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Michele Ferretti
Transitional Kindergarten
Bachelor of Arts, Sonoma State University
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Born and raised in California, Michele has lived in Sonoma County for the last 18 years. She had the privilege of working as a parent volunteer for the Windsor Unified School District while raising her young daughters, which sparked her interest in education. She worked Special Education as a Paraprofessional for 9 years before deciding to go back to school for her teaching credential. Michele became passionate about teaching after seeing the joy in children’s eyes and knowing she had made a difference in many lives.
In Michele’s free time, she enjoys cooking, gardening, spending time with her extended family and daughters Marissa and Lexie. Marissa is a student at Oregon State University and Lexie is attending University of Oregon.
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Alexandra Ruiz
Transitional Kindergarten
Bachelor of Arts - California State University Chico
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Alexandra holds a BA in Liberal Studies with a minor in Child Development from the California State University at Chico, where she also later earned her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. She has served as a Reading Intervention Specialist at Sheppard Accelerated Elementary School and a long-term Substitute Teacher at Sheppard and Durham Elementary in first grade and kindergarten, respectively. Alexander wrote to us in the interview process that she “strives to teach each student so that they can achieve whatever they set their minds to."
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Cierra Iribarne
Kindergarten
Bachelor of Science, Sonoma State University
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Cierra completed her student teaching in first and fifth grades at La Tercera Elementary School in Petaluma in 2018. She served as co-leader of the Robotics Club at La Tercera and has also worked as a substitute teacher in the Old Adobe School District. Cierra is excited to bring her experience in small group math intervention and tutoring to our Lower School. Cierra's educational philosophy coincides beautifully with SCDS's approach to learning, as we strive to meet all student's needs through engaging, personalized instruction and maintaining a culturally inclusive classroom.
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Amberlee Hannan
Kindergarten Associate Teacher
Bachelor of Arts - San Francisco State University
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Amberlee joined the SCDS kindergarten classroom in 2022 after working as a much sought-after substitute teacher in Sonoma County since 2008. Amberlee also has experience as a shift supervisor at Starbucks, meaning she's organized, team-oriented, and makes a mean cup of coffee - all critical educator skills. Amberlee lives in Santa Rosa with her husband and two children.
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Alexandra Higgins
First Grade
Bachelor of Arts, Northern Arizona University
Bachelor of Science, Northern Arizona University
Master of Education, Arizona State University
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Alexandra joins us from Phoenix, AZ, where she has experience teaching elementary and high school students in general, dual language, and special education settings. Alexandra’s energy and passion for teaching are palpable. She is excited to join a school that reflects her educational philosophy, centered around relationships and differentiation, so well. We know she will be a tremendous asset to our first grade classroom and an excellent match for our community.
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Anne Mauboussin
First Grade Associate Teacher
Bachelor of Arts, Union College
Master of Arts, Cornell University
Master of Arts, Western Governor's University
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Anne has worked as a Mandarin instructor in New York, served as a paraeducator doing literacy intervention and special education in Washington state, and also taught fourth grade in the Rincon Valley School District prior to her arrival at SCDS in 2022. Anne brings her enthusiasm for learning, dedication to collaboration, and expertise with common learning differences like dyslexia to our first grade classroom this year.
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Shane Spencer
Second Grade
Bachelor of Arts, St. Mary's College
Masters of Education, St. Mary's College
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Shane holds a MEd, Multiple Subject Credential, and a BA in Justice, Community, and Leadership, all from St. Mary's College of California. Prior to joining the SCDS community, Shane has worked as a Student Teacher and Substitute Teacher with Mt. Diablo Unified School District, a Counselor with Steve & Kate's Camps in Corte Madera, and a Coach for Lamorinda Water Polo Club.
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Amanda Cervantes
Second Grade Associate Teacher
Bachelor of Arts, Chico State University
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Amanda completed her California State Multi-Subject Credential this spring and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from Chico State University. Amanda has an extensive vocal, musical, and theatrical background that she is excited to bring to SCDS.
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Annie Engel
3rd Grade Associate Teacher
Bachelor of Arts, Tobe Coburn Institute
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Annie is an experienced independent school educator, having taught previously at Blue Oak in Napa, and Presidio Hills in San Francisco. Annie also has experience developing after school programming, summer programs, and has worked on marketing campaigns for schools before. We are thrilled to welcome Annie to the SCDS community and know our third graders will benefit from her broad expertise!
