Victoria Albaracin Goh

Kindergarten Teacher

Victoria Albaracin Goh

Kindergarten Teacher

Victoria Albaracin grew up in Phoenix Arizona and moved to the Bay Area 16 years ago to play college soccer. She remained in the Bay Area because she says she finally felt like she was “home”. Victoria received her Undergraduate Degree in International Relations and Peace and Justice Studies and her Masters in Urban Education as well as her multiple subject teaching credential from Holy Names University in Oakland. Victoria worked at Park Day School in 2016 as an assistant and has stayed connected to the community since. She has been teaching kindergarten for the last 6 years in the Fruitvale and loves working with the littlest learners. Victoria has worked hard the last few years on building a robust social emotional learning curriculum that included cultural identity development for kindergarteners. She strives to provide an educational experience that reflects the beautiful and diverse community in which we live in. When she is not in the classroom she enjoys spending time with her family, hiking and backpacking, and developing her newest hobbies of propagating plants, jewelry making, and sewing her own clothing!

Jane Angeles

Enrollment & Office Associate

Lisa Appleyard

6th Grade Math & Science Teacher

Lisa Appleyard

6th Grade Math & Science Teacher

Lisa has been teaching since 1995, just after earning a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from St. Mary’s College. She’s taught at several Bay Area schools, most recently Nea Community Learning Center, Archway Middle School, and Windrush School (2000-2012) where she instructed students in Math, Science, and Performing Arts. Lisa was thrilled to join the Park Day community in 2016 and is looking forward to another fun year.

 

As a Middle School Math and Science Teacher, Lisa enjoys designing authentic learning opportunities with the students in math class and incorporating projects involving art and design into the curriculum. Recently, Lisa has had the opportunity to participate in a number of math professional development programs including Action Research Cohort at Nea, a “teaching fractions” intensive with Professor Wu at UC Berkeley, and the Math Teachers Circle at AIM, a weeklong workshop for math teachers focusing on problem-solving strategies.

 

When she is not teaching, you might find Lisa running, strolling with her dog, Schatzi, bike riding with her two sons, or performing on a local stage. She has also loved the opportunity to coach track and cross country during the past six seasons and looks forward to another exciting running season this year!

Grecia Bloom

Middle School Spanish Teacher

Grecia Bloom

Middle School Spanish Teacher

Grecia was born in Mexico to a family of teachers and has been working in the classroom for years. She has a BA degree in Communications from the University of Veracruz and a Scientific Film Minor from the International School of Film and Video. Since 2006, Grecia has been teaching Spanish and art to Kindergarten through fourth grade students and has found her passion in teaching Spanish. She brings her cultural roots to her teaching, as well as her interests in art and Mexican folk dancing. Prior to joining Park Day School in 2017, Grecia taught in Orinda Public Schools.

Check out Grecia’s Teacher Spotlight

Amalia Bob-Waksberg

Digital Media Manager & Enrollment Associate

Julie Bowers

3rd-5th Learning Specialist

Julie Bowers

3rd-5th Learning Specialist

Julie has a Masters Degree in Special Education from Bank Street College of Education and a graduate-level certificate in educational therapy from Holy Names University. She is thrilled to be coming back to Park Day School after taking the last six years to develop her educational therapy private practice. Julie worked as a fifth and sixth grade teacher at Park Day for 13 years. Before that, she taught in myriad educational settings, including special education and bilingual schools. When she is not working, Julie enjoys watching both her sons play baseball, going for hikes with her dog, and camping with her partner.

Sam Braveman-Kennedy

Differentiation Support Teacher

Lauren Buscemi

Assistant Teacher

Lauren Buscemi

Assistant Teacher

Lauren was born and raised in the Bay Area, and went north to Chico State University where she graduated with a BA in French and a BS in Computer Animation. During college, she studied abroad for a year at Université Paris 8, Saint Denis in France. While in France, she had the amazing opportunity to care for and teach English to young children. Ultimately she decided to pursue a career in education and is currently enrolled in a Masters in Education and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential program through the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute (BATTI). In her free time Lauren likes to study languages, do art projects, and cuddle her cats.

Romeo Channer

Assistant Teacher

Briana Clarke

Seventh and Eighth Grade Science Teacher

Briana Clarke

Seventh and Eighth Grade Science Teacher

Briana started teaching at Park Day in 2021, returning to the middle school classroom after five years of teaching at Envision Academy High School. She is particularly excited to teach in a progressive school, where students can practice science in its authentic form of inquiry and collaboration. In Briana’s class, students are introduced to several disciplines of engineering, and engage in regular lab work to explore, discover, and build.

Briana attended private schools from elementary through graduate school at Stanford University, and appreciates the unique ecosystem Park Day provides to nurture children in a holistic manner. She hopes to honor that holistic model as students to learn science’s integration in daily life. For instance, students will learn the physics behind music as they build their own instruments, or the organic chemistry behind plant life as they care for their gardens.

To learn more about Briana’s teaching philosophy or her published curriculum, you can visit her website. Bit.ly/physics4all

Karen Colaric

Head of Lower School

Karen Colaric

Head of Lower School

Karen has been an educator since 1980 and joined Park Day in 1984. During her tenure at Park, Karen has taught second through fourth grades before taking the Lower School Director position in 2005. Park Day’s progressive philosophy and political values have been a perfect match for Karen, who enjoys experimenting with and creating curriculum and grappling with issues related to school leadership and social justice. Karen migrated to California to put herself through school at SFSU, earning both her BA in liberal studies and completing post-graduate credential work. Karen has published Creating the Bedroom of Your Dreams in the California Mathematics Council Communicator in June, 2002, and was a contributing author to the Great Explorations in Math and Science guide, Math on the Menu: Real Life Problem Solving. She has presented several workshops for Oakland public school teachers and was the Keynote speaker for a seminar for California Subject Matter Projects, UCB in 2007 titled Educating for Sustainability: Principles and Projects that Build Ecological Literacy. In 2009, Karen presented Social Justice in Action: Proof and Practice at the Progressive Educators Network conference in Washington, DC. In 2011 she presented SDA: Support, Development and Assessment of Teachers at PEN. In 2004, Karen was awarded the Fulbright Memorial Fund and traveled to Japan with a contingent of 200 American teachers. She also had the privilege of leading a group of fifteen BHS students to Costa Rica, to take part in sustainability work through Ecology Project International. Recently, Karen attended the Project Zero Institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she furthered her expertise in the Teaching for Understanding model in practice at Park Day.

