Faculty and Staff
click on a teacher's name for more information
click on a teacher's name for more information
JODY MEESE, Director
grew up in western New York State. As a long-time professional flutist she held jobs in Hartford, Toronto, Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Salt Lake City before settling in the Bay Area in 1988. She holds a Bachelors degree in education and a Masters degree in music, and has also worked as a public school teacher, department store buyer, and sales representative. She came to The Mountain School as a parent--and shortly thereafter, employee--in 1990, the first year of the school’s existence. “Our family as a whole has benefited from our children’s Waldorf education,” she says. In her free time, she practices yoga and calligraphy.
KIMI KEATING, Lead Teacher
received her BA in Art History from San Francisco State University. “When I first heard about Waldorf education, I was inspired by the way a philosophy of such depth and creativity was being put to such practical use," she says. She graduated from the San Francisco Waldorf Teacher Training in 1999, and then worked at the San Francisco Waldorf School as a kindergarten apprentice for two years. Subsequently, she taught and managed a small home preschool in West Marin, and was a Summer Kindergarten Camp teacher at the San Francisco Waldorf School before joining us in 2002 as an Assistant Teacher. Kimi has been Lead Teacher in the Chickadee nest since 2005.
GALE MORFIN, Lead Teacher
was born and raised on Long Island and received her BA at the University of Florida. She first encountered Waldorf education through a woman she met while traveling on a boat in the Greek Islands. “I was so inspired by the philosophy and the schools I visited in Europe, I returned to Sacramento to pursue teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College,” she says. She taught Kindergarten in Florida and in Redwood City before moving to Finland, having met her Finnish future husband on yet another Greek holiday. Gale taught English to adults, as well as preschool, for the four years they lived abroad. She came to The Mountain School in 1994.
SYLVIA DONATI, Assistant Teacher
has traveled far and wide from her childhood outside New York City. She completed a Bachelors degree in Chinese and worked in New York for five years--first, in international business and then in video production. She moved to Hawaii in 1992 and earned two Masters degrees in Asian Studies and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After moving to the Bay Area to work as an environment planner in San Jose before shifting gears to become a full-time mother. “I was first introduced to Waldorf Education through my sister and her son,” she says, I realized I was drawn to it for myself as well as for my children. In the summer of 2007, Sylvia graduated from the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training, and joined our full-time staff in the fall. She enjoys sharing her love for song, play, and the natural world.
DANIELLE SCHINDLER, Assistant Teacher
was born and raised in Petaluma but has found San Francisco to be her true home. She comes from a large family, with whom she spends much of her free time. She was attending Santa Rosa Junior College, pursuing a degree in Clinical Psychology, when she began working with special needs children as an Early Intervention Behavioral Therapist. She was first introduced to Waldorf education as an aide to one of those children in a San Francisco Waldorf preschool classroom. "I was encouraged to see how nurturing the environment is for the child’s soul," she says. In 2006, she joined the staff of The Mountain School.
LAUREL ROBERTS-MEESE, Aftercare Teacher
grew up in Marin County and brings with her more than ten years of experience caring for children in a variety of settings, including work with foster children and children with special needs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an emphasis in Child Development, and is passionate about nonprofit and charitable work. She is a talented soprano and member of the “Loose Interpretations”, a San Francisco women's a cappella ensemble. Last but not least, she attended The Mountain School from 1990 to 1992, and graduated from Marin Waldorf School and Marin Academy. “I am thrilled to be working with the most knowledgeable child care professionals in the business,” she says.