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Grace Williams
Third Grade
Bachelor of Arts, UC Santa Cruz
Master of Science, University of Edinburgh
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Grace, who began at SCDS in Fall 2021, has served as an English instructor in France, a substitute teacher for Santa Rosa City Schools with a long-term position at the Santa Rosa French-American Charter School, and as a private tutor in France, England, and the United States. Grace is completing a Masters of Science in Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from the University of California Santa Cruz. Grace’s personal warmth and her passion for nurturing curiosity and creativity were all readily evident during her interview, and we are excited for her to bring her perspective to our third grade class.
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Monica Mann
Lower School Literacy Support Coordinator
Bachelor of Arts, Sonoma State University
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Monica has spent almost twenty years in education. She has always loved school and knew that she wanted to be an elementary teacher from a very early age. She started volunteering and working in education during her junior and senior years in high school and continued volunteering throughout college. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from Sonoma State University and a minor in Biology. She received a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with a CLAD emphasis from Dominican University. She has taught kindergarten through fourth grade over the past fifteen years. Monica has taught drama, been part of Leadership Team, served as a reading coach, grade level team leader, and a master teacher for student teachers. She has attended many professional development workshops in writing and enjoys teaching the writing process to her students.
Monica enjoys spending time with daughter, who is a member of the Class of 2023, doing many outdoor activities together including mountain biking, hiking, camping, and trail riding in the jeep and on the dirt bike. She also enjoys baking, scrapbooking, and walking her dog.
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Christina McGuirk
TK-3 Science Teacher
Bachelor of Arts - University of Southern California
Master of Arts - Sonoma State University
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Before coming to SCDS in 2022, Christina was the Science and Sustainability Educator at Marin Country Day School. Previously, Christina worked as an educator with Sonoma County Regional Parks, teaching science and sustainability to school-aged children across the county, including our own SCDS students. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Sonoma State University, training science teachers.
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Amy Baer
4th Grade Humanities & Homeroom
Bachelor of Arts, Sonoma State University
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As a native Californian, Amy is excited to teach California history, reading and writing. Amy is a wordsmith with a deep interest in reading and a zeal for playing Scrabble. Amy’s favorite thing about teaching fourth graders is watching them transition into independent learners, yet witnessing their youthful excitement and curiosity for learning. Her experiences with children, both personally and professionally, give her the confidence to guide students in a fun and engaging way.
Amy lives in Windsor with her husband and children. Her oldest son, Robbie, is an SCDS alum ('03), and her daughter Madi follows in mom’s footsteps with her passions for reading and soccer. Twins Gracie and Garrett keep up with the family on the soccer field, bike riding, playing games, and swimming.
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Christy Harper
4th & 5th Grade Math
4th Grade Homeroom
Entrepreneur Club Advisor
Bachelor of Arts, Scripps College
Master of Arts, New York University
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Christy began teaching at Sonoma Country Day School in 2009. As a teacher, she strives to share with her students a passion to work hard and play hard. Math takes a lot of concentration, practice, and hard work, but is also full of chances to explore new possibilities, play games, and learn through real-life experiences.
Christy's favorite memory from elementary school was the day in fourth grade when she really, really understood how to do long division. She knew from then on that she wanted to be a teacher, and for years thereafter could be found perusing school supply catalogs and planning out her dream classroom.
Christy is excited to be back in her native California after living for three years in New York City. While in New York, she received her master’s degree in elementary education from NYU and taught fourth grade at a public school in downtown Brooklyn. She also spent much of her time losing herself in Manhattan neighborhoods, planning her next travel adventure, missing northern California's beaches, and eating New York style pizza. Christy’s interests outside of school include hiking and camping, pretending to be a painter, playing the violin, and traveling to places where she can’t speak the language.
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Cindy Rodenbaugh
4th, 5th, & 6th Grade Science
5th Grade Homeroom Advisor
Bachelor of Science, Texas Woman’s University
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Cindy Rodenbaugh is the youngest of five children and grew up in a small town approximately twenty miles north of Dallas. She attended Texas Woman’s University (TWU) for a degree in physical education with a biology minor. Cindy’s teaching career began many years ago at McNair Elementary, a public school in her home state of Texas where she taught physical education to general education students as well as deaf, multi-handicapped, and emotionally disturbed students. After two and a half years at McNair, she and her partner relocated to San Jose, California.