Karen is the mother of two Park alums, Celeste (’99) and Spenser (’02).

Jalen Cole-Williams

Auxiliary Programming Coordinator

Jalen Cole-Williams

Auxiliary Programming Coordinator

Jalen started working at Park Day School in 2014. A Park Day alum, he has worked with students for the majority of his career both at Park Day, and at Steve and Kate’s camp on the Park Day campus. His constant goal is to facilitate a fun, safe environment in which kids can play and connect with each other. He particularly enjoys art and is thrilled to be contributing to his alma mater!

Jennifer Cooper

Director of Facilities

Jennifer Cooper

Director of Facilities

Jennifer has been following her interests in creating, designing, fixing, building and growing things since she was young, and is delighted to be able to do all those things at Park Day School, especially when kids are involved. Jennifer has been at Park Day School since 2012. She was instrumental in starting the gardening program and later took over as the learning gardening teacher. As she taught, Jennifer also spearheaded and managed various projects on campus, from the Innovation Workshop to the chicken coop, yurt, and the rainwater catchment system, and has worked with students to build many campus projects.

Jennifer received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University, and later completed graduate work in Architecture and Planning at U.C. Berkeley. She has over 20 years of experience in commercial and residential design, construction and project management, sustainable and green building design, and community organizing and public speaking. An avid gardener, cook, and maker, Jennifer is the mother of 2 wonderful children (both Park alums) and loves spending time outdoors with her family and friends.

Hannah Davis

Gardener

Hannah Davis

Gardener

Hannah has been a landscape designer/gardener by profession since finishing the Merritt College Landscape Design program in 1988. Prior to that she received a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) after moving from Virginia at 19. She has been caring for our beautiful grounds since her oldest son came to Park for kindergarten in 1999. Hannah worked on the PDS annual Garden Tour fundraiser for over a decade: chairing, selecting gardens and editing the booklet. She is dedicated to preserving the grounds as a green oasis in the middle of Oakland and as an inspiring outdoor classroom.

When not at Park she designs and maintains small residential gardens for private clients. Soon to be an “empty nester” with her husband, Mark, she hopes to find some time to get back to making art, doing some creative writing, and traveling a bit. Both of their sons are Park Day alums.

Zikar Ebong

Gardener

Terri Edwards-Nixon

Middle School Learning Garden Teacher

Terri Edwards-Nixon

Middle School Learning Garden Teacher

Terri was born and raised in Maryland, attended college in Pennsylvania, and settled in the Bay Area many years ago. She comes to Park Day School with more than six years of experience as an elementary school Garden Educator. Terri piloted the Garden Education program that is now in place at 10 schools in her prior district. She helped develop and implement curriculum for K-5 students with an emphasis on NGSS in the garden. Some of her favorite parts of being an educator are making connections with the students, providing lessons that embrace all types of learning styles, and being a positive influence in the lives of her students. She looks forward to teaching creative, engaging lessons and collaborating with grade-level teachers to provide cross-curricular connections for the students.

One of Terri’s favorite garden activities is harvesting from the garden and cooking with students. She believes that if students learn where their food comes from, understand the process to grow and care for plants, and take part in cooking what they grow, then they will enjoy eating healthy foods.

During the pandemic, Terri felt a need to connect with her community and to get people outside and gardening. She started a plant and seed swap for neighbors to stop by and trade or start their own gardening adventure. In addition to the swap, she has an Instagram page where communities can resource gardening tips and connect. Terri hopes to build on the plant swap and create a crop swap to provide mutual aid for the underserved in her community.

Terri enjoys gardening, cooking, community building, creating mixed media artwork, and gathering with friends and family. Terri and her husband Terry have two sons, five chickens, a dog and a cat.

Ashley Foster

Director of Auxiliary Programming/Admissions Team

Ashley Foster

Director of Auxiliary Programming/Admissions Team

Ashley has held multiple roles at Park Day including Dean of Students and Athletics Director. She is delighted to be Director of Auxiliary Programming and oversees the after school, camps, and athletics programs at Park Day while also working as an admissions associate in the enrollment office. Prior to joining Park Day School in 2018, Ashley taught upper grade elementary school in Berkeley and Oakland for nine years. During her time teaching in the Bay Area she has developed her passion for and acuity at helping students grow into socially responsible, fulfilled and achieving students. While teaching at Oxford Elementary, Ashley served as Equity Teacher Lead and Technology Teacher Lead. At Crocker Highlands Elementary she was selected to model Caring School Community curriculum, a strategy for creating inclusive and socially/emotionally skillful student communities, for the district.

Ashley played basketball at Holy Names University where she later earned her M.A. in Urban Education. Ashley enjoys any kind of physical activity with her dog Peppy, watching the Warriors dominate and spending time with her family, especially reading books to her newborn daughter and young son.

Ana Gainza

ASAP Teacher

Tatiana Gazieva

Business Office Controller

Julia Gonsalves

Assistant Teacher

Julia Gonsalves

Assistant Teacher

Julia joins Park Day after spending her first year in the classroom as an Assistant Teacher at Creative Arts Charter School in San Francisco.

While earning her B.A. in Communications from CSU Sacramento, Julia’s work as a nanny and tutor illustrated to her the importance of building community to best nurture and guide young minds. After a career in public relations and home design, she is excited to begin a new chapter with a commitment to inclusive and community-centric education.

Julia is currently pursuing her master’s in teaching and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential through the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute (BATTI) at Holy Names University. Outside of the classroom, Julia is happiest outdoors whether skiing, hiking, swimming, or horseback riding. She loves to learn from and experience different cultures by way of travel and adventure. Enjoying delicious food and sunshine with family and friends is her idea of a perfect day.

