Jennifer Ketring

K-12 December E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

  • Hometown Holidays
  • Oddfellows Toy Drive
  • K8 & High School Family Forums
  • Redwood Coast Education Foundation Grants
  • Family Handbook
  • Mark Your Calendar

Hometown Holidays

Our High School students will be participating in this year’s Hometown Holidays on Main Street in Point Arena on Saturday, December 11. They will be in front of the theater from 1:00 – 5:00 with candles, baked goods and fresh greenery. We are asking high school families to contribute to the bake sale by dropping off baked goods at the school this Friday, December 10 or at our Hometown Holidays table in town on Saturday, December 11 at 1:00.

Funds from the day will help support a student-led school beautification project and the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program. It should be a festive day, be sure to stop by!

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Jennifer Ketring

K-12 November E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

  • High School Kayak Field Study: November 14
  • K8 Playground
  • COVID Vaccines: MCOE Town Hall & RCMS Survey
  • School Van Fundraiser
  • Family Volunteer Hours
  • Mark Your Calendar

High School Kayak Field Study: Sign Up!

Arena Cove
Sunday, November 14
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Middle school students went kayaking with North Pacific Adventure in September. This month our high school students are invited to participate in a guided kayaking trip at the Arena Cove. Interested students should contact Nathan or Jen to sign up (waivers are available at the school and will be sent home with students).

ACORN Partners in Education is hosting these kayaking trips as part of their environmental stewardship program, Students Protecting the Coast.

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Jennifer Ketring

K-12 October E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day
  • College & Careers Forum
  • K8 Picture Day
  • COVID Testing & Pre-Registration
  • School Van Fundraiser
  • Mark Your Calendar

Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Last year our Governance Council adopted a resolution to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day each year on the 2nd Monday in October. On Monday, October 11 our High School is hosting activities to honor and recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The schedule is still being finalized but will include Pomo hand games, drumming, basket weaving and more. We will share the final schedule with all families and students via email – keep an eye out!

Our K-8 students will have the day off school but ALL families are invited to participate in the High School activities on October 11. We will be hosting a special all-school meeting at the K-8 site on Wednesday, October 6 to highlight Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Ms. Bernardo, our High School English teacher, put together the following list of Young Adult Books & Poetry Collections by Indigenous Authors (she purchased individual copies for checking out at the High School):

  • Apple in the Middle, Dawn Quigley
  • The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
  • Hearts Unbroken, Cynthia Leitich Smith
  • Rain is Not My Indian Name, Cynthia Leitich Smith
  • When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, Edited by Joy Harjo
  • #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women, Edited by Lisa Charleyboy & Mary Beth Leatherdale
  • Give me Some Truth, Eric Gansworth

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Jennifer Ketring

K-12 August E-Newsletter

Summer greetings!

August is here and we are gearing up for the start of the school year on the 18th. This year’s preparations are looking quite different than last year, and while we are still monitoring and remaining diligent in our efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic, we are looking forward to being in-person fulltime with all of our students this year. We are closely following local and state guidelines and have adapted those guidelines to inform our COVID protocols.

This year we are also excited to welcome new teaching staff: Lili Hillscan, TK-K-1st; Charlene Rowland, 3rd-8th After School STEAM; Andrea Mazza, 4th-12th Health & Wellness; Susan Schaefer Bernardo, High School English. Visit our website to read the bios of our new teachers (some who are new to our school community and others who are sharing their experiences in new roles). We will also be welcoming back our returning teachers this week at both the K-8 and High School sites. At K-8 Todd Orenick will be teaching our 2nd-3rd grade class while Isabel Kuniholm will be teaching Math & Science with our 4th-5th and Middle School classes. We will be temporarily filling our 4th-5th and Middle School English with a substitute while we find a long-term teacher to join our school. Our returning High School teachers include Nathan Ramser, Algebra, Biology and CLS; Beverly Battaglia, Civics & Economics, CLS and Odysseyware classes; Michele Taylor-Jones, Ceramics, 2D Studio Art & Design and Spanish 1.

