Meet the Faculty

2022-2023

At Waverly, students are led by knowl­edge­able, caring teach­ers deeply commit­ted to a devel­op­men­tal approach. With their wide range of influ­ences and belief in inte­grated learn­ing, Waverly’s elemen­tary teach­ers create engag­ing and dynamic classrooms.

Faculty Adamczyk Milca

Milca Adam­czyk

Milca is a 1st/​2nd co-lead teacher. Milca has a B.A. in art history with a minor in anthro­pol­ogy, an M.F.A., and a Multi­ple Subject Teach­ing Creden­tial from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Los Angeles. Prior to coming to Waverly, Milca substi­tute taught in Spanish Dual Immer­sion class­rooms in South Pasadena USD and was on the faculty of the Creative World Art Camp held at our campus during summer. (Email)

Faculty Blum Rebecca

Rebecca Blum

Rebecca is a 1st/​2nd co-lead teacher. She received a B.A. from San Fran­cisco State Univer­sity in psychol­ogy and art. With an inter­est in devel­op­men­tal psychol­ogy, Rebecca taught preschool for seven years, followed by teach­ing the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grades in San Fran­cisco, Brook­lyn, and Los Angeles. Rebecca has partic­i­pated in diverse educa­tional train­ing over her 15-year career, includ­ing Jewish educa­tor train­ing, Reggio Emilia, Reader and Writer’s Work­shop, Respon­sive Class­room, Bill David­son Math, and anti-bias train­ing. When Rebecca isn’t teach­ing, she can often be found baking pie for her small pie company, called Piety. (Email)

Faculty Boateng Lydia

Lydia Boateng

Lydia is Waver­ly’s school coun­selor. Lydia holds a B.A. in Africana Studies from Bing­ham­ton Univer­sity as well as an M.S. in Social Admin­is­tra­tion from Case Western Reserve Univer­sity. Lydia is a native of New York City and a recent trans­plant to the area, moving from north­east Ohio where she served in multi­ple roles, includ­ing school liaison, school based ther­a­pist, and asso­ciate teacher coun­selor. In her roles, she has coun­seled chil­dren and adoles­cents with mild to severe behav­ioral, mood, and trauma-stres­sor related disor­ders. She has provided indi­vid­ual and group sessions to K‑12 students, supported fami­lies with commu­nity resources, mental health tech­niques, and collab­o­rated with teach­ers and parents on devel­op­ing behav­ioral inter­ven­tions and emotional support for students. She is excited to join the Waverly commu­nity where she will be working collab­o­ra­tively to bring advi­sory program­ming to the high school. Lydia loves to serve in her church commu­nity, travel the world, and play sports in her free time. (Email)

Faculty Brown Maria

Maria Brown

Maria is an asso­ciate teacher and teaches Spanish in the elemen­tary school. Maria has worked with chil­dren for more than 25 years and has been with Waverly since its days as a preschool. Of her work, Maria says, It gives me joy to watch the chil­dren grow year after year and see how they become passion­ate artists, confi­dent speak­ers, talented musi­cians, and kind young adults who love us all for being part of their journey.” Maria’s two daugh­ters attend Waverly: Aaliyah in 9th grade and Natalie in 11th grade. (Email)

Faculty Clinton Kristina

Stina Clinton

Stina is a 5th/​6th lead teacher. Stina has a B.A. in English and a Cali­for­nia Single Subject Teach­ing Creden­tial in Language Arts from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Los Angeles. Stina is commit­ted to creat­ing emer­gent, project-based social studies units that empha­size multi­ple perspec­tives and crit­i­cal think­ing and to engag­ing her students in service-learn­ing projects. She is passion­ate about progres­sive, student-centered educa­tion. (Email)

Faculty Cohelan Katie

Katie Cohelan

Katie is a 5th/​6th asso­ciate teacher. Katie grad­u­ated from Pitzer College with her Bachelor’s in inter­na­tional studies and from Univer­sity of the Pacific with her Master’s in Educa­tion. Most recently, Katie worked as a lead teacher at Marin Country Day School.

Faculty Delaney Oonagh

Oonagh Delaney

Oonagh is the kinder­garten lead teacher. Oonagh has a B.A. in Theater Arts and English Liter­a­ture and a Post Grad­u­ate Certifi­cate in Educa­tion from the Univer­sity of Manches­ter in the U.K., and Early Child­hood and Site Supervisor/​Program Direc­tor Certi­fi­ca­tion through the Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Los Angeles. She has over 25 years of expe­ri­ence in educa­tion and has been the owner, direc­tor, and lead teacher of the highly regarded The Little Preschool in North­ridge for 13 years prior to teach­ing at Waverly. Oonagh’s three sons grad­u­ated from Waverly: Sam​’20, Patrick​‘16, and Eamonn​‘15. (Email)

Faculty Grace Lexa

Lexa Grace

Lexa is a 5th/​6th lead teacher. Lexa has a B.A. in the arts from The New School Univer­sity, an M.P.A. Certifi­cate in nonprofit manage­ment, and an M.A. in theatre from Villanova Univer­sity. Having taught in a variety of settings, Lexa has expe­ri­ence with anti-bias/anti-racist curricu­lum, Readers and Writers Work­shop, and Every­day Math­e­mat­ics. (Email)