Jules Greene

Head of Middle School

Jules Greene

Head of Middle School

Jules is delighted to be working with her favorite age group, Middle Schoolers, and to be working at a progressive school like Park Day School which holds students at the center of learning. A product of independent schools, Jules entered the field of education to ensure all students in independent schools were able to access equitable and inclusive communities. Jules taught Middle School History at Hillbrook school for nearly 7 years, and was the founding Director of Diversity there. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in history, focusing on Asian and Islamic Studies, and a Master’s in History Education from San Jose State University. Her love for equity, inclusion and social emotional learning lead her to want to explore Equity and Inclusion work, and she has spent the past two years at Drew School, as the Director of Equity and Inclusion. In conjunction with campus wide equity work, Jules was able to explore the world of Social Entrepreneurship, bringing real world learning and experiences to students. In addition to her work in teaching and leading equity efforts, Jules has been a frequent conference speaker and teacher coach. She is excited to be returning to a Middle School environment, and values holding space for faculty, staff and students to have the hard conversations that are deeply necessary to move equity work forward, and support continual student growth academically and personally. Jules sees progressive education as deeply important to help students foster skills to figure out how they learn best, while helping them develop empathy and curiosity towards differences. She appreciates that school is a place for students to take these learnings and try, make mistakes, and get messy in an environment of trust, safety and support. In her personal life, Jules has been a golfer since the age of 7 and continues to teach anyone who is willing to join on the course! She loves food, coffee, cooking, coffee and more coffee!

Jackie Guadalupe

ASAP Teacher

Yesenia Guadalupe

Assistant Teacher

Yesenia Guadalupe

Assistant Teacher

Yesenia (Yessy) was born and raised in Oakland. She is a first generation graduate, and majored in Child and adolescent development at San Francisco State University. Yessy’s passion for childcare started when she was 15 and began by babysitting for nieces and nephews. When she started college, she discovered that she had a passion for education and helping children develop. Yessy has worked at Steve and Kate summer camp for 4 years as a camp counselor. She started at Park Day School in 2021.

Yessy loves drawing and doing word searches. She has a side hobby/small business selling crafts made with a cricut machine, art made by resin, invitations, and chip bag favors.

KG

Middle School Teacher

KG

Middle School Teacher

Bio to come.

Jeanine Harmon

Director of Community Outreach & Service Learning

Jeanine Harmon

Director of Community Outreach & Service Learning

Jeanine Harmon has over 25 years of experience working in both public and private schools as a classroom teacher, administrator, and consultant. Prior to joining the Park Day School as Director of Community Outreach and Service Learning in 2009, Jeanine was the public school liaison for the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute (BATTI).

Jeanine has taught courses for student teachers in math and science curriculum development at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. She has a master’s degree in Educational Technology from San Francisco State University and is rarely seen without her camera. Jeanine enjoys working with PDS staff and students to design service learning projects that connect the students with the local community and the world at large.

Marisa Hatcher

Athletic Director & K-4 Physical Education Teacher

Marisa Hatcher

Athletic Director & K-4 Physical Education Teacher

Marisa joined the Park Day School community in 2019. She is passionate about mentoring and teaching students and athletes to help them achieve their goals. She is currently working on her Single Subject Physical Education credential at Touro University in Vallejo, CA. Prior to Park Day, she was a substitute teacher for Vallejo Unified School District. She is proud to now call the east bay home where she referees high school basketball and also coaches for the Golden State Warriors Jr. NBA camps.

Emily Hawley

ASAP Teacher

Emily Hawley

ASAP Teacher

Emily Hawley is a proud Bay Area native, and has lived in San Leandro her entire life. She has worked in Education for five years as part of the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, previously as an after school teacher at Joaquin Miller Kids Club. She is passionate about art, and loves to draw and craft in her spare time. Emily is excited to be a part of the team at Park Day School.

Dani Herrera

First Grade Teacher

Dani Herrera

First Grade Teacher

Dani grew up in the Bay Area and attended college at Holy Names University, where she earned a degree in Psychology. She played soccer for HNU and became involved in the theater program. This is Dani’s 10th year at Park Day School. She has been the After School Director, an assistant teacher in 2nd and 1st grade, and a middle school PE teacher. Now she is loving life teaching her sweet little first graders. Dani’s favorite part of her job is connecting with the kids and seeing their “aha” moment when learning something new.

In her free time, Dani loves to sing, craft, bake cookies, act, and play soccer. Dani has two beautiful daughters named Hayley and Rosalee, and a wonderfully supportive husband named Adrian. She loves to spend time with her family in nature, especially the redwoods.

Kyle Herrera

ASAP Teacher

Devin Homme

Third Grade Teacher

Devin Homme

Third Grade Teacher

Devin was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN by a community of teachers. He graduated from Macalester College in Minnesota where he studied education and creative writing. Before joining Park Day in 2014, Devin taught in a variety of educational settings ranging from running his own 5th grade classroom, to coaching soccer, to creating and implementing educational programming for youth and their parents at Planned Parenthood.

 

Devin earned his Masters Degree in Education through the BATTI program, which he completed in May 2016. When he’s not in the classroom, Devin can be found building forts and eating burritos with his three daughters. He can also be found laughing with his wife at the number of young children they have. If you look hard enough, you’ll hopefully see him playing more soccer again.

Victoria Jones

Registrar/Office Associate

Victoria Jones

Registrar/Office Associate

Victoria is an Oakland native who joined Park Day in 2014. Victoria has over 15 years working in education, partnering with children and their families. Prior to working at Park Day, Victoria worked as a preschool teacher at The Child Day Schools in San Ramon. She also worked as an after school teacher for a non-profit program called Ala Costa Center, where she worked with children and teens with developmental disabilities. Victoria attended California State of the East Bay, and earned her degree in Human Development. Victoria loves spending her weekends in the outdoors with her daughter, swimming, hiking and biking! Victoria is also a foodie, and loves all things from the 80’s and 90’s.

