Nursery - Grade 8 Faculty

Early Childhood Program

Carole Kowalski, Rose Kindergarten Teacher

Carole was born and raised in Delaware where at young age she “taught school” to neighborhood children. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Delaware. She continued teaching kindergarten in both public and private schools to culturally diverse populations in Delaware, Texas and California, where she earned teaching credentials. She also administered childcare services for three years and was a board member of the Houston Association for the Education of Young Children. Carole received her Waldorf teaching certification from Rudolf Steiner College in 1990, specializing in kindergarten. She has been the Rose Kindergarten teacher at Waldorf School of the Peninsula since 1990.

Barbara Shields, Morning Glory Kindergarten Teacher

Barbara has been a Waldorf kindergarten teacher for more than 20 years. She has a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education. She loves the world of early childhood and how it lives and manifests in a Waldorf school. While working at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, Barbara had the opportunity to work in many postions including administration. It gave her an appreciation of the need for mutual support between the various spheres of a school in order to succeed. 

Hans Walser, Sunflower Kindergarten Teacher

Hans was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania into a household of Waldorf teachers. His mother is a kindergarten teacher, his sister is a music teacher and his stepfather is a high school math teacher. He attended the Kimberton Waldorf School from nursery to 12th grade. Hans’ interest in early childhood education began when he did his high school senior project on children’s play. He attended Warren Wilson College for a year and a half, and then became a kindergarten assistant at Kona Pacific School in Hawaii. He came to California to begin kindergarten training at Rudolf Steiner College. He recently graduated from the program and brings his energy, idealism and more than 3 years of experience as a nursery/kindergarten assistant to our school.

Kim Bick-Maurischat, Nursery School Teacher

Kim was born in San Francisco, California. She received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion from San Francisco University and her master’s in social science from San Jose State University. Kim was led to Waldorf education while pregnant with her first daughter and has been following her children’s wisdom ever since. She has been a doula and an apprentice midwife for more than eight years. She has been our Aftercare co-director, long-term substitute for grade five and now has returned to our nursery program.

Grades 1- 5

Ramona von Moritz, Grade 1 Teacher

Ramona has been preparing to become a Waldorf teacher for almost 30 years. She began the Waldorf Teacher Training Foundation Year in 1978. Her husband Hans von Moritz completed the year as she began her journey as a mother. She continued to study and learn about anthroposophy and Waldorf education by becoming involved as a member of the Waldorf communities where her husband taught and their four children attended school. For the past several years she has been a kindergarten assistant, after-care teacher, substitute teacher and business officer in Waldorf schools. She just completed a first grade class at a charter school in New Mexico and will continue her teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College.

Mireille Horton, Grade 2 Teacher

Mireille has more than 15 years experience working as a teacher and with children. She was the head teacher and owner of a Waldorf-inspired home-based pre-school in Soquel. She is a graduate of the Waldorf teacher training program from Rudolf Steiner College and Waldorf School Driebergen, The Netherlands.

Lisa Bryant, Grade 3 Teacher/Faculty Co-Chair

As a child Lisa was a student at the Sacramento Waldorf School for Grades 1 - 3, and this is why she returned to Waldorf, as an adult, to teach. Lisa has a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Polytechnical State University, San Luis Obispo, and she received her multiple subjects teaching credential from Humboldt State University. She is a graduate of Rudolf Steiner College. Lisa has taught in Waldorf-inspired charter schools and was a co-founder of the Coastal Grove Charter School. Her on-going professional development interests now consist of courses in Child Study and Remedial Education, Speech, Reading Reflex, Kodaly Music, and Drama. Community building is her passion, with an emphasis on Compassionate Communication. Lisa will be the new Faculty Co-chair for the 2007/2008 school year.

Hans von Moritz, Grade 4 Teacher

Hans has been teaching in Waldorf schools for 27 years both in Germany and the United States. He began his Waldorf teaching career as a foreign language teacher; he taught English to grades 5 through 13 in Germany and German to grades 1 to 12 in the United States. Over the last 15 years, he has been a class teacher in a variety of schools throughout the United States. Some of his class teaching experience includes taking a class from 4th to 8th grade and another class from 5th to 8th grade.