Once in San Jose, Cindy began teaching at The Harker School. During her first year there, she taught physical education, coached volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball, and track and field. After completing her first year she was asked to develop the lower school science program. Cindy spent the next eight years teaching science as well as serving as the lower school science department chair and the assistant department chair for the middle school science program.
While working at Harker, Cindy also worked part-time for Lockheed Engineering and Sciences, contracting at NASA. At NASA, she worked in the space life science division and was part of the mammalian development team. The team conducted studies on the neurological growth and development of mammals in microgravity. Cindy was fortunate to be a part of NIH-R3, STS-72 which launched some of their equipment and experiments into space on January 11, 1996, as well as Neurolab, STS-90 that launched approximately two years later.
In 2000, when Cindy’s family (partner, Cher, and daughter, Kalii) relocated to Sonoma County, Cindy began teaching 5th grade at SCDS. Cindy has had many different roles at SCDS both as a teacher and an administrator. Cindy is passionate about her family, the students she has the privilege to work with, sushi, giant redwoods, kayaking, the ocean, and orcas.
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Ana Esquer
School Counselor
Lower School SEL Teacher
Bachelor of Arts, University of La Verne
Master of Educational Counseling, University of La Verne
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Prior to joining SCDS in 2022, Ana served as a School Counselor at Annie Wright School in Tacoma, WA. She has previously worked as a School Counselor for South San Francisco, Apple Valley, Charter Oak Unified School Districts, and has been a Special Education Paraeducator for Azusa Unified. Ana brings a gentle nature, a genuine love of young people, and experience in parent education to SCDS, and we look forward to welcoming her to our community.
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Ted Rice
Librarian
8th Grade Homeroom Advisor
Bachelor of Arts - Wake Forest
Master of Library Science - University of Arizona
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Ted comes to SCDS from Cincinnati, Ohio where he was the manager of Youth Services at Main Library for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Previous to this, Ted was the Director of Libraries at Canterbury School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has also been a Librarian at The Latin School of Chicago, Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina; as well as public libraries in Atlanta and Phoenix.
When not in the library, Ted enjoys writing (a screenplay, a musical, songs, poetry, stories), watching Premier League soccer, playing volleyball, and an occasional dalliance with the performing arts.
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Janice Hall
Performing Arts Department Chair
Chorus Director
Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance, San Francisco State
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Janice Hall remembers the joy of singing from her early grade school experiences. She is grateful that her life has allowed her to experience music from various venues, as an instrumentalist and vocalist, and that she has had many opportunities for travel and cultural exchange. Janice has experienced piano keyboarding classes, playing woodwind instruments in school bands, and training as a classical vocalist where she experienced the thrill of being on stage as a soloist with community and school choirs and orchestras, Broadway shows and operas.
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Jonathan Taylor
Music
Bachelor of Arts, Sonoma State University
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Jonathan Taylor has been teaching at Sonoma Country Day School since 1999. Jonathan’s first instrument was the piano and he has been teaching piano for over 20 years. He plays many instruments including the violin, viola, drums, guitar, and tenor and concert ukulele.
Jonathan is an avid science fiction fan and has been known to arrange some of the music from Star Trek (Jerry Goldsmith) for his groups here at school. His favorite books include the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, an adaptation from the BBC radio show by Douglas Adams.
His favorite place to be on campus is in the theater, on the stage. He shares his love of performance with his students and encourages them to perform on stage throughout the school year.
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Steve Pile
Music
Bachelor of Arts - University of Oregon
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Steve has taught music after school at SCDS since 2006, and many of our musicians got their start with him. Steve has also served in recent years as the band conductor and music teacher at Fitch Mountain School in Healdsburg. He co-founded the Konteh Kunda School of Music in The Gambia, and Steve’s knowledge of West African music and instruments is inspiring. Steve is an accomplished singer/songwriter in his own right, performing solo, with The Steve Pile Band and The George Harrison Memorial Orchestra, and sitting in with Phil Lesh and the Terrapin All Stars. Steve holds a BA in English Literature from The University of Oregon and has completed extensive coursework in music theory, performance, and sound engineering at The Berklee College of Music, UC Santa Cruz, and The Santa Rosa Junior College. Steve also has children at SCDS in the classes of 2028 and 2030.
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Kathy White
TK-2nd Grade Motor Skills Class
3-4 Grade Physical Education
Volleyball Coach
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Kathy White joined Sonoma Country Day School in 1999. Kathy loves teaching hands-on activities and believes that athletics is an avenue to learning life skills that children will use for the rest of their lives. As department head, one of Kathy’s goals is that students learn to love and appreciate lifelong fitness and see that it can be achieved many different ways.
