Who Are We?

The founders of the Portland Village School are parents and educators with a shared commitment to the principles and pedagogy of Waldorf education, and we want to see its methods adapted and incorporated into the public model, with equal access for all.

We are long-time Portland residents and new transplants from across the country. Some of our families have many years experience with Waldorf education, while others have only recently discovered this educational philosophy. We share a common desire to see this innovative model of learning adapted to a wider and more diverse group of children.

A number of us met through Lily Pad Preschool, a home-based Waldorf-methods based program. In late 2004, we began a conversation about starting a charter school, and we quickly developed into a determined core group. As the word of our initiative began to spread, we attracted new members, and we began to establish firm ties with the founders and administrators of the Eugene Village School.

The Portland Village School family is growing steadily, and we look forward to the ideas, skills and energy you might bring to the community we have envisioned. Please see Join our Team for more information on how you can help.

Our Staff

We are excited to announce our administrators and teachers!

Administration :

Tom Klein is our principal. He comes to us with four years of experience as the administrator of Cedarwood School, a private Waldorf school, and twenty-two years as the executive director of the Clackamas County Head Start program. He holds a BS in Education from Fairleigh Dickenson University and is a graduate of the oldest Waldorf school in the United States, the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City.

Jackie Jaffe is working part-time as our vice-principal. She is a licensed public school administrator and has experience as a SUN program coordinator at the Harold Oliver Primary School in the Centennial school district. She has taught in private, public, and charter elementary schools (grades 1, 2, 4 and 5). She holds a Masters in Education from University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and a BA in Fine Arts (Photography) from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Amy Lyden is our enrollment coordinator and administrative assistant. She has managed various retail and small business offices and was most recently in marketing management and internet content editing. She has taught mixed media art classes to children at Summer Arts Camps at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska. She holds a BA in Interpersonal Communication from San Diego State University and attended the MA in Ed program for Leadership in Ecology, Culture & Learning at Portland State University.

Kindergarten Teachers:

Ana Lucia Medes de Mello (Lucia) is our extended day kindergarten teacher. She grew up in Brazil where she received a degree in history and studied at the Instituto Jean Piaget. She received her master's degree in early childhood education from Bank Street College and her Waldorf teacher training at Sunbridge College. Lucia worked for 3 years as a preschool teacher in Brazil and 13 years as a kindergarten teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City. Since moving to Portland in 2001 she has taught at Cedarwood School, at Portland Waldorf School and, this last year in her own preschool.

Ruthanne Kendrick is our morning kindergarten teacher. She grew up in Alabama where she received a degree in English literature. Ruthanne has studied at Waldorf educational institutes in Eugene, Sacramento, and here in Portland. She taught nursery school, ran theater camps for the Eugene Waldorf School and the Portland Waldorf School, and for the last six years she has had her own Waldorf-style preschool in Portland. Ruthanne inspired and worked with a group of parents who sent their children to her Lily Pad Pre-school and founded the Portland Village School.

Grades Teachers:

Lisa Fenton is one of our first grade teachers. She grew up in Illinois and holds a BS in Special Education from the University of Evansville, Indiana, and a Masters Certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorder from Johns Hopkins University. She is an Oregon certified teacher with ten years of experience in the classroom. She has worked with autistic children, homeless children, and integrated classes of children with and without disabilities. She has an active interest in the process arts -- painting, collage, paper crafts, dance, and creative writing –and likes to facilitate service learning opportunities for older students at the Food Bank, Loaves and Fishes, and Community Clothing Closet. In 2002 she attended an intensive Waldorf methods class and has been integrating Waldorf techniques into her teaching ever since, especially singing, painting, and movement.

Melanie Walker is one of our first grade teachers. She grew up in Mississippi and received her BA in Urban Studies from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. After several years as a youth environmental educator for the Memphis Botanic Gardens she moved to Oregon where she taught at the Ananda Marga New Day School, ran OMSI Summer Science Camps, and completed the Waldorf teacher training program at the Micha’el Institute. She lived for the past eight years in the Mt Hood village of Brightwood. Most recently she helped to found the Waldorf-inspired Sweetwater Learning Center and taught their mixed-age first through fourth grade class. She specializes in the natural sciences, gardening, pottery, painting, cooking, and seasonal celebrations.

Shannon McClure is our second grade teacher. She grew up in Ohio and earned her BS in Art Education from Bowling Green State University, with a focus on drawing and weaving. She did her student teaching in Toledo, Ohio before moving to Portland and earning her Oregon teaching certificate. She has developed an expertise in African textiles and is particularly interested in multicultural education. Shannon comes to us from the private Catlin Gabel School where she worked as the 5th grade teaching assistant and after care provider. While there, she redesigned the 5th grade curriculum to focus on local agricultural sustainability, and helped the students create a successful kitchen garden.

Theresa Molter is our third grade teacher. She holds a BA in English and child development from Hampshire College in Massachusetts and a Master's degree in teaching from Lewis and Clark College. She grew up in Tucson where she began studying the violin at age five, sang in the Tucson Girls’ Chorus, and published her own alternative magazine for girls at the age of fourteen. She has taught art to kindergarteners at Sunnyside Environmental School, reading to fifth graders at the migrant summer school in Hillsboro, and interdisciplinary classes to second and fourth graders at Irvington Elementary. She speaks conversational French and Japanese, and is an avid writer, reader, bicyclist, and vegetarian cook. She is thrilled to join a school that encourages teachers to bring their creativity into the classroom.

Tammy Wagner is our fourth grade teacher. She holds a BS from Florida State University in Elementary Education, an MS from The College of New Jersey in Elementary Education Science and Mathematics, and a Waldorf Remedial Teacher Certificate. She comes to us with ten years experience teaching 7th and 8th grade physical and life sciences and reading in the Princeton, New Jersey public school system, as well as six years experience working in Waldorf schools as a tutor, a remedial teacher, and most recently as the sixth grade main lesson teacher at Portland Waldorf School.

Subject Teachers and Other Part-time Staff:

Joseph Wyatt is our Spanish teacher, Taeva Turner is our violin teacher, Tracy Rimel is our bookkeeper, and Ann Powers is our development director. Christine Enkiri is the before-care provider and one of the kindergarten assistants. Nicole Severson works as the other kindergarten assistant. Betty Baldwin teaches handwork and provides after-care.

Our Board of Directors:

On July 10th, 2007 a new board of directors was elected to serve a one-year term guiding the school. The board members are Deah Baird, Lisa Creamer, Stephen Correl, Pamela Echevario, Sandra Ludeman, Ariana Orton, Kilong Ung, Tammy Wagner, and Joseph Wyatt.