Sandy Schneider, Grade 5 Teacher

Sandy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During her childhood she moved several times, living in Florida, South Carolina and Missouri. Her undergraduate studies were in computer science, which led her to spend the next 18 years as a professional in the information technology field. In 1993, Sandy decided to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher and re-entered college to work toward a teaching degree in elementary education. Later, while searching for a school environment for her younger son, she discovered Waldorf education. She immediately developed a strong connection to the Waldorf philosophy and realized she wanted to be a Waldorf teacher. Sandy and her family moved from Denver, Colorado to Sacramento, California so that she could attend Rudolf Steiner College. In May 1999, Sandy graduated with a degree in Waldorf education. Sandy graduated the first class she took from first through eighth grade in June 2007.

Dan Perry, Grade 6 Teacher

Dan was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. During his childhood, his family spent two years in Chicago, Illinois. Dan’s love for music was greatly influenced by the jazz and blues he heard while living in Chicago. In 1986 after he completed three years of compulsory service in the Israeli navy, he traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland with a small bag and his guitar for a journey that lasted 12 years. During his time in Scotland he deepened his study of anthroposophy and attended the Waldorf teacher training at the Edinburgh Steiner School. He took additional courses and seminars in storytelling, speech and drama. In 1991 he opened an organic bakery. While operating and managing the bakery, he worked with people with mental illness and physical disabilities. He also traveled around Britain with different artistic programs, including performing “world music on two guitars” at the Edinburgh Festival. He returned to Israel and taught at the Jerusalem Waldorf School. He decided to relocate to the United States and moved to California in August 2002 to accept the position of first grade teacher at our school.

Middle School

Amie Wong, Grade 7 Teacher

Amie was born in Hong Kong. When she was ten years old her family moved to California. She graduated from Cal Poly State University with a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. She worked in a research laboratory for several years but decided to retire after her first son was born. This was when she discovered Waldorf education. Amie completed her Waldorf teacher training in 1996 and went on to form a Waldorf-inspired preschool in San Francisco. She acted as teacher/director for the preschool for four years. In the 2000-2001 school year she worked as a first grade teacher at a public school in San Francisco. She joined our school as the first grade teacher in 2001.

Anna Rainville, Grade 8 Teacher

Anna has a Bachelor’s degree in religious studies from University of California, Santa Cruz, a multiple subject teaching credential from Mills College, and an Master’s degree in education from Adelphi University in New York. She has taught in New York City, Oakland, London, Padova, Lexington, Massachusetts, Santa Cruz Mountains, Fair Oaks, and Saratoga where she has been everything from a Waldorf kindergarten/grades teacher to a college instructor. In January 2002, she received the California Kindergarten Association’s Outstanding California Teacher of the Year award. The award recognizes individual educators’ achievements and excellence in early childhood education. She lives with her two daughters and family in the house where she grew up in Saratoga, California.

Special Subjects

Lisa Babinet, Ph. D, Middle School Math Support

Lisa teaches math practice periods in grades 6, 7 and 8. Lisa received a PhD in science education from the University of Pennsylvania. She has three Master’s degrees including one in secondary math education. She has taught mathematics in middle school and high school for many years. Lisa’s most recent experience has been as a math teacher, director of educational programs, and dean of students in the middle school at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough. Her son and her daughter are students in our school.

Michaela Bergmann, Eurythmy Teacher

Michaela completed a five-year training course to become a stage eurythmist and eurythmy teacher for all ages, including adults, from the Eurythmeum Stuttgart. She also has a diploma from Micheshof Hepsisau, Institute for Therapeutic Pedagogy and has studied acting and drama. Michaela has been a eurythmy teacher for 10 years, and she recently taught kindergarten to sixth grade eurythmy at the Westside Waldorf School in Santa Monica. While at Westside Waldorf, she also taught handwork for all grades. Michaela is experienced in working with children with special needs using therapeutic eurythmy techniques. Michaela joined our school in 2003.

Carolyn Brown, Gardening Teacher/Faculty Co-Chair

Carolyn was raised in Riverside, California. She went to the University of California, Davis, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in plant science and nursery management. She farmed in Yolo County until she moved to Los Altos, California in 1991. Carolyn worked with seven other rural families in Capay Valley to create a Waldorf-inspired play group/kindergarten for nine children over a three-year period. She joined our faculty as a gardening teacher in September 1991. Carolyn says, “I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with the school community and students in the garden. Sharing my love of gardening has strengthened my personal commitment to the ideal of being good stewards of the earth.” Carolyn is a graduate of the Rudolf Steiner College Teacher Training Program in Los Altos. Her two sons are alumni of our school.

