping and business administration. Ms. U’Ren spent seven years as a licensed childcare provider before becoming a public school business and office manager in 2001.

 

Janis Lynne
Business Manager
Janis Lynne served as the Business Manager of the Petaluma Charter School from 1997-2004, where she also served on the Board of Trustees. She has extensive experience in managing all aspects of school finance and worked for Woodland Star in 2004-05 as a consultant before joining our administrative staff.