Kathy is an avid runner and has participated in the Boston Marathon.
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Noah Parker
Athletic Director
5-8 Physical Education
6th Grade Homeroom Advisor
Bachelor of Science, Sonoma State University
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We are thrilled to welcome Noah, who has over twenty years experience coaching and teaching, to our PE department. Most recently Noah has been a head coach for the North Coast FC Soccer Club, and also spent four years as a PE teacher and Head Coach for the Varsity Boys Soccer team at Sonoma Academy. Noah is passionate about teaching students new ideas, skills and techniques and enjoys supporting his students throughout the learning process, ultimately resulting in increased confidence and skills. Noah states that he is excited to be a part of SCDS’s cohesive staff, working together to create a quality learning environment for students. In his free time, Noah stays active running, mountain bike riding, disc golfing and playing soccer.
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Wendy Gahagan
Visual Art Teacher
7th Grade Homeroom Advisor
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Miami University
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Wendy has brought her experience and expertise with her to Sonoma Country Day School. She believes in nurturing the ever-evolving artist within each student while focusing upon individual skill, creativity, and discovery.
Wendy began her artistic journey in Ohio. She graduated cum laude from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a minor in art history. Soon after graduating, Wendy began teaching. She designed and taught classes for Common Space, a non-profit organization offering summer programs in the visual, performing, and literary arts. She then completed Montessori training and taught pre-primary art at Westside Montessori. Before relocating to Sonoma County, Wendy spent six years at the Toledo Museum of Art, teaching classes and workshops in pottery, drawing, painting, sculpture, and mixed media to students of all ages.
When not teaching at SCDS or working in her home studio, Wendy has her own business, Zala Studios. Her custom fine interior finishes are found in homes primarily in San Francisco and the Bay Area. She also shares a passion for tennis, hiking, skiing, travel, museums, and music. Wendy resides with her husband, dogs, and 1906 "fixer upper" in the quaint town of Geyserville.
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Faye Kendall
Visual Art Teacher
Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair
8th Grade Homeroom Advisor
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Colorado State University
Master of Fine Arts - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Faye joins us from The Bentley School in Oakland where she taught art across grades K-8 as well as served as their Assistant Head of Lower School. Previously, she has worked as an Instructor for The California College of the Arts in Oakland, an Artist in Residence at The Oxtail Gallery and Studios in Berkeley, and as the Program Director and Teaching Artist for The Multicultural Youth Exchange in Philadelphia. Faye enjoys fly fishing and spent time honing her craft in Montana this summer.
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Chunxiang Wang
Mandarin
6th Grade Homeroom Advisor
Bachelor of Arts, Baotou Teachers’ College
Master of Arts, San Francisco State
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Chunxiang Wang joined SCDS in 2011 and teaches Mandarin to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Chunxiang obtained her master's degree in the United States after graduating from college in China. She has taught Mandarin in public and private schools at the elementary and middle school levels and also to adults. In China, Chunxiang was encouraged by her college English teacher to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher. Teaching brings her a sense of achievement and satisfaction. She loves children and has always had a passion for learning. Being able to teach every day makes her feel extremely happy and thankful.
Her interests outside of school include hiking, badminton, tennis, ping-pong, and being with friends and family.
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Jeanne Weaver
Lower School Spanish
Bachelor of Arts, Wake Forest University
Master of Arts, Sonoma State University
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Noelle Anderson
Learning Support Faculty
Bachelor of Arts, UC Santa Barbara
Master of Arts, UC Berkeley
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A Sonoma County native, Noelle currently resides in Santa Rosa with her two children, husband, and puppy. Noelle has worked in the field of education for 13+ years, and her experience includes working as a Special Education Teacher, Principal, and Special Education Administrator. Her passion for literacy and love for student-centered learning has brought her to SCDS. Outside of work, Noelle enjoys running, family bike rides, and reading.
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Susan Fountain
Learning Support Faculty
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Katie Keefer
Learning Support Faculty
Bachelor of Science, Cal Poly SLO
Multi-Subject/Educational Specialist Credentials, SF State
Katie has been teaching as an Education Specialist since 2009 serving students in grades K-8. Katie has worked with students in all subject areas, providing one to one, small group, and whole group instruction. She is committed to supporting all students to reach their full potential and feel empowered through education.
