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Our Staff
Our class teachers are listed below. For a full list of staff biographies click here. Lavender Kindergarten Doris Rainville was born in Rhode Island in 1951. She was an only child who loved to play in the woods. Her family moved to Southern California when she was ten years old. After high school she attended Cypress College, majoring in Drama. She married in her early twenties and had two children, Joshua and Celestial. Since children have been a main focus in her life, she studied early childhood education courses at Ohlone College. She was introduced to Waldorf education while living in Oregon in 1979. Shortly after, she moved to Fair Oaks to study at the Rudolf Steiner College. Doris then had three more children, Grace, Anna and Christopher. Raising her children as a single mother, creative effort was put forth in developing ways of supporting her children while staying home raising them. She developed a doll business and provided full-time childcare. Using her training as a massage therapist also became a part of her work at home. When Christopher started kindergarten, she became a kindergarten assistant in a Waldorf home kindergarten. In 1993-1995 she worked at Live Oak Waldorf School in their kindergarten. She did the Kindergarten training at Rudolf Steiner College and has a B.A. in Liberal Studies. Suzanne Scirpo(Lavender Kindergarten Assistant) Rose Kindergarten Terry Anne Paquette was born and raised in Bremerton, Washington on Puget Sound. Prominent in her childhood, music continues to be a source of enjoyment. She loves to sing, walk, take care of home and garden, visit with friends and family and spend time near or in rivers and mountains.Terry Anne received a BA in Sociology/Psychology from Linfield College, McMinville, OR, in 1969. Never dreaming she would one day be kindergarten teacher, Terry Anne had a long career as a newspaper computer typesetter, production manager, graphic artist and vocational education teacher in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area.Terry Anne was introduced to Waldorf education in 1988 when her son Joshua entered third grade at Mariposa Waldorf School. After serving one year as aftercare director there she entered the evening training course at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California. During her training, Terry Anne cared for children in her home Waldorf-inspired pre-kindergarten and summer camp (called Heavenly Days). She then taught kindergarten classes at Portland Waldorf School and Mariposa Waldorf School before helping to found the Yuba River Charter School (YRCS) in the summer of 1994. In July 2002, Terry Anne was selected to serve as Administrator. For the 2004-05 school year, Terry Anne returned to the Rose Kindergarten where she continues to enjoy loving & serving families who have chosen the Waldorf path. Jerilee Martinez(Rose Kindergarten Assistant) has been involved with Waldorf Education for 30 years and is very happy to be a part of the Yuba River Charter School. All three of her children, Laddy, David & Matthew, have graduated from Waldorf schools and now her 2 grandchildren, Matiya & Ila, are students at YRCS. Besides teaching in Rose Kindergarten, Jerilee enjoys her peaceful “empty nest” with her husband Dan Martinez, a long-time teacher at YRCS. Grade One Erik Bell (teacher) was born in the Sacramento Valley. His family, including his older sister, traveled, camped, skied and enjoyed time in the outdoors. Erik graduated from Humboldt State with a B.A. in Teacher Prep Multiple Subjects and minor in Art. During college he worked as a whitewater raft guide and spent the next decade challenging and developing his river skills. He formed a video company traveling around capturing tourists rafting trips and extreme video of himself and friends kayaking throughout North America and Mexico. Erik also taught Nordic skiing and helped develop a kids kayak program for Wolf Creek Wilderness. Erik started substitute teaching in 1997 and was a popular substitute in Nevada County for many years. Being familiar with Waldorf education Erik started as a substitute teacher for YRCS and became a class teacher and games teacher in 2006. With the opening of the Community Learning Center at YRCS through the Rudolf Steiner College, Erik formally began his Waldorf teacher training and was hired as the first grade teacher for the 2007-08 school year. Erik’s life has dramatically changed and he is enjoying being a teacher, a student, and a proud poppa of his dog Cedar. Karen Geisler (co-teacher) started her 22 years of elementary school teaching in the public schools of Madison, Wisconsin. During the third of her four years teaching there, Karen was introduced to Waldorf Education. When her fourth year of teaching ended, she moved to Fair Oaks, CA, to attend Rudolf Steiner College. After gaining a Waldorf teacher’s certification, Karen turned to several years of raising 5 children. Karen & her family moved to Grass Valley in 19813, and, in 1986 she began using her Waldorf training by teaching for seven years at Mariposa School. When the school closed its doors, she taught one year at Live Oak Waldorf School, and then 10 years at Yuba River Charter School. At the end of 10 years, Karen took a 2 year break and has recently come back to Yuba River as first grade co-teacher. Grade Two Heather Peery was born in Utah in 1975. She has lived in California since 1982. She