Sarah Kaminsky

ASAP Teacher

Carrie Kartman

Middle School Learning Specialist

Carrie Kartman

Middle School Learning Specialist

Originally from Ithaca, New York, Carrie has lived in the Bay Area since 1979. She holds degrees in Drama, Creative Writing, and Educational Therapy. She began her teaching career in the Creative Writing department at S.F. State University in 1995. Since then she has taught at Everett Middle School as a member of San Francisco WritersCorps/Americorps, tutored in the East Bay for over ten years, taught drama as a Teaching Artist with Walnut Creek Civic Arts, and been a classroom teacher at Raskob Day School and Bayhill High School. She was a Learning Specialist at The Mills College Children’s School, conducted psycho-educational assessments for The Ann Martin Children’s Center, and most recently was the District Reading Specialist in Piedmont Unified’s Special Education Department. For over ten years she has maintained a private practice in educational therapy. Carrie joined Park Day School in 2018. She has also published essays, articles, and short fiction, and her plays have been seen in local theaters. Carrie was a founding board member of Twins by the Bay, a local support group for parents of twins. In her free time she can often be found at the theatre, or enjoying the outdoors.

Scott Keller

Assistant Teacher

Scott Keller

Assistant Teacher

Scott is an Oakland native who loves being a part of the Park Day community. Prior to joining Park Day, Scott worked as an after school teacher in Oakland public schools and as a professional musician. He is passionate about empathy, equity, and seeing students realize their potential as learners and as people. He looks forward to working alongside both staff and families to ensure that all students achieve their goals. When not on campus, Scott can be seen on a bandstand either behind a drum set or a microphone, entertaining crowds across the Bay Area and beyond.

Jill Knowland

Chief Financial Officer

Jill Knowland

Chief Financial Officer

Prior to joining the Park Day School staff in 2017, Jill served as the first female Executive Director of the USS Hornet in Alameda. Before that, she was the Chief Finance and Operations Officer of the Chabot Space and Science Center. In both of these previous positions, an area of focus beyond finance and operations was advancing these organizations’ skills and capacities in the area of STEM education.

Eddie Langwinski

Maintenance Technician

Susan Lee

Second Grade Teacher

Susan Lee

Second Grade Teacher

Susan has taught second grade at Park Day School since 2004. She grew up in southern California, and received her Bachelors as a double major from U.C.L.A. in Psychology and Asian American Studies. After teaching English to elementary and middle school children in Japan, she earned her California multi-subject teaching credential and M.E.D. from U.C. Berkeley through U.C.B’s Developmental Teacher Education program. She is a teacher consultant for the Bay Area Writing Project, has co-coordinated BAWP Young Writers Camps, and enjoys spending summers teaching writing to enthusiastic Young Writers. She has also participated as a fellow with the Agency by Design Fellowship in Oakland.

Sara Levine

Fourth Grade Teacher

Sara Levine

Fourth Grade Teacher

A Berkeley native, Sara is deeply rooted in the Bay Area. She joined the Park Day team in 2019, prior to which she taught fourth grade and middle school math at Oakland Hebrew Day School for eight years, and worked in special education in Berkeley Unified School District. She got her BA in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz and her Teaching Credential and Masters Degree in Education from Mills College, focusing on how high achieving math students respond to challenge. In her teaching, she cares deeply about social emotional learning, perspective taking, and developing strong growth mindsets. In her free time she loves to make art, go to comedy shows, take nature breaks, and sing around campfires in the redwoods with her friends.

Peter Lino

Fundraising Associate

Cesar Maldonado

ASAP Teacher

Miguel Martinez

Middle School Music Teacher

Miguel Martinez

Middle School Music Teacher

Miguelito Martinez, originally from Chiapas, Mexico, studied Music Education and Transversal Flute at the University of Science and Art in Chiapas and La Universidad Veracruzana. He is trained in Kodaly and Dalcroze music methodology and has his Orff Schulwerk music certification from the San Francisco Orff International Levels, as well as hands-on experience in Orff-Schulwerk and African Indigenous Music Education in Ghana. Miguelito has extensive experience teaching multicultural music, from preschool to post-graduate level, in Mexico, Cuba, and the US. He has also been a guest clinician for the AOSA (American Orff-Schulwerk Association), CMEA (California Music Education Association), and Oakland Unified District.

 

Miguelito has worked as a music teacher specialist for Young Imagination, East Bay Center for Performing Arts, and Youth in Arts, teaching all over the Bay Area from kindergarten to high school. He has also been a guest lecturer for universities such as San Francisco State, UC Berkeley, San Jose State, UC Santa Cruz, Fresno State, and San Francisco City College. For many years, he worked at Escuela Bilingue Internacional, developing an IB (International Baccalaureate) music curriculum. In 2009, he was selected by the Milagro Foundation to appear on the Voces del Cambio show on the Discovery Channel, sharing his insights on how to use music to help newcomer children from Latin America integrate into their new community.

 

Miguelito has been a music teacher and multicultural arts educator in the Bay Area since 2004 and currently works as the middle school music teacher specialist at Park Day School in Oakland, CA. In his free time, he loves to travel and cook with his family.

Pedro Martinez

Day Porter

Michelle McAfee

Second Grade Teacher

Michelle McAfee

Second Grade Teacher

Michelle was born in Irumagawa, Honshu, Japan and moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts when she was three years old, later moving with her parents to Northern California. From Japan to Cape Cod to the East Bay, through her exposure to a wide variety of cultures and experiences, she enveloped the concept of E Pluribus Unum (many uniting into one), the axle from which her teaching philosophy and curriculum stem. Teaching is her route to help build cultural bridges of understanding for young minds to traverse while they are developing empathy and learning to embrace diversity. Michelle attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree in Mass Communications and later completed the multi-subject credentialing program at San Francisco State. Through the program, Teachers of Color in Independent Schools, Michelle taught at The Hamlin School for Girls in San Francisco, and later, The East Bay Sierra School (currently Prospect Sierra) before coming to Park Day in 1992. During her sabbatical year at Park, Michelle was accepted for a research fellowship with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project in Montgomery, Alabama. There she wrote literary reviews for classroom and professional development material, published articles, led classroom workshops, and made presentations at southern universities. Michelle has been trained as a teacher consultant for UC Berkeley’s Bay Area Writing Project, and brings this program to teachers in Oakland through workshops, and students during the summer through BAWP’s Young Writer’s Camp. Michelle has two sons, Alessio and Nolan, the latter a PDS alum. Michelle enjoys beading, reading, nature, photography and digital art, attending plays, scrapbooking and writing.

