Getting to Know New Faculty & Staff

Annie joins the fourth grade teaching team after wrapping up a three-year stint teaching second grade at Stratford School. Annie's teaching aspiration is to foster an environment where each student is valued and help students recognize and embrace their unique talents and strengths, nurturing the determination necessary to navigate challenges and realize their full potential. Annie earned a BA in Humanities and an MA in Teaching with a focus on elementary education, both from Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

Born and raised in the Atlanta area, Halen has taught first grade, third grade, fifth grade, and STEM in Georgia and Tennessee. Throughout his career in education, Halen has found joy in honing his craft and establishing meaningful relationships with students, colleagues, and parents. He earned a BS in Elementary Education from Kennesaw State University followed by his M.Ed., also from Kennesaw State.

Brian’s 30+ years in education includes positions as a literacy coach, adjunct English professor, and secondary English teacher, mostly at Los Angeles Unified School District. His teaching approach centers around creating a learning community that is committed to achieving the highest level of academic, individual, and collective excellence in an environment. He earned his BA in English from Cal State Long Beach, followed by his MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University, and recently earned a doctorate in Creative Writing from Swansea University. 

Katie had a long tenure at Sea Crest School in Half Moon Bay, serving as a PE teacher across multiple grades and nearly a decade as the school’s director of athletics. Katie has participated in a range of professional development, including workshops with the Institute for Social Emotional Learning, Responsive Classroom, Independent School Management, and Women's Leadership Seminar. A native of Hayward, Katie holds both a BA and MA in Kinesiology from Cal State East Bay. 

With a background in environmental science and education that includes a BS and MS in Earth Systems Science from Stanford University, Dreas has led several conservation projects from coral reefs to seagrass beds, mangrove forests, chaparral woodland, and desert rivers in both the US and his native land of Bermuda. Dreas’ teaching style centers around play, creative expression and the intersections between human society and the natural world. 

Anna spent this past year as a third grade teacher at The Village School of Naples in Naples, FL. Prior to that, Anna taught in a general education classroom and an integrated co-teaching classroom in New York City public schools. Her teaching practice centers relationships, noting that getting to know her students as individuals and fostering community are her favorite parts of teaching. She holds a BA in Child Psychology from the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and an MA in Elementary Inclusive Education from the Teachers College at Columbia University.

Joanna spent 11 years at Daniel Webster Elementary as an in-class/small group support for students in all grades and led afterschool small group math clubs for third through fifth graders. Joanna also previously worked with a small number of Live Oak students over the course of the last three years. A parent of a Live Oak graduate from the class of 2016, Joanna has been deeply involved in a variety of Live Oak volunteer roles over the years. A native of Washington D.C., she earned BA in Psychology from Oberlin College and Conservatory and later her teaching credential from San Francisco State. 

Leah’s vast teaching career spans both nationally and internationally, including elementary teaching positions in Baltimore, Maryland, Green Bay, Wisconsin, San Francisco, and Half Moon Bay, along with teaching roles in international schools in Beijing, China and Bogota, Colombia. She believes that teaching should be culturally relevant, accessible for all students, and provide opportunities for students to grapple with contextual, real world ideas and issues. Leah earned her undergraduate degree in Social Work and Educational Policy from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's in Education from Johns Hopkins University. 

AJ brings extensive and diverse experience in the nonprofit and for-profit finance industries over the last two decades, leading operations and finance functions at healthtech and real estate companies. Most recently, he held the position of principal/venture builder at Endurance Companies, a multifamily investment office launching mission-driven startups in healthcare and financial technology. A first-generation college graduate, AJ earned his degree in psychology from Stanford in 2006. AJ went on to earn his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2010.