Faculty Hendricks Susan

Susan Hendricks

Susan is a 3rd/​4th lead teacher. Creden­tialed by the State of Cali­for­nia as a teacher (preschool-12th grades) and as a reading special­ist, Susan is a conferred Doctor of Educa­tion in educa­tional lead­er­ship from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Los Angeles, and holds a Master of Science in educa­tion special­iz­ing in language and liter­acy from the Univer­sity of Penn­syl­va­nia and a Child Devel­op­ment Program Direc­tor Permit from the State of Cali­for­nia. Susan chal­lenges her students by first support­ing them emotion­ally. She says,​“There is so much flux and trans­for­ma­tion taking place socially, emotion­ally, and cogni­tively at this point in their devel­op­ment, that my role is to listen, observe, and recog­nize when and where to push regard­ing their learn­ing expe­ri­ences.” (Email)

Faculty Hopkins Bryce

Bryce Hopkins

Bryce is an asso­ciate teacher. Bryce holds a B.A. in strate­gic commu­ni­ca­tions from North­ern Arizona Univer­sity. Prior to joining us in the class­room, Bryce was a camp coun­selor in Waver­ly’s summer camp. Bryce has previ­ously worked as a phys­i­cal educa­tion teacher at Chan­dler School, and he has also served as a para­pro­fes­sional for the La Cañada Unified School District. (Email)

Faculty Johnson Jennifer

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer is the learn­ing special­ist for kinder­garten through 12th grade. Jennifer has a Cali­for­nia Teach­ing Creden­tial, a Master’s in teach­ing, and certi­fi­ca­tion as an educa­tional ther­a­pist. Led to a career in educa­tion by a life­long fasci­na­tion with the many differ­ent ways people think and learn, Jennifer is happi­est when around chil­dren and teens and believes that most kids are natu­rally curious and seek chal­lenges to stretch them­selves. To support them, she explains,​“Often, you just need to give them the time and space to follow their curios­ity. For chil­dren who may find them­selves facing tasks which are too chal­leng­ing, what is often needed is support in build­ing the skills to feel capable of meeting a chal­lenge.” (Email)

Faculty Kashyap Sahaj

Sahaj Kashyap

Sahaj is an asso­ciate teacher. Sahaj has a B.A. in soci­ol­ogy from the Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Berke­ley and an M.A. in educa­tion admin­is­tra­tion and a teach­ing creden­tial from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, North­ridge. He appre­ci­ates working at Waverly because acad­e­mics can be approached differ­ently to include all learn­ing styles. The class­room is a chem­istry exper­i­ment in and of itself. We have distinct person­al­i­ties and diverse mixtures that lead to unique results and expe­ri­ences every year.” Sahaj enjoys Hatha yoga, playing basket­ball, and explor­ing science. (Email)

Faculty Perera Meyers Dharinne

Dharinne Perera-Myers

Dharinne is a 3rd/​4th lead teacher. Dharinne has a B.A. in human devel­op­ment and a Multi­ple Subject Teach­ing Creden­tial from Pacific Oaks College. She will complete a Certifi­cate in Educa­tional Therapy at Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, River­side this fall. In addi­tion to teach­ing in elemen­tary class­rooms, Dharinne has devel­oped and imple­mented eques­trian programs for Tom Sawyer Camps and has also served as a Behav­ioral Ther­a­pist in the B.L.A.S.T. Program. Dharinne has a back­ground in Visions Inclu­siv­ity Train­ing and Respon­sive Class­room, and she is commit­ted to child-centered educa­tion. (Email)

Faculty Reynolds Brittany

Brit­tany Reynolds

Brit­tany is a 1st/​2nd lead teacher. Brit­tany holds a B.A. in psychol­ogy and fine art/​art history from Buck­nell Univer­sity, a Multi­ple Subject Creden­tial from CalState TEACH, an Early Child­hood Educa­tion Certifi­cate from UCLA Exten­sion, and a Master’s in Teach­ing with a focus on social justice, multi­cul­tur­al­ism, and action research from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Fresno. Brit­tany believes that all students should be given the space and oppor­tu­nity to love learn­ing and to realize that there is so much that can be uncov­ered through the learn­ing process. She says, The class­room is set up to meet varying student needs in a variety of learn­ing expe­ri­ences. In this envi­ron­ment, students are given the space and support to take risks, ask ques­tions, and express them­selves.” (Email)

Faculty Schacher Millie

Millie Schacher

Millie is an asso­ciate teacher in the kinder­garten class­room. Millie was previ­ously an elemen­tary school music teacher and long-term substi­tute at Waverly. She also has previ­ous expe­ri­ence working in summer camps and children’s theater work­shops. Millie loves to read, write, explore nature, and create murder mystery parties. Her fore­most hope this year is to instill in our students empathy for them­selves as well as others.”

Faculty Logan Kelcey

Kelcey Wallens-Logan

Kelcey is a 1st/​2nd asso­ciate teacher. Kelcey grad­u­ated from Barnard College with a degree in envi­ron­men­tal science, chem­istry, and educa­tion studies. Kelcey is an avid knitter, metal­smith, roller skater, rock climber, and (newly!) scuba diver. She plans to pursue a Master’s in educa­tion and multi­ple subject creden­tial and build her skills as a career educator.