Britt McCormick

ASAP Teacher

Cassandra McCraw

Office Manager

Cassandra McCraw

Office Manager

Cassandra came to Park Day School in 1997 having worked for years in the Astronomy Dept at UCB. She was drawn to Park Day because she wanted to be a part of a workplace community, especially one that dedicated itself to the important work of educating children. Since coming to Park Day, Cassandra has been an important member of our Diversity and Justice Alliance Committee. She is proud of the work that the DJA does bringing the questions to the community about issues of race and equity.

Elizabeth McDowell

Kindergarten Teacher

Elizabeth McDowell

Kindergarten Teacher

Elizabeth grew up on the east coast and in the West Indies, on the small island of Bequia. It was there that her love of teaching was born as she volunteered at a small local school. Elizabeth graduated from Guilford College, a Friends school in North Carolina, with a BA in socio-anthropology. She received her Masters in Early Childhood Education from Norfolk State University. Before moving to Oakland, Elizabeth taught kindergarten for 12 years in the public school system in Norfolk, VA. Elizabeth has been at Park Day School since 2011.

When she’s not teaching, Elizabeth enjoys singing, reading, traveling, and being silly with her son Toby, an alumni student from Park Day School.

Check out Elizabeth’s Teacher Spotlight

Emma McMahon

K-8 School Counselor

Emma McMahon

K-8 School Counselor

Emma earned her BA in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and her MS in Counseling/MFT from CSU East Bay. Most recently, she has worked as a school counselor in the San Lorenzo Unified School District in both elementary and middle schools. Emma is experienced with both restorative practices and trauma-informed practices.

Matthew Medina

Seventh and Eighth Grade Math Teacher

Matthew Medina

Seventh and Eighth Grade Math Teacher

Matthew was raised across the street from the beach in the small town of Morro Bay, but has found a home here in the Bay Area. He has always needed to live near the water, so he attended University of Hawaii at Manoa and San Francisco State University. When he was an early teen, he started helping his mom at summer camps, which is where he first realized the joy of working with kids. That joy has never left, and he couldn’t be more excited to go into his sixth year of teaching here at Park Day School. In his free time he enjoys soccer, golf, baking, reading, working out, and almost any boarding activity.

Chris Miller

Director of Development

Chris Miller

Director of Development

Chris grew up with her younger brother and sister in San Francisco — the feral children of local street level superstar musician The Space Lady — and went on to graduate from UNLV with an interdisciplinary degree in Cultural Studies.

 

After beginning her career as a teacher and athletic coach in southern California, she returned to the Bay Area and joined the crew of the USS Hornet Museum. As Senior Director of Visitor Experience, she supported educational programing aboard the historic aircraft carrier best known for its role in the recovery of the Apollo 11 & 12 astronauts after the first manned lunar landing missions.

 

Chris was excited to find her home at Park Day School in 2018 — the kind of school her parents, themselves children of the counterculture, would have chosen for her. Chris is honored to lead the school’s fundraising efforts with the Annual Fund, plan events such as the Sneaker Ball Gala & Auction, and the beloved Read-a-Thon, oversee ParentSquare communications, and support our devoted parent volunteers.

 

Chris enjoys playing volleyball, binge watching both lowbrow and high-concept tv, and she inherited an obsession with the music of the golden age of Motown and ’70s Rock & Roll. She lives in Alameda with her husband, Lance. She’s a proud mom of grown children, Skyler and Anika, and a reluctant caretaker of the family’s obnoxious tuxedo cat, Oreo.

Sara Mohn

K-2 Learning Specialist

Sara Mohn

K-2 Learning Specialist

Sara holds a Masters Degree in teaching from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and a graduate-level certificate in educational therapy from Holy Names University. Before joining Park Day in 2015, she was a classroom teacher for seven years, including one spent in Japan. She has taught grades 2-4 as a self-contained classroom teacher, and has been a reading support teacher for third-graders. Additionally, she has worked as an intervention tutor while completing her educational therapy studies. She has training in Orton-Gillingham, Slingerland, and Lindamood Bell structured reading methodologies. Outside of her professional life, Sara likes to spend time with her husband and two daughters, take long runs on trails, and play fetch with her furry pup, Millie.

Denise Montgomery

Third Grade Teacher

Denise Montgomery

Third Grade Teacher

Denise has worked at Park Day as a lead teacher since 2014, where she started in first grade. She also worked at PDS way back in 2006-2009 in the after care program and taught drama. She loves the arts, theatre in particular, and enjoys exploring with children. She also loves hanging out with her kiddo, Sage, and being silly.

Lisa Ostapinski

Lower School Art Teacher

Lisa Ostapinski

Lower School Art Teacher

Originally from San Diego, Lisa has been an Oakland resident for over two decades, and a member of the Park Day community since 2018. She is a professional painter who has taught art in the Bay Area for over 16 years, in independent school as well as through the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland. She holds a BFA in studio art from Mills College and an MA in art and art education from the Teachers College in New York. Lisa started making art when she was about three years old with her grandparents, both of whom were artists. She believes in the power of the arts to transform, to inspire, to imagine, to bring people together, and in the words of Toni Cade Bambara to “make the revolution irresistible.”
When Lisa isn’t painting or teaching art she is spending time with her family, including her son, hiking, cooking, gardening, and dancing. She has enjoyed the study of African Brazilian and Haitian dance for 20 years.

Joe Patton

Lower School Learning Garden Teacher

Joe Patton

Lower School Learning Garden Teacher

Joe Patton joined Park Day School in 2017. He earned his master’s degree in Geography at the University of Arizona, focusing on local food systems and public art. In Tucson he worked as a field coordinator for The Community and School Garden Program, developing and leading garden education curriculum for K-12th grade students and assisting with the designing, planting, and maintaining of fruit and vegetable garden sites.