Enrollment packets with detailed information for the coming school year were sent last week. Please check your mailbox and take the time to complete ALL of the information requested in the packets. I recognize it is a bit of paperwork, but all of the information is necessary to help us effectively operate our school.

I hope you have enjoyed your summer break and enjoy the last bit of time until we see everyone on the 18th. In the meantime, I encourage all of our families to participate in a virtual All School K-12 Family Forum on Monday, August 16 at 5:30. We will have site specific in-person Family Forums in September, but August 16th will be a chance for us to share more information about what to expect for this coming school year.

Take care.

-Jen Ketring, Executive Director

Read the Full E-Newsletter Here

Jennifer Ketring

PCCS Welcomes New Teaching Staff

The Pacific School is excited to welcome new teachers for our 2021-22 school year.

Lili Hillscan, TK-Kindergarten-1st Grade Teacher. Lili earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a focus in Education from
Humboldt State University and has taken courses on Natural Resources
Management from Santa Rosa Junior College. She has been working with children
of all ages since high school and has always planned on becoming a teacher. Lili has been a part of the Pacific School community for the past 12 years as a volunteer, parent and staff member. She has worked as a Classroom Aide, including with the Forest Kindergarten program, and most recently supported our administrative team as the K-8 Administrative Assistant. She has also
put in lots of time in the K8 kitchen helping with our breakfast and lunch program. Lili enjoys the beauty of the coast and is excited to integrate the joy of being outdoors and lessons of the natural world with our TK-K-1 class. When
she’s not working at the school, you can find her spending time with her family, being
outside, camping, hiking, and sailing, as well as working on her small family
farm.

Charlene Rowland, K-8 After School STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) Teacher. Charlene grew up farming in the beautiful Canadian prairie province Manitoba. Her mother was an artist and taught art at her elementary school. She was raised with a deep appreciation for nature and environmental health that she strives to share with her students. She has studied and worked in Agriculture for 3 decades. Charlene’s teaching credential is Career Technical Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources and she has been teaching Agriculture in Mendocino county for ten years. Charlene has taught at Anderson Valley Middle/High School, River Community School and Ukiah High School. During the past 5 years she has been teaching Plant Science and Agriculture at Point Arena High School and has been facilitating dozens of successful field trips, apprenticeships, job shadows and outdoor education experiences. Charlene enjoys backpacking, playing banjo and trail running in her free time.

Andrea Mazza, 4th – 12th Health & Wellness Teacher. Andrea earned her single subject teaching credentials in Physical Education and Health Science after a background of working in orthopedic therapies and education. Andrea earned her Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology with a concentration in Health and Wellness Promotion after earning an Associate of Science in Athletic Training/Sports Medicine. Andrea is an adventurous human and athlete, with a passion for water polo which she played competitively for many years. She’s played and coached many sports, including swimming, tennis, and beach volleyball. Andrea grew up in the foothills and valley of the Sierra Nevada mountains where she learned to love the outdoors. She joined us on the coast five years ago and was thrilled to live where she has been visiting family since she was a small child. Andrea is always up for a challenge – she once lived in Sitka, Alaska where she worked on a commercial fishing boat. Andrea would love to help develop an aquatics program here in Point Arena, because she feels it’s essential for every child to learn swimming and water safety. She’s also a certified EMT and EMR (Emergency Medical Technician/Responder), who trained at Coast Life Support District. Andrea approaches life with gusto and a true growth mindset – she believes in persevering through challenges with a sense of humor and strives to be an asset to every team she joins.


Susan Schaefer Bernardo, High School English Literature and Creative Writing Teacher. Susan brings real-world writing experience to our program, as well as impressive academic qualifications. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from UCLA, a Master’s degree in English Literature from Yale, and did her teacher training at Pepperdine. She is a published author and poet who has also worked in public relations, television and as an arts facilitator and public speaker. Her picture books are used widely to help children cope with social-emotional issues. Notably, she co-authored The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm with actor LeVar Burton. That book was read aloud to military families by former First Lady Michelle Obama and also sent to the International Space Station and read aloud by astronaut Kate Rubins for Storytime from Space. Susan successfully co-created, crowdfunded and published three more picture books—Sun Kisses, Moon Hugs, The Big Adventures of Tiny House and The Artist Who Loved Cats: The Inspiring Tale of Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen. In 2018 she released Inspired, a YA novel about a girl who discovers she is descended from Muses. Susan moved to Gualala from Los Angeles in 2020. She’s dreamed about living on the redwood coast ever since attending 6th grade science camp here, and she’s looking forward to learning more about this spectacular area through the eyes of her students (and writing about it with them). When she’s not writing or teaching, she enjoys tidepooling, sculpting, gardening, traveling the world, exploring museums, and romping through the woods with her two rescue mutts.
Jennifer Ketring

