The faculty at BCS provides the continuity, heart, and soul of the school's program. While the children are the center of the school, it is the teachers who influence the atmosphere, maintain the energy for ongoing projects, and function as liaison between the school, the home and the community.
A mixture of personalities, interests, abilities and strengths ensures a balanced, well-rounded staff who support each other in supporting your child's education.
Heidi Alford | School Director, Pre-K-Grade 2 |
| Heidi graduated from Western Washington State College in 1975, having studied home economics, early childhood and elementary education. She also spent 15 months in Teacher Corps and studied counseling and parent education at the University of Oregon. Before coming to the Bellingham Cooperative School in 1986, Heidi worked in Day Treatment at Catholic Community Services for 10 years, worked with the Lynden Home-Based Education program of Head Start, taught Parent Education at Bellingham Technical College for a dozen years, and taught 5th grade at Happy Valley Elementary School. She took over as Director and kindergarten/early elementary teacher at Belligham Cooperative School in 1994. |
| The school is a family affair. Heidi's daughter Alicia attended BCS through 6th grade, is currently in college, and works part time as an instructional assistant at the school. Heidi's husband Gerry Alford taught at the Co-op School in 1981. He recently retired after 37 years with the Bellingham School District and now works at BCS part time. The Alfords share a commitment toward life-long learning, demonstrated by reading and attending workshops and lectures whenever possible. Heidi enjoys arts and crafts, coffee with friends and travel. |
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Holly Woll-Salkeld | Preschool |
| Holly has a BA in biology/geology from Whitman College and an Early Childhood Education certificate from Whatcom Community College. She has been a school bus driver and has five children of her own. Four out of five of Holly's children have attended BCS at some time or other. She says they like it because of the small class size and individual attention, and because they are allowed to progress at their own rate in a learning style that suits them best. | |
| Holly's interests include coaching kids in soccer and acting as the Mount Baker Soccer Club registrar. She is a volunteer firefighter in Deming, and she also leads children's programs at the Deming Library. She enjoys gardening, working on her house, hiking and rafting.
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Ephemera Wilde | Intermediate Class (Grade 3-5) |
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Jesse Stanton | Middle School |
| Jesse grew up in Maine and attended Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, graduating with a BA in Russian and Eastern European Studies. After college, he spent a few years traveling around the country, working as an environmental educator, wilderness trip leader, and substitute teacher. In September of 2002 he entered the teacher apprenticeship program hosted by the Arbor School in Tualatin, OR, and spent the next two years working in a 2nd and 3rd grade class and studying education. After graduating from that program, he and his wife Lissa moved to Bellingham. | |
| Jesse first joined the Bellingham Cooperative School staff in September 2004 as director of the BCS after-school program. He became the BCS Middle School teacher in 2005. Jesse enjoys reading, hiking and playing the guitar in the local rock band Silence Dogood. | |
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Robin Pavesi | Spanish |
| Robin's first exposure to Spanish was in the fifth grade, when she and her class had six months of Spanish lessons. This early experience awakened her interest in Spanish language and culture, and has made her very aware of the value of early exposure to languages. She went on to study Spanish in high school, and when she was twenty she lived for a year with a Costa Rican family in a small town in the Costa Rican countryside. On returning to Bellingham, Robin continued her Spanish studies at Whatcom Community College. | |
| Robin first began teaching Spanish at Larrabee Elementary School, where she taught for five years. She began teaching at Bellingham Cooperative School in 2001. Robin now teaches Spanish to all the BCS classes from preschool through middle school. She particularly enjoys teaching the small classes at the Co-op School, and having the freedom to follow the kids' interests in organizing the curriculum. In addition to speaking and teaching Spanish, Robin also enjoys Spanish music and dance. | |
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Kathy Madsen | P.E. and Special Events Coordinator |
| Kathy has a BA in Elementary Education from Western Washington University, and has worked as a teacher in Whatcom and Skagit counties. She began working at BCS in 1997, when her children were attending, first as a substitute and then as a teacher. “I felt welcomed and comfortable at BCS as soon as I arrived,” she says. “I was attracted from the beginning to the hands-on learning approach and the way each child is considered as an individual; their learning starts from where they are. I like seeing kids getting what they need, rather than just being slotted into a curriculum.” | |