 

Prior to graduate school, Joe served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua, working on issues relating to food security and sustainable agriculture. His projects included developing food-processing and agribusiness workshops, leading a school garden program for youth, and installing solar panels in the community with the assistance of a USAID grant. Joe is thrilled to be at Park Day where he can collaborate with his fellow teachers on curriculum that nurtures students’ academic, social, and emotional learning

Talia Payomo

ASAP Teacher

Talia Payomo

ASAP Teacher

Talia was born and raised in Oakland. She’s lived in Chicago, New York, and Baltimore but returning to the Bay Area was always part of her plan. She received her BFA in Acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University. She’s found a passion for introducing young people to acting and the art of storytelling. She has taught youth at Children’s Fairyland during both Summer Theatre Camp and Children’s Theatre. While Performing Arts education has been her focus, she has also worked as a preschool teacher’s aid and five years in childcare. She is thrilled to join the Park Day School family.

Claudia Peña

Fifth Grade Math and Science Teacher

Claudia Peña

Fifth Grade Math and Science Teacher

Claudia (she/they) graduated from Stanford University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems, joined the Park Day School community in 2019, and earned a Master’s in Education from the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute (BATTI) in 2021. Claudia enjoys reading science fiction, going to the Exploratorium, kayaking and hiking, and being a lifelong learner alongside her students.

Carina Peralez

Assistant Teacher

Alisa Peres

Lower School Spanish Teacher

Alisa Peres

Lower School Spanish Teacher

Alisa joined the staff of Park Day in 2014. She grew up in Brooklyn, NY and fell in love with Spanish in the fourth grade through a weekly class offered in her school. She told her parents she was going to live in a Spanish speaking country one day and since then, has travelled or lived in Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, and El Salvador. Alisa went to Boston University, where she received her teaching degree in elementary and special education. One of her first jobs as a young teacher in California was teaching Spanish at the Walden School in Berkeley, where she was deeply and permanently impacted by progressive education. After seven years at Walden, Alisa went on to teach Spanish and music in a number of other schools in the east bay, including Manzanita SEED Dual Immersion Elementary School in Oakland. Through her work with an organization called Guitars In The Classroom, she has also taught many classroom teachers throughout the Bay Area to play guitar and integrate music into all aspects of their curriculum. In 2015, Alisa earned her Masters in Education with a concentration in Language and Literacy.

Alisa was a founding member of the performing group Colibrí, with whom she performed Latin American folkloric music for twenty years. She lives in in Berkeley with her teenage son, and enjoys travel, playing music, gardening, and hiking.

Margaret Piskitel

High School Transition Counselor/Admissions Team

Margaret Piskitel

High School Transition Counselor/Admissions Team

Margaret joined the Park Day School staff in 2016 and brings more than two decades of experience working as a teacher and senior administrator in public and private schools in New York City and San Francisco. Formerly the Assistant Head of School, Margaret is now the High School Transition Counselor and also works in Admissions at Park Day School. Before joining PDS, she worked for 12 years at Children’s Day School in San Francisco, most recently holding the role of Early Childhood Program Director where she served on the senior administrative team, led the early childhood program staff, ran parent education and and professional development initiatives, participated on the board, and collaborated with staff and families to meet student needs. Margaret brings to Park Day deep passion for partnering with families, progressive and child-centered education, a commitment to social justice, and dedication to helping children see that one little person can make a difference in the world. She holds an M.S. Ed in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Bank Street College of Education and earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington. Margaret lives a few blocks from the house where she grew up in Oakland with her husband, Noah, and two children, Zach (PDS class of 2023) and Sebastian (PDS class of 2027). When she’s not at school, Margaret enjoys yoga, walking, reading, cheering the Warriors, and leading tadpole-finding expeditions in the hills of Berkeley and Oakland.

Samara Plambeck

Assistant Teacher

Cristina Portela

Middle School Art Teacher

Cristina Portela

Middle School Art Teacher

Cristina was born in Puerto Rico and still has all of her family there. She loves the Island’s warm ocean breeze. Her first degree was a BBA, in Marketing. She worked in the field for a few years before hearing the call to pursue her real passion. That’s when she moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, were she obtained a BFA, in Sculpture and Photography and MFA, in Sculpture.

Cristina’s first teaching experience was at Creativity Explored, a San Francisco non- profit that helps people with disabilities become artists within their own right. “These artists with disabilities are true to who they are,” says Cristina. “They aren’t afraid to create. Experimenting with materials gives them freedom and joy.” Cristina’s artwork resonates with this joy; the playfulness and the process of experimentation. She has been teaching Art to children for over a decade, and joined Park Day School in January 2013.

Ilya Pratt

Director of Design+Make+Engage Program

Ilya Pratt

Director of Design+Make+Engage Program

At the heart of Ilya’s educational practice is a deep curiosity about out how things work, whether it is a child’s approach to problem solving or an engineering design solution. Ilya has worked with children and educators for over three decades, in school and non-school settings. As the director of Park Day School’s Design+Make+Engage program and the Innovation Workshop, Ilya provides integrated and collaborative programming supporting STEM, community service and social justice curricula. In addition, Ilya is a member of the Agency by Design Oakland leadership team, facilitating a teacher fellowship in maker-centered learning classroom practices. Ilya was a Maker Leader for Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Project Zero, Agency by Design, a research project exploring the promises and practices of maker-centered learning. She has also been an instructional coach for the HGSE online course, Thinking and Learning in the Maker-Centered Classroom. Previously, Ilya founded Park Day School’s Learning Resource Program, one of the first in Bay Area independent schools. She has taught for the Boston Children’s Museum, Ullens School in Nepal, and the Sonoma State University Maker Certificate program. Ilya’s lifelong learning includes B.A. Studio Art/Art History; M.A. Special Education and Certificate in Educational Therapy; extensive trainings in neuropsychological perspectives and addressing learning differences; and a host of workshops related to industrial arts, digital fabrication, and maker-centered learning. Ilya joined Park Day School in 1989.