Alecia Dodge, Handwork Teacher

Alecia has been teaching handwork and working with children in grades 1-8 for the last 14 years at the Waldorf School of Santa Barbara. She graduated from Sunbridge College's Applied Arts Program for handwork and woodwork teachers. She has a Bachelor of Science in home economics from University of California Davis. For the past three years she has been a teacher and program coordinator for the Handwork Teacher Training Program at Rudolf Steiner College. With her experience as a member of a college of teachers, Board of Trustees and faculty, she has a wealth of knowledge in governance, administration and working as part of a team.

Janet Dunwoody, Movement Teacher/Board Member

Janet was born in Dublin, Ireland. She graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with an honors degree in history and a black belt in karate. After graduating, she took secretarial and credit control training and worked in the hotel industry. She obtained an Irish national fitness-training certificate and worked as a personal trainer, instructor and gym supervisor in Dublin. In 1993 she and her family moved to Calgary, Canada where she first worked as a day-home provider and then obtained YMCA and Canadian national fitness-training certificates. Janet worked at the YMCA as an instructor and then became the supervisor of the member services department. In 2000 her family relocated to California and her children transferred from the Calgary Waldorf School to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Janet is a graduate of the Rudolf Steiner College Teacher Training Program and Spatial Dynamics training. In 2006 she joined other Spatial Dynamic graduates in the Hands in Peace Conference, an international friendship festival, held in Beijing, China. Janet has three children. Her son and oldest daughter graduated from our school and her youngest daughters is currently enrolled.

Monica Laurent, Educational Support Co-Director

Monica was born and raised in Milan, Italy where she graduated from the Catholic University of Milan with a Bachelor’s degree in business administration. She moved to the United States in 1992 and lived in Seattle and Chicago. She earned a Master’s degree in multicultural communication from DePaul University and Portland. She relocated to Los Altos in 1999, where she lives with her husband and three children. Monica graduated from the Rudolf Steiner College Teacher Training Program, has been an intern with Bonnie River in the Educational Support Department for two years, and will graduate from the Gradalis training in therapeutic education in April 2006. Monica is also trained in the Lindamood-Bell language program and has recently attended the introductory training at the HANDLE institute. Monica has been a substitute for grades K-8 for the past three years. Her son and daughter are students in our school.

Lola Mont-Reynaud, Spanish Teacher

Lola was born in southern Spain in a small city by the Mediterranean Sea. When she was thirteen her family moved to Madrid, where she spent most of her adult life. She studied Art History at Universidad Complutense, while working as a computer programmer. Her love for traveling brought her to California eleven years ago. She intended to stay in the Bay Area for three months, and then go back to her work in an art gallery in Madrid. Destiny had a different plan. She met her husband here and stayed. Now she has two children, nine and six years old. For many years she was interested in children education, the arts and psychology, and explored them on her own. She graduated from Rudolf Steiner College in 2005, and joined our school in September 2005.

Mark-Daniel Schmid, Ph.D, Middle School Music Teacher

Mark-Daniel received his Ph. D in music history from Northwestern University, his Masters of Arts from West Chester University, and a diploma in piano performance from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany. Prior to coming to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, he was an associate professor in music history and piano at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, where he taught for nine years. He is the editor of the Richard Strauss Companion published by Praeger Publishing Group and was also a contributor to the International Dictionary of Black Musicians, published in 2001. He is an accomplished pianist and has accompanied recitals in Germany and Switzerland and throughout the United States. Having taught piano to young children for many years, Dr. Schmid looks back fondly on his days as a student at the Waldorf School "Uhlandshone," the very first Waldorf school, in Stuttgart, Germany, and feels that the wonderful experiences he had there destined him to become a teacher. "I can always tell when a young adult has attended a Waldorf School," he says. "They have a certain glow about them, a deep curiosity about the world and its citizens, an open mind to new approaches, and a knowledge beyond the physical world."

Michael Sturgis, Aftercare Director

Michael is a graduate of the Kimberton Waldorf School in Pennsylvania. His mother provides a Waldorf-inspired day care and his father is a Waldorf class teacher. Michael has spent many years working as a camp counselor and child care provider. He has a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Temple University and recently attended the Tracker School. Michael shares his love of nature and encourages the children to take an active role as caretakers of this planet.

Pamela York, Educational Support Co-Director

Pamela has been a substitute teacher for our school since 1999. She has taught kindergarten through grade 8 and special subjects. She graduated from the Waldorf Teacher Training Program in 2005. Pamela has completed her apprenticeship to become a Certified Handle Practitioner and was an intern with Bonnie River in our Educational Support Department. Her previous professional experience includes project management and designing, developing and delivering customer education for database software companies. She has degrees in business administration and computer science. Her son is a student at our school.