| Kathy's husband, Dennis Gudmundsen, is a commercial fisherman, and they have a second home in Haines, Alaska, where they spend every summer with their children, enjoying hiking, fishing, boating, seeing wildlife, and watching the northern lights. | |
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April Sorenson | Day Camp Program Director, Substitute |
| Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, April went to Moscow after graduating high school, where she obtained her BA in Elementary Education with a reading endorsement. She did her student teaching in the second and fifth grades at an elementary school in Boise for six months. After college graduation, she moved to Bellingham with her two dogs, Rage and Sheaf, and her partner, Jeff. She obtained her teaching certification in Washington and worked as a substitute in Bellingham and the surrounding areas. In February of 2003 April began volunteering at the Co-op school, and in the fall she was hired as the BCS Middle School Teacher. She taught at BCS until the fall of 2005, when her son Grayson was born. | |
| April now directs the BCS day camp program, coordinating weekly day camps for kids ages 3-12 during the summer and school holidays at BCS. She loves teaching at the BCS for a number of reasons, placing at the top of her list "the nurturing and supportive community created by both the students and teachers in embracing the diversity and unique qualities of each individual student. I am very proud to be a part of this process where students are encouraged to think creatively and are empowered to take responsibility for their own learning." In addition to working at BCS and caring for her young son, April is currently working towards an MA in reading and literacy through Walden University. | |
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Alicia Alford | Instructional Assistant |
| Alicia started attending BCS when she was nine months old, when her mother Heidi began working there. She was the “Co-op School baby” until she was old enough to enter the preschool, and she continued attending BCS throughout her elementary years. After graduating from high school, she travelled for a year in Switzerland, France and Italy; she then attended Whatcom Community College for a year and transferred to Evergreen College in 2005. | |
| At BCS, Alicia began working as a classroom volunteer at the age of 12, later becoming an instructional assistant. She has also directed the American Girls summer camp for several years. Her passions are music, art and children, and she also loves snowboarding, mountain biking and kayaking.
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Sarah Benjamin | After School Program Director |
| Sarah has been working with kids for over 20 years, as a daycare worker, a nanny, and homeschooling her son Jasper. Her son attended BCS for three years for homeschool support, and during that time Sarah worked in the after-school program for two years. She was delighted to return as after-school program director in 2007. “I like the flexibility at BCS,” she says. “It allows us to respond to the children's individual needs–physical, emotional, and educational–in a humane way. I also appreciate how friendly the children are to each other, and I enjoy watching their friendships grow, ones that often last. My son's best friend is one that he made at BCS.” She also appreciates the interaction between children of different ages at BCS, and how those interactions are encouraged by the school. | |
| In her spare time, Sarah enjoys making music, dancing, spending time with her 17-year old son, and occasional attempts at juggling. | |
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Emily Humphrey | Before and After School Program | |
| Emily is a senior at Fairhaven College studying alternative education and art. She grew up in the Seattle area, where she cared for children as a babysitter for many years; here in Bellingham she is currently the youth director at her local church. After spending time at BCS doing an observation for one of her courses at Western, Emily was thrilled when she heard about the possibility of working here, as her dream is to found an alternative school herself one day. She loves the community atmosphere and close-knit feeling at BCS. "There are so many opportunities for kids to learn," she says, "especially in the garden and with the goats. It's such a natural, fun place for them to play. I love seeing kids making up their own games and using their imaginations. And I like seeing the different ages together in such a small group--they learn so much from each other." | |
| When not working or going to school, Emily enjoys playing board games, doing creative art projects, and playing with her dog Eddie, a schnoodle (schnauzer-poodle mix). | |
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Crystalyn Agrelius | After School Program | |
| Crystalyn grew up in Seattle and Texas, then returned to the Pacific Northwest to enter the Elementary Education program at Woodring College in Bellingham. Since she was in kindergarten, Crystalyn has known she wanted to be a teacher, and she feels fortunate to have such a clear direction in her life. She plans to teach 2nd or 3rd grade after graduating from college. Crystalyn joined the BCS after school program in 2006. | |
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