Jackie Rago

Lower School Music Teacher

Jackie Rago

Lower School Music Teacher

Jackie joined Park Day School in 2017. She has more than 20 years experience teaching music to preschoolers through adults, most recently serving as Teacher and Music Program Director at Escuela Bilinque Internacional (EBI) for 10 years. Jackie holds a BA from Holy Names College / Music and Arts Insitute of San Francisco and completed Orff-Schulwerk teaching certification from Dominican College, San Francisco. She is also an accomplished performer and continues to keep that aspect of her musicianship alive. Recently, Jackie studied music in Ghana with a group of teachers that included Jim Santi-Owen, our former middle school music teacher. Jackie will bring her Venezuelan culture and expertise to our music program, as well as incorporate robust Spanish language learning. She has been a highly sought after presenter, inspiring teachers around the world. Jackie will bring much joy and heart to our program and community. She is creative, passionate and her approach fits beautifully with Park Day’s progressive model.

Paul Rendón

Fourth Grade Teacher

Paul Rendón

Fourth Grade Teacher

Paul has over two decades of experience in education and has been a member of the Park Day School community since 2019. His professional philosophy is based on the constructivist teaching model. He is a relational teacher and seeks to provide connection for students, drawing on promoting the growth mindset and implementing the Responsive Classroom model. His teaching has a strong emphasis on integrating science and outdoor education with literacy, social studies, and mathematics. Paul rigorously utilizes professional development to find the best practices to reach and teach all of his students and to make all students feel included. He applies strands from various methodologies in his classroom, such as Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD), and the Daily Five. He has incorporated service-learning projects for the environment into the classroom curriculum. Paul believes that It is vital for all children to know that we are all part of the community and that we must all give service to the community. His Master of Arts degree from San Francisco State is in Education, with a special emphasis on multicultural education, and his thesis was “Student Video Production in an Urban Classroom: Effects on Language Arts Skills and Family Involvement” (2003). Paul also earned a Clear, CLAD Multiple Subject Credential from San Francisco State. His Bachelor of Arts degree is in Social Sciences from UC Berkeley with a minor in Ethnic Studies. He also has a background in film and video production, which include co-producing an award-winning documentary. Paul has great interest in using video as an educational tool. He currently lives in Berkeley with his wife and two children.

Andrew Risinger

Seventh and Eighth Grade History Teacher

Andrew Risinger

Seventh and Eighth Grade History Teacher

Born in Washington, D.C., Andrew was raised in small-town Pennsylvania in an area that is affectionately called “the Wilds”. Educated at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, he has taught a variety of grade levels at a number of independent schools in the East Bay and Seattle areas. Andrew joined Park Day School in 2015. In addition to teaching, Andrew helps lead youth outdoor programs in the California wilderness.

When not teaching, Andrew can be found avoiding long lines, chasing his kids in the backyard, fixing something on his house, walking in the woods, listening to music a little too loud, or dreaming of big league baseball.

Max Romo

ASAP Teacher

Arjuna Sayyed

Director of Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Arjuna Sayyed

Director of Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Arjuna joined the Park Day administration in 2019 after serving as the Admission and Outreach Director at the East Bay School for Boys. Prior to that, he served as the Childhood Development Center Manager at Wu Yee’s Children’s Services and Program Director at the After School Enrichment Program. Throughout his professional and personal life, Arjuna has sought to cultivate authentic relationships with community stakeholders in the service of equity and inclusion. Arjuna is also a Park Day parent.

Gianna Scolini

ASAP Teacher

Gianna Scolini

ASAP Teacher

Gianna is excited to be a part of the Park Day community! She is a local of the east bay and graduated from Saint Mary’s College of CA. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Counseling at California Institute of Integral Studies. She is passionate about working with children, and has spent the last 8 years working with children on the autism spectrum. In her free time, she loves to paint, garden, play video games, and spend time outside with her dog!

Josie AG Shapiro

Chief Enrollment & Admission Officer

Josie AG Shapiro

Chief Enrollment & Admission Officer

Curious about the “AG” in Josie’s last name? It’s not a case of wacky middle initials or a stint as Attorney General. Josie grew up with a hyphenated last name (commonly shortened to A-G when she was a child). When Josie and her husband got married, they hemmed and hawed and ultimately decided to blend last names. Now she, her husband, and two daughters all have the last name AG Shapiro! Does it confuse some people? Yes. Do they still love their last name? Also yes.

Professionally, Josie has been working in youth-serving organizations for more than 20 years, and has been at Park Day since 2016. She is a proud Park Day School alum, and credits her Park Day educators with teaching her how to love learning, approach challenges with creativity and kindness, and stand up and take action when something isn’t right. She graduated from Cornell University, and taught English and Creative Writing at the University of Montana where she received her MFA. An avid cook and former food writer, Josie adores cooking with kids and appreciates all Park Day’s farm to table projects. She and her husband Alex have two daughters and live in Oakland.

Jennifer Shaw

Seventh and Eighth Grade English Teacher

Jennifer Shaw

Seventh and Eighth Grade English Teacher

Prior to joining Park Day School in 2018, Jen taught middle school English at a progressive, independent school in San Francisco. She also taught upper elementary grades for many years at a private school on the Peninsula. Jen comes to us with a B.A. in Child and Adolescent Development from San Francisco State University, and an M.A. in Education & Teaching with a C.L.A.D. Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, both from USF. Jen is committed to helping students become successful, lifelong learners who are eager to identify as writers, read for pleasure, and contribute to their community. She especially enjoys supporting students as they travel, change, and explore these adolescent years. Her classes place an emphasis on critical thinking, skill building, and conversation. By pushing in these directions, Jen’s students leave the classroom with a greater appreciation and respect for all forms of text, themselves, each other, and our global communities. In her free time, Jen enjoys practicing yoga, traveling with her partner, reading, gardening, and discovering new eateries in the East Bay. She recently moved to Alameda and loves taking her pup on long walks around the island.

Sarah Sheaffer

First Grade Teacher

Sarah Sheaffer

First Grade Teacher

Born and raised on the coast in the Pacific Northwest, Sarah graduated with her Bachelors of Arts degree in 2001 from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Feeling pulled to make a choice between teaching and psychology, she chose psychology and graduated in 2007 from John F. Kennedy University with her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology-Holistic (integrating body, mind, spirit, and culture). She provided individual, couples, family and child therapy before before getting hired as an Inclusion Facilitator (one-on-one aide). In this role she was able to fuse together the two areas she loved: teaching and holistic psychology. During that time she also assisted in the classroom as well as substitute taught. Sarah has been working in both private and public schools since 2002 and has been at Park Day School since 2014.

