BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Anna Sarah Russell - Founding Parent
Anna Sarah Russell has been living and working as a public school teacher in the Highland and Cypress Park areas of L.A. for the last twelve years. More recently, she has been enrolled in the Waldorf teacher training program (Waldorf Institute of Southern California) at Highland Hall Waldorf School in Northridge. Anna Sarah has 2 children; a daughter, 10 and a son, 6 1/2.
She is dismayed in this day and age of NCLB, the focus of much public education in Los Angeles has narrowed to instruction in test-taking (vs. teaching and educating children), and hopes to bring the benefits of a broader and richer education inspired by Waldorf to a wider population of children, families, and teachers in the Los Angeles area.
Joan Jaeckel - Lead Charter Developer
Joan Jaeckel coordinated the charter writing process for the founding development team of Ocean Charter School in Mar Vista, CA, the first public charter school in LAUSD to offer a “whole child curriculum” based on the Waldorf educational model. She is currently on the board of Rudolf Steiner College. Most recently she guest-edited with Eric Utne the Winter 08/09 Green Money Journal called “Whole Mind Education: 15 Not-So-Childish Ideas”. She co-produced the CINE Golden Eagle Award winning documentary, “The Waldorf Promise: Children Who Love to Learn Become Students Who Achieve”, with Landfall Productions. Joan graduated from the Waldorf Teacher Training Course at Highland Hall Waldorf School, parented three Waldorf graduates and formerly served the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) as director of development.
Joan believes that as human beings, if we really are to transition from a simply unsustainable growth model of people, cities and planet to a developmental, collaborative model we begin with transforming the way we raise and educate children.
Julia Schachter - Founding Parent, Board Vice President
Julia Schachter is a documentary film maker who has worked on two projects exploring the issues of urban education and youth. She produced the Peabody Award winning PBS documentary, The First Year, and Color Straight Up which was nominated for an Academy Award.
Julia has experience in non-profit organization and an interest in the arts and education.
A long time Los Angeles resident, she lives in Highland Park and is the mother of two children.
Ed Eadon - Acting Director, Charter Writing Team Member
Ed Eadon retired from an Air Force as a Colonel after a career in meteorology and the space environment and has been involved in education as his second career. He served as the Administrative Director of the Highland Hall Waldorf School in Northridge from 2002-2008. He received his Waldorf training at Sunbridge College. In 2009, he joined Green Dot Public Schools and taught two years at the Animo Locke ACE Academy, earning his CA Teaching Credential while there. He is married to composer Anne LeBaron and has a daughter at Berkeley.
Ed believes that the charter school movement provides the opportunity to take Waldorf teaching from a ‘best kept secret’ in education only available in private schools to the public sphere. Successful public Waldorf schools can both transform public education and help students become confident, remarkable human beings.
Jenna Kamp - Founding Parent, Charter Writing Team Leader
Jenna Kamp has a Masters in Teaching from Seattle University and has been educating urban students for over twelve years in charter high schools around Southern California. Jenna is deeply inspired by the charter school movement and alternative approaches to public education, believing that the factory-style, test-frenzied environment of typical American schools offers limited opportunities for the diverse learning needs of American schoolchildren. Therefore, she has co-developed and/or taught in three public charter high schools around LA, and is proud and excited to be on the Board of El Rio. Jenna continues to teach full time, as well as receive and provide professional development in the areas of mentorship, peer coaching, English language learners, reading improvement, differentiated instruction, and content area literacy to best support and raise student achievement.
Kirsten Schaffer - Founding Parent
Kirsten Schaffer has been with Outfest for ten years, first serving as Director of Programming and then as Deputy Director before being appointed Executive Director in 2009. Prior to Outfest, Kirsten was the Co-Executive Director of the Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. She also managed a law office that specialized in American Indian and Family law and she ran a high-end catering and special events company. Kirsten has extensive experience in film programming, small business management and arts administration. She currently lives with her partner of 13 years, their 2 year-old daughter and three dogs in Highland Park, Los Angeles. She was named one of Power-up’s Top 10 Women in Show Business and she received the Women in Business Award from Senator Liu.
Jennifer Patton - Founding Parent
Jennifer Patton is a graphic designer living in the beautiful Highland Park area of Los Angeles. She has been painting digital background illustrations for children’s television animation for 13 years and designing graphics for the web for the past 3 years. Cartoons that Jennifer has worked on include The X’s and The Mighty B! for Nickelodeon, Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi for Cartoon Network, and The Batman for Warner Brothers.
She’s our friendly el Rio Charter School web administrator and designer, so please direct website questions and comments her way! Jennifer is thrilled to be a part of a movement to expand the possibilities for public education in Northeast Los Angeles. Jennifer is the proud mother of 2 children; a 3 year old daughter and a baby boy.
Glenn Spreen - Board Treasurer
Glenn Spreen has over 25 years experience in a broad range of Corporate finance planning and analysis roles and controllerships in the for profit sector with several Fortune 500 companies. Most recently he was Vice-President Global Finance Operations for Vivendi Universal, where he was responsible for Sarbanes Oxley compliance and managing strategic initiatives across core finance processes to improve efficacy, controls and costs. Glenn has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with highest honor from Georgia Institute of Technology and an M. B. A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Glenn also serves as a pro-bono consultant with the Taproot Foundation in Los Angeles and is inspired to become a part of our urban education transformation.
Elsbeth Paul - Board Secretary
Laura Logsdon - Founding Parent
Laura Logsdon has an eclectic background in business management, education, massage therapy, and children’s literature. She has seen first hand the positive outcomes of Waldorf education and wants that for the children of NELA. Laura lives in Highland Park with her husband and is the proud mother of a toddler.
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We are thankful to our advisory board members who give us so much encouragement, advice, and support.
ADVISORY BOARD
Daniel Balderrama; Retired LAUSD Principal – 49th Street School – South Los Angeles, CA
Kate Bean; Executive Director – Aveson School for Leaders and Aveson Globlal Leadership Academy.
Kristin Dietz; CPA - Charterworks.
Fred Eric; Restauranteur/Owner - Fred 62 and Tiara Café
Mike Goldstein; Principal – York School, Hawthorne Unified School District.
Mechelle Horning; Principal – Alice Birney Waldorf-Inspired K-8 – Sacramento, CA
Tamar Kern; Founding Teacher – Ocean Charter School -LAUSD’s first Waldorf-inspired K-8 and el Rio’s Sister School – Culver City,CA
Doctor Jerome Porath; Founder and President – Value Schools.
Constantine Singer; Administrator - Green Dot Charter Schools, Charter School Developer.
Ed Vandenberg; Regional Director – PUC Valley Schools.
Rosario Villasana-Ruiz; Director – Spanish Lifeways Program at Escuela Popular, a charter high school for 1,000 Hispanic students in San Jose. 200 children of the teen mothers attending the high school attend a childcare center on campus that is a community outreach program of the Spanish LifeWays Program and the Caldwell Early Life Center at Rudolf Steiner College.
Phil Wolfson; Special Education Administrator for Green Dot Charter Schools.