Pacific School Celebrates 8th Grade Promotion & High School Graduation

 The Pacific School ended this challenging year of schooling
with two in-person celebrations to recognize the promotion of three 8th
graders and the graduation of five Seniors. Family, friends, classmates and
school staff gathered together at the Point Arena Park on Thursday, June 10 to
honor 8th grade students Kadynce Swartz, Addison Tait and Elijah
Garcia. All three students shared speeches with their reflections on middle
school and enjoyed cupcakes, sunshine and music to mark their passage from
middle school to high school.

8th Graders and Teachers: Angela Lang (Art
Teacher), Kadynce Swartz, Dana Beer (English Teacher), Isabel Kuniholm (Math
& Science Teacher), Elijah Garcia, Addison Tait.

The next day, Friday, June 11, family and friends came out
to the Point Arena Lighthouse to celebrate the graduating Seniors—Keaton
Beattie, Levi Teal Roach, Aiyana Robinson, Flavio Smith-Ray and Max Mirassou.
This was the 2nd year of gathering at the Lighthouse to recognize
the Pacific School graduates. Last year’s graduation was a drive-through with
decorated cars parading past the line of Seniors. This year’s celebration was
the same venue but was able to be in-person, complete with all the makings of a
graduation ceremony from the speeches to the tassel-turning to the tears.

Graduating Seniors: Flavio Smith-Ray, Levi Teal Roach, Aiyana
Robinson, Keaton Beattie. 

The Class of 2021 persevered through the global pandemic and
remains hopeful for the future with their plans and dreams. Aiyana Robinson plans
study animal science at Mendocino College with the aim of becoming a game
warden. Levi Teal Roach is heading to the College of the Siskiyous to study welding
and firefighting. Flavio Smith-Ray is ready to start working and enjoying the
outdoors. Keaton Beattie hopes to pursue hands-on work that allows him to build
and create. Max Mirassou looks forward to traveling and exploring the world
beyond high school.

Jennifer Ketring

K-12 April E-Newsletter

SCHOOL NEWS & UPDATES

UPDATED K-12 IN-PERSON SCHEDULE

This week we are launching our spring in-person schedule. In-person days will still be complemented with distance learning days (with the exception of our Forest Kindergarten class) and we will follow this schedule through the end of the school year. Teachers will continue to communicate directly with students and families with more details and any changes—be sure to check your email regularly.

Forest Kindergarten

  • Mondays. 9:00 – 12:00. K-8.
  • Tuesdays. 9:00 – 12:00. Forest days at locations TBA.
  • Wednesdays. 9:00 – 12:00. K-8.
  • Thursdays. 9:00 – 12:00. Forest days at locations TBA.
  • Fridays. 9:00 – 12:00. K-8.

1st – 2nd Class

  • Mondays. 10:30 – 3:00. K-8 Outdoor Classroom.
  • Wednesdays. 9:00 – 1:00. Windy Hollow Farm.
  • Fridays. 10:30 – 3:00. K-8 Outdoor Classroom.

3rd – 5th Class

  • Mondays. 10:00 – 3:00. Windy Hollow Farm.
  • Wednesdays. 8:45 – 12:45. K-8 Outdoor Classroom.
  • Fridays. 10:30 – 3:00. Windy Hollow Farm.

Middle School

  • Tuesdays. 11:00 – 3:00. K-8 Outdoor Classroom.
  • Thursdays. 11:00 – 3:00. K-8 Outdoor Classroom.

High School

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