In her free time Sarah enjoys crafting (knitting, crocheting, quilting, making necklaces and hair accessories), going to concerts, and supporting local sports teams at games (go A’s)! She especially enjoys spending time with family and friends, and visiting Washington and the ocean as much as possible.

Rachel Stone

Sixth Grade Humanities Teacher

Rachel Stone

Sixth Grade Humanities Teacher

Originally from Oakland, Rachel has a BA from Wesleyan University focusing on gender and ethnicity in a post-colonial context. Trained at Mills College, her philosophy of teaching has been shaped by her own experiences in Bay Area progressive communities, including Park Day School since 2005. Rachel strives to help the next generation understand the world critically, find their voices, and become citizens that support and transform their communities. Rachel has worked with students from the third grade to the twelfth, and is partial to the middle schooler’s combination of openness and sense of humor. Outside of teaching, Rachel can also be found walking her Shiba Inu around the Dimond district or at Jordan park with her toddler. As an artist, she uses calligraphy, paper cutting, and embroidery to express herself and her vision of social justice.

Check out Rachel’s Teacher Spotlight

Whitney Thayer

Middle School PE Teacher

Whitney Thayer

Middle School PE Teacher

Whitney joins the Park Day Community as the Middle School PE teacher, and she could not be more excited about it. Physical activity and sports are something she is passionate about. She loves helping students find ways of moving that they enjoy, and helping them feel confident and comfortable in their bodies.

Whitney has lived in the Bay Area since 2016, teaching at Katherine Delmar Burke School and the Hamlin School. Before that, she lived in New York, where she worked at The Dalton School, played a lot of sports, and ate ton of pizza by the slice. She holds a Masters in Education from Durham University, and attended undergrad at Williams College, where she was a 2-sport athlete in Lacrosse and Field Hockey. She still plays both those sports regularly, as well as flag football and pickup soccer. Whitney also loves to hike, camp, read, do jigsaw puzzles, watch lots of sports, and spend time with her dog Murphy.

Joyce Ting

Middle School Drama Teacher

Joyce Ting

Middle School Drama Teacher

Born in Rochester, NY and having called Boston home for 11 years prior to moving to the Bay Area, Joyce is a Taiwanese American educator and performing artist. She holds a Bachelors and Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Wheaton College (IL) and Boston University, as well as a Masters in Education for Middle School Humanities from Lesley University. In 2006, Joyce debuted with Boston Lyric Opera as La Charmeuse in Massenet’s Thais, went on to sing in multiple productions with BLO, and performed in Opera Boston’s Boston-based premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. She is a graduate of Luna Dance Institute’s SI program, and has also taken part in Alameda Department of Education’s Integrated Learning Specialist Program. In her work with arts and education, Ms. Ting has been a middle school humanities teacher, director, and arts administrator. Prior to joining Park Day School in 2019, Ms. Ting served as Program Director at zSharp. She is the current Co-Managing Director at Ailey Camp, hosted by Cal Performances at UC Berkeley.

In her spare time, Joyce loves traveling the world with a team of global music educators as part of the Glocal Collective, hiking with dogs, salsa dancing and eating her way through farmers markets.

Concha Toscano

ASAP Teacher

Concha Toscano

ASAP Teacher

Concha started working at Park Day School in 2002 and has a deep connection with the community. Concha enjoys teaching a number of classes, but her favorite is her beloved cooking class. She is adept at working with large numbers of kids at once, and as she works, her love for the kids shines through. She is a very hardworking staff member with creative ideas to make ASAP fun for all. Be sure to smile and say hello to her when you are picking up your kids from ASAP!

Colette Udall

ASAP Teacher

Leo Villanueva

Facilities & Grounds

Eileen Walker

Fifth Grade Humanities Teacher

Eileen Walker

Fifth Grade Humanities Teacher

Eileen joined Park Day School in 2018. Her educational philosophy emphasizes the development of critical thinking, personal responsibility, and social-emotional development.

Prior to joining Park Day School, Eileen taught 5th grade in Oakland for two years, during which time she served as the schoolwide lead Science Teacher, helping to develop Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) competency amongst the teaching staff, while also leading the school science fair for 150 students. Prior to that she was earning her teaching credential and working with students in a variety of capacities in the Los Angeles area.

Eileen hones her passion for teaching writing by emphasizing collaborative and intensive reading and writing curriculum. She loves exercising her educational creativity in an independent school environment! Eileen’s BA is in International Relations, with a Spanish minor, from UC Santa Barbara. Her Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential is from Cal State Northridge. Prior to teaching, she worked in environmental sustainability, specifically focusing on water conservation. She is also a certified yoga instructor and teaches hot yoga in Berkeley. While teaching is her professional passion, Eileen is also a traveler. She has spent multiple summers serving as a volunteer English teacher in Peru, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

Clara Williams

Assistant Teacher

Nia Williams

Assistant Teacher

Nia Williams

Assistant Teacher

I grew up in the Bay Area and am excited to be making a move to Oakland this year. I come from a long line of teachers and have always been passionate about youth development and education. I graduated from the Medical Careers Academy at Clayton Valley Charter High School in 2021 and am currently working towards a dual-licensure in Elementary Teaching and Special Education at Western Governors University. I’ve previously worked as a preschool teacher, behavior specialist, full-time nanny, and a high-risk youth counselor in a foster care facility.

Outside of the classroom, I enjoy hiking and rock climbing, karaoke with friends, and reading. Recently I’ve been exploring cooking as a new hobby and have fallen in love with it!

As an assistant teacher, I aspire to create an environment centered around progressive education and social emotional learning. I believe in nurturing children’s natural traits and talents to help them develop into strong, compassionate, well-rounded individuals

Dana Wilson

Human Resources, Payroll and Benefits Manager

Paola Zamudio

Assistant Teacher