Our People
Dedicated facilitators who put children first.
Staff
Rachael Allen. (she/her), Facilitator
Rachael found VFS through kismet in 2008 and still can’t get enough of exploring the levels of evolution within the community. She is mom to a sweet son who has been at VFS since he came to be. She values sharing and witnessing deschooling journeys, which fuels her passion for collective liberation and healing. Rachael is dedicated to self-directed education and other dreams of transformative justice - to which she offers her intuition, creativity, and critical thinking skills. She is grateful to spend her days goofing around and getting messy with so many incredible, inspiring people.
Lovey Davis. (they/them), Facilitator
This bio feels like it is a little bit about telling you about myself and mostly qualifying my hire here.
Decolonized Qualifications
- Learned from my grandma who ran her own daycare and was a caretaker
- Shadowed my aunt when I was younger when she was a nanny for different kids. She specialized in caretaking for kids with autism.
- I learned a lot from my parents who taught and subbed at schools from elementary schools to universities.
- I started babysitting when I was 10.
- I was a camp counselor starting at 11 for basketball and then in high school i volunteered as a camp counselor with kids whose parents were at House of Ruth, were homeless, and in rehabilitation for drugs. As a volunteer there I had my first trainings in child care and trauma informed care
- I have had to learn to code switch with white people out of survival and this is something I am working to unlearn because it further encourages and perpetuates white supremacy. So if you think I speak to you well that’s why, it’s for survival and what makes me qualified in communication.
- I was raised in a multigenerational home where I helped raise over 4 children in my family and family friends
- I tutored in Writing, English, and Chemistry in high school.
- I have a Business degree with a focus in Entrepreneurship, not to be pro capitalist but because I wanted to be anti capitalist and learn about an oppressive societal system.
- I learned more about being grounded and being a calming presence to hold space through massage school.
- I received more training in trauma informed care through the lense of massage therapy which I have been able to transfer in this work.
- I have a deep understanding from the different perspectives of my intersections of being a black multiracial/multicultural, disabled, queer, and at times perceived as a woman (even though I am non-binary BUT am AFAB) person
About me: I’m excited about bringing different mediums of art to this school. I’m a dancer of different styles, I paint, I write short stories, essays and poetry, and DJ. I am excited to keep learning and doing training to increase my ability to show up here. Always growing.
Princess Margaret. (she/they), Facilitator
Hiii!!! I’m Princess! I grew up in Ohio loving learning and hating school. By the time I was finishing High School I was really struggling, so I moved into my van seeking a change and drove until I hit the Pacific.
I bounced around California for a while finding queer community, and myself. I did a stint as a ballroom dance teacher, and joyfully threw myself into learning everything I could about partner dancing. I couldn’t cut it in the high-stress high-pressure sales environment of the ballroom dance community, so I took a bunch of odd jobs, including teaching kids to swim, and I discovered how much I loved working with young folks.
Eventually I found my way up the coast to Portland, and nearly ten years ago, I welcomed the sweetest baby into the world. Becoming a mother transformed me. Suddenly all the struggles I went through as a child were urgent again. I felt called to deconstruct the patterns and structures that harmed me when I was a child, and an intense desire to find new, better ways to support my own child, and all the sweet, perfect children in this world.
Before finding my way to the Village Free School, I got an associate’s degree in early childhood education and taught preschoolers. I am hype to be part of this community supporting each other and our children in the midst of the unique ways this society marginalizes young people. I have a special love for math, space, and natural history and I am so excited to share that love with these incredible kiddos—if/when they want that!
Noppawan Lerttharakul. (she/her), Facilitator
Noppawan came all the way from Thailand to join VFS in 2015. Back then, she had a short-term plan to witness democratic education in action. But she fell in love. Each day at VFS, Noppawan brings her passion for learning, a sense of wonder, and the magic of creativity to share. She holds a Master’s degree in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University. Her culminating project focused on the intersection of care, democracy, and sustainable learning. Along with VFS students, she is humbled by the daily opportunity to experience education as, in bell hooks’s words, a practice of freedom. For her, a democratic free school is a place where students take charge of their own education, life gets real and messy, and care for one another sustains us.
Justine McConville. (she/her), Admin/Literacy Coach
Justine grew up in Florida on the edge of a mangrove estuary. She moved to New York City in 2012 to get her MA TESOL and teach in the NYC public school system after living abroad for a year in Madrid. Her time as a public school educator was transformational and inspired her to look more deeply into educational alternatives to see if something outside of the coercive conventional education paradigm existed. After reading a lot of radical education books on the subway to work each morning, she made her way to Portland in 2016 in search of a school community that practices self-directed and democratic education. She is so inspired by the people who make VFS a place where young people are trusted, their individuality valued, and empathy for one another nurtured. She relishes in the simple and abundant joys of a day at VFS and cherishes getting to bear witness to the personal growth journeys of the people in this community. She is currently working remotely in an administrative role while living abroad in Ireland.
Kathy Crisp. (she/her), Facilitator
Kathy is a New Hampshire native and initially came to Portland as an Americorps member working in Clark County, WA, on wetland restoration. She joined the Village Free School in 2010 and brings a love of people, a passion for life as revealed through nature, and a commitment to liberation. She is grateful to spend her days in an environment that trusts children implicitly, and delights in witnessing humans embrace their own agency. Kathy loves gardening, reading, camping, hiking, making art, and being with people. She believes in the intrinsic value of each person and in the power of community.
Leadership Team
Our Leadership Team consists of the staff, our Board of Directors (the Council), and our Ombudspeople. The Council meets monthly to make operational decisions and ensure the healthy functionality of the school. The Ombudspeople liaise between families and/or the school in times of conflict as emotional support or mediators.
Cali Hayes
Council Chair
Amy Conway
Councilperson
Danny Burrow
Councilperson
Strawberry Nevill
Councilperson
Alex Wells-Dunn
Councilperson
Malka Geffen
Councilperson
Martina Thornhill
Councilperson
Ariel Vanfossen
Councilperson
Liz Liptan
Ombudsperson