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.
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.
Handwork Aide
Teuta Cherney
I was born and raised in Albania in a wonderful big family with my parents, my sister, my brother, my grandparents, uncles, aunts and a lot of cousins. 

My education is in Linguistics from two different Universities in Albania and in Italy. I have been a teacher for almost 11 years and a full time mom for almost 8. My family and I have been living in Petaluma since 2016 and became part of the Live Oak community in 2018.

​Handwork, gardening, cooking and baking are some of my hobbies. Growing up in a family where knitting, embroidering and sewing was the everyday life, I had the chance to learn a lot. My aunt taught me how to embroider when I was five, and after that I never stopped learning.

Support Team

​Instructional Aides

First Grade Aide
Lyn Nielson
Lyn was born in the Philippines, where spent most of her early life in the city of Zamboanga. Later she studied Information Technology in Computer Programming at the Universidad de Zamboanga. She has lived and worked in Kuwait and Thailand before moving to the United States in 2012 where she now lives in Petaluma. Settling in Petaluma, she continued her studies in ESL at Petaluma Adult School and at Santa Rosa Junior College.

She worked as a Reading Intervention Assistant at McDowell Elementary in addition to working with the Extended Day Program and as a playground supervisor.

In 2022 she joined the  Live Oak Team and is thoroughly enjoying the environment and her amazing colleagues, as well as working with all the wonderful kids.

In her spare time she loves to travel, sing Karaoke, listen to music, as well as doing crafts and spending time with friends and watching movies.
Second Grade Aide
Eleonora Maugere
Eleonora earned her Waldorf teaching certificate, completing a three-year program with Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training. She found Waldorf Education eighteen years ago when her firstborn child was an infant. She has attended a part-time training program for Curative Education at Mulberry Classroom. She was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a traditional Italian family. In her home country she earned a degree in business and finance.

Eleonora and her family were a part of the Marin Waldorf School community for ten years where she also worked as a substitute teacher, assistant teacher, specialty teacher and long term class teacher while her three children attended the school. Her son graduated from Marin Waldorf School in 2021 and he is now a senior at the San Francisco Waldorf High School, as well as two daughters in 8th grade at San Francisco Waldorf and 6th grade at Summerfield Waldorf. As a student of Anthroposophy, and a member of the Anthroposophical Society of America, she is committed to help develop a conscious awareness of one’s humanity through the wisdom of the Waldorf Curriculum. She enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, and the outdoors, especially the ocean.
Third Grade Aide
Amy Ross
I have been married to my super-supportive husband, Brian, for 24 years. I have two boys, Jack (20) and Xander (17), who both attended Live Oak TK-8. We have a cat (Mochi), a parakeet (Buster), and many fish.

I started volunteering in the classroom, at Live Oak, when Jack was in kindergarten. When Xander started kindergarten, I was hired as a classroom assistant and worked in that role for four years before becoming a classroom teacher. I spent the last nine years as a classroom teacher at Live Oak Charter School and will be stepping into a support role this year as the classroom aide.
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In my off-time, I most enjoy spending time with my family. When we're together we enjoy trying new restaurants, camping/backpacking, and playing games. In my free time, I love to read, garden, learn new skills, hone my teaching craft, listen to audiobooks and podcasts, walk/hike, and watch Netflix.
Fourth / Fifth Grade Aide
Karla Bravo
Karla has a Spanish bilingual and bicultural background from Mexico City with a degree from Santa Clara University in Spanish and International Studies. She has lived in Sonoma County for almost ten years, working as a professional photographer and sound healer, bringing sound healing to the underprivileged minorities currently in juvenile detention centers. Karla is a mother to two at Live Oak and has been a part of the community for seven years. She and her husband are raising a blended family in Petaluma. ​

​Academic Support

Resource Teacher
Jennifer Frey​
Jennifer Frey was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a career in architecture and while raising her three sons, Ms. Frey earned her Masters in Learning and Instruction in Special Education along with a Level II credential to work with Autism, brain injury and physical disabilities.

Her motivation for working with special needs students is based on her own personal family experiences and commitment to early intervention, acknowledging every person’s uniqueness in how they communicate and learn. She believes in the benefits of providing early and adequate support to students with disabilities that highlights strengths, accommodates for challenges, and helps them find their passion and potential as students and be active participants in their communities.

​Ms. Frey currently lives in Petaluma and loves hiking, camping, quilting, and painting in her free time.
Resource Aide
Karina King
Karina joined Live Oak as an aide in 2022 and has greatly enjoyed supporting students in various classrooms. Karina is now transitioning to RSP Aide while pursuing a Special Education teaching credential and Master’s degree.
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In her free time, Karina spends time with her family, which includes her mother Dori, who can be found in the Live Oak office and her brother who attends Live Oak! She enjoys cooking, camping, reading, and exploring fiber arts, a passion she developed at Live Oak as Karina attended Live Oak from kindergarten to 8th grade herself.

Petaluma City School District Provides

Speech Specialist
Occupational Therapist
Scott Opdyke, School Psychologist