Teachers

Marlene Hall, Director & Teacher

Marlene is an experienced parent, teacher and administrator. She has a BA in Social Studies and an MA in education and curriculum development. She has over 23 years experience in preschool and public school education. Marlene has been the teacher/director of Grace Cooperative Preschool for over 20 years.

Meg Fiset, Teacher

Meg is a past parent of Grace and when her two daughters graduated we just couldn't let her go. Meg has a background in nursing and studied early childhood education. She is also actively involved in the public schools and girl scouts. Meg also has many animals including dogs and chickens who frequent the school.

Trish Kawahara, Teacher

Trish (left) is an educator with a wide range of experiences over the past 14 years including teaching, working as a site and district administrator and co-oping as a parent. She has a BA in History and a MA in Elementary Education and a MA in Education with an Administrative Credential. Additionally, Trish has studied Early Childhood Education.

Joy Martin, Teacher

Joy (right) has 20 years of experience working with young children and their families. In addition to being a co-oping parent and mother of young children, Joy has a BA in Humanities with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. She holds a Master Teacher Child Development permit and is working towards a Director permit.

VIPs

Lavenia Black, Music

Lavenia is a past grandparent of Grace and the adopted grandparent to all the Grace children. Lavenia is extremely musically talented and teaches piano lessons privately. She provides piano accompaniment to music time on Wednesdays and Thursdays and directs small groups of children on Fridays for "Rhythm Band" which introduces children to new instruments, rhythms, and scales.

Joan Larsen and Margaret Sandelmann, Cooking & Special Projects

Joan and Margaret provide wonderful and tasty projects for the children. Working individually or in small groups, the children love the extra attention they receive from Joan and Margaret.

Ethel Vaughan

Ethel is a retired elementary school teacher and active volunteer in both the Tuesday/Thursday and the Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. Ethel is another adopted grandparent to the children and they love reading with her, playing with her and sharing their day in many ways with her. Ethel also provides assistance in preparing materials for daily activities

Kay Hatch

Kay is a volunteer in our Kinder Prep class. She helps lead the children in modern dance exercises and stretching, and assists the teachers with class projects. The children enjoy listening to her read stories and sharing their day with her. She is an experienced preschool teacher, having worked in coops with her children and working in a preschool in Moraga for 18 years.