Specialty Subject Teachers

Movement & Spatial Dynamics
Andrea Reier
Ms. Reier was born and raised in Hungary. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1998. She received her bachelor's degree and her teaching credential in Physical Education and Adaptive Physical Education and Therapy at the Hungarian University of Physical Education in Budapest in 1996. She also recently received her CA single subject teaching credential in Physical Education for K-12. She is very drawn to Waldorf education. She studied Spatial Dynamics and Bothmer Gymnastics with Jaimen McMillan. She taught at the elementary and high school level in the Hungarian public school system and taught at the elementary level at the Greenwood Waldorf School in Mill Valley before joining this wonderful Live Oak community in 2018.

Movement and sports have always been her love. She played European team handball in the Hungarian National League and she was a Young National track and field competitor and a regional champion in 800m and Pentathlon.

She has a deep love and care for children and respects the teaching profession. She brings her professionalism, encouragement, and contagious positive energy to our children.
Performing Arts
Lissa Ferreira
Hailing from Novato, Lissa was a nationally competitive baton twirler and loved to put on carnivals and plays in her backyard. She majored in Recreation and Theatre at Chico State and earned her MFA in Directing & Teaching at UC Davis. Lissa has directed youth and adult productions throughout the Bay Area for the past 35 years, specializing in physical comedy, musicals and Shakespeare. Having studied classical ballet and jazz dance from age 5 through graduate school, she has choreographed over 250 pieces for the stage. She is also certified in level one stage combat techniques (broadsword, rapier, dagger, quarterstaff, small sword, knives, unarmed) and is a qualified intimacy choreographer and coordinator. She was the first Program Director of the Lucchessi branch of the Boys & Girls Club when it opened in 1992. She served on Social Advocates for Youth, Sonoma County Gang Task Force and is certified in Mental Health for Youth. One of her favorite jobs was as the Recreational Therapy Manager for a Juvenile Delinquent Boys Program.  She used her Recreation degree to do event planning for many nonprofits, including Petaluma Downtown Association where she coordinated events such as Butter & Egg Days, Art & Garden Festival, Antique Faires and Holiday Open House. She lives in west Petaluma with her son, Jett, who is a freshman at Credo High School, and her rescue minipin - Bettty White.
Handwork/Library
Gayla Overmeer
Gayla is a Northern California native, born in Grass Valley and raised in Auburn and Sonoma. She grew up sewing and crafting (thanks mom!), and her cousin taught her to knit as a teenager. She attended UC San Diego, where she earned her BS in Biology and met her husband Rick. They have been together for 26 years and have 3 grown children who all attended Live Oak. Gayla worked in the medical field prior to having kids, and started as a parent volunteer at Live Oak in 2003. She was hired as the library aide in 2007, and started aiding in handwork in 2008. She has also been a middle school aide, the CyberCivics teacher, the “costume queen” and has been teaching handwork for grades 1-8 since 2018. In accordance with a California law change, all specialty teachers must also have a California credential, so in her “spare time”, Gayla is getting her multiple subject credential. When her credential program is over she looks forward to going for walks, gardening, hanging out with her family and trying to crochet with a cat (or 4) on her lap.

Support Team

​Academic Support

Resource Specialist
Dana Levy
Dana Levy is a bilingual educator (Spanish) with a Masters of Education in Childhood & Special Ed and over 16 years of experience as a teacher leader. Her curricular expertise is in inquiry-based student-centered learning that promotes academic rigor, and she has a passion for building capacity around culturally responsive education and equity for all students. In Dana’s classroom, she uses restorative justice practices to increase academic engagement and discourse among students. She has worked in Brooklyn, Carmichael, Sacramento, and now Petaluma.
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Dana shares, “Working at Live Oak is very special for me because I am also a part of the parent community. I am able to connect with the parents of my students in a different way because they know that as a part of the parent community I also hold our Waldorf values dear and am committed to the success of the Live Oak Universe. As a colleague I feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such wisdom and love. All of the faculty and staff at Live Oak hold such reverence for each other and it is by far the most connective staff I have been a part of in 16 years. The Live Oak parent community has become such an anchor in my family's life and I look forward to the many years of parenting we have together.”

Dana lives with her son Joaquin who is a second grader at Live Oak, and her partner Shanee, who is a farmer at Petaluma Bounty Farm.  Their family loves spending free time together tending to their giant vegetable garden, chasing their four chickens, Brownie, Sunny, Potato and Goldie, and playing with their pleasantly plump cat named Arnold.  Dana and her family have been enjoying getting to explore their new community by taking drives to nearby beaches and trying to find the biggest trees on the coast.


​Instructional Aides

ACT Team
Cass Murphy
I have been at Live Oak for the last 7 years, in several capacities. I have worked as part of our Academic Coaching Team (ACT) to provide small group English Language Arts (ELA) learning in grades 1-5. More recently, I have worked as a classroom Aide in grades 1-3. This will be my third year aiding in 1st grade! I am currently pursuing my teaching credential at SSU and looking forward to moving into yet another amazing role here at Live Oak in the future.

I have a 7th grade son who has attended Live Oak since kindergarten. His penultimate year here is bittersweet for me as he begins to prepare for the wider world of education outside the beautiful, nurturing nest of Live Oak.
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Our little 5 acre home here in Petaluma has beautiful gardens, free ranging sheep, chickens and lots of rambunctious pups, including our pug, Donut! In my off-time, I love to spend time outdoors, camping, backpacking, traveling internationally (we are bound for Turkey next summer) and rock climbing. I am an avid reader and consumer of literature, podcasts, live music and vegan eats!
ACT Team
Jen Stevens
Jen was born and raised in Humboldt County. Her father was an elementary school principal, and her mother also worked at the school. She moved to Sonoma County and graduated from Sonoma State after brief stints in Seattle, WA and Chico, CA. She has lived in Sonoma County with her husband Matt for over twenty years. They now live in Cotati with their six kids, thirteen chickens, two cats, and two and a half dogs. 

Jen has been a part of the Live Oak family since 2010. During her time here she has worn many hats, including Parent, Class Coordinator, Foundation Board Member, Newsletter Editor, and Teacher’s Aide. Three of Jen’s kids are Live Oak alumni and two still attend Live Oak.
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In her free time she enjoys reading, painting, puzzles, hiking and exploring. There is a rumor that she might be the original creator of Live Oak Rocks.

ACT Team
Emma Passalacqua

Emma has two children attending Live Oak and has been part of the Live Oak community since 2015. She has worked in education for over 20 years, first in behavioral health research at University of California, San Francisco, then in Waldorf early childhood settings, and most recently as an instructional aide at Live Oak.

Petaluma City School District Provides

Millicent Campbell, Speech Specialist
Ali Vuolo, Occupational Therapist
​Guinevere Sims, School Psychologist