attended Sacramento Waldorf School for two years in her early years. Her family moved to the Auburn area, which is where she primarily grew up. She is an alumnus of the first graduating class of Live Oak Waldorf School in Applegate. Her mother also taught kindergarten there. She graduated from Bear River High School. Since then she graduated from Humboldt State in 1997 with a B.A. in Psychology, and a minor in Art. She also received her Multiple Subjects and Education Specialist Credentials from CSU, Chico in 2004. She is currently working on getting her Waldorf certification. She taught as a resource teacher in Rocklin for two years. This past year she lived in Arcata and worked as a part-time Resource Teacher at Coastal Grove Charter School, a Waldorf methods school. She has a 3 ¾ year old boy, named Jedidiah Dante. He is currently attending Little Creek Nursery three days per week. They live in Nevada City. In her spare time Heather likes to travel. She has been all over Europe twice. Highlights included the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, and Chartres cathedral in France. She has also been to Mexico and Hawaii. She has traveled all throughout the southwest and New York City. She enjoys taking many photos along the way. Next summer she plans on going to Ireland. Elise Hierman (co-teacher) Grade Three Baruch Simon (teacher) Paula Barber (co-teacher) is the descendent of a long line of Nevada County natives. Her ancestors originally came to Cherokee (now Tyler) to grow vegetables for the miners in the 1850s. Although born in Sacramento, California, at the age of nine Paula returned with her family to their native Nevada County. Paula graduated from Sierra College, with an A.A. in Social Science and from California State University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. After marrying Steve Barber and having two sons, Samuel (Skippy) and Josiah, Paula returned to college to earn her teaching credential. Paula pinches herself, daily, as she realizes her dream of being part of Yuba River Charter School's outstanding teaching community. Grade Four Leila Barber has been teaching elementary school for 20 years and feels very proud to have spent the last 3 years at Yuba River Charter School with her wonderful class. Leila and her husband Michael live in an old miner’s cabin built in 1880 in Nevada City. They raised two sons, Gabe & Jesse, who are now grown up. In fact, Gabe and his wife Cheri have a beautiful son, Andrew, and another baby on the way! Leila loves to read, hike, sing, play guitar and spend time hanging out with her family. Grade Five Dan Martinez was born and raised in San Jose, California. Ever since his early childhood he has had a great interest in learning and outdoor adventuring. Dan began teaching at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School in 1987. Since then he has served as a teacher at Mariposa Waldorf School and Yuba River Charter School, and has operated his own landscaping business and a family storage business. His love of teaching brought him back to our community to lead the YRCS class of 2011 on its journey through the grades. Dan has his B.A. in Liberal Studies. Grade Six Doris Dunning is a native of Carmel, CA and graduated in her third year of high school to pursue her interests in science at CSU, Chico. Her undergraduate degree in Biology led her to complete a Botany MA at Chico, and later to work with a company in Davis assisting research in commercial crops. Her interest in education led her to complete a CA teaching credential at UC Davis focusing on multicultural education, during which time she substitute taught in both Placer and Nevada counties for 4 years. Last year, Doris co-taught with Dan Martinez in the 2nd grade, and then took over the third grade mid-year. Doris has been practicing and teaching yoga for almost a decade, her other interests are martial arts and wilderness hiking. Grade Seven Natasha Vinson found the Yuba River Charter School after many years of searching for the best environment to apply her given gifts. She loves the nurturing components of the Waldorf curriculum, in particular singing, painting and blackboard drawing. Her Bachelor’s degree is in Anthropology and Sociology (1994) and was followed with a state teaching credential program (1998). She is endlessly interested in humanity’s healing through an understanding of the common threads that weave us together and the impulses that propel us in our evolution. She finds her own healing through communing with nature, yoga, dance, meditation, and her Siberian Husky named Keena. She loves to travel and explore the inner and outer worlds. This life journey has offered her many opportunities to teach in the early childhood classroom, in multi-age classrooms, and with special education students. She loves teaching yoga to children and adults and is certified in yoga therapy. Her interest in movement and the outdoors has found her ski and snowboard instructing at Crested Butte, Colorado and more recently in New Hampshire, while completing her Waldorf certification. Her Master’s in Education (2007) was awarded through Antioch with the completion of her thesis, Finding the Divine Feminine in the Waldorf Curriculum. Grade Eight Ron Charles (teacher) Top of the page. |
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Copyright?2005 Yuba River Charter School Web design donated by Kim Cote |
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