Katherine Murphy was born and raised in Oxford, Mississippi. During college, Katherine was a classroom assistant at a small, independent school where she began teaching full-time after graduating from The University of Mississippi in 1996. After teaching a few years, she decided to relocate to Asheville. After spending two years working on her graduate degree at Western Carolina University, Katherine found The Learning Community School through an ad in a local newspaper. She fell in love with the school and began as the 3/4 classroom teacher in the fall of 2000. She became the Lead Teacher in the spring of 2001 and the Director in the summer of 2005.

Ms. Katherine’s classroom is a multi-sensory, hands-on educational experience for all students. Math is taught through the use of manipulatives, games, and movement lessons. Katherine helps her students to create a rich, inquiry-based classroom, allowing each student to become fully engaged and enthusiastic about learning.

At home, Katherine enjoys spending time with her family, both in Asheville and in Mississippi.

Holly Baumgartner was born and raised in the farmlands of northeastern Indiana. She spent much time on her grandparents' seventh generation family farm where she developed a deep love for the environment and the outdoors. She left home to attend Indiana University and then headed out to see the country and the Grateful Dead. She returned to her family farmland in 1993 with husband, Shawn, and daughter, Sequoia Rose. While back in Indiana, she apprenticed concurrently with three different midwifery practices. Deciding to put midwifery on hold until her family was older, she and her family moved to Earthaven Ecovillage in 1998 where their son, Eli, was born. There they built an off-grid, passive solar home with sustainably harvested wood (cut and milled by Shawn), rainwater collection for all water needs, and a composting toilet. They moved to the campus of Warren Wilson College, where Shawn is the Forest Manager, in June of 2008, and have enjoyed participating in the many on-campus activities.

Holly's family became a part of the TLC community when her daughter entered 1st grade in the fall of 1999. Both her children have now graduated from TLC. Holly became an employee of the school in the fall of 2004, and has been keeping the TLC office running smoothly ever since. She communicates with families each and every day to ensure that everyone has what they need, when they need it!

In her spare time, Holly enjoys contra dancing, Appalachian music and dance, working in her family's garden, making fermented foods, learning to play claw hammer-style banjo, and supporting local farmers and businesses.

Born and raised with her feet in the sand of the southeast barrier islands, our K/1 teacher, Ms. Mitzi, was tempted to remain a beach bum for life. Realizing her love for working with and teaching young children, she pursued a college education with a degree in earlychildhood education as her goal. While attending Berry College and having many opportunities to teach and interact in a nearby kindergarten classrooms, Mitzi began to envision and dream of teaching the youngest of children in a non-traditional setting. She understood that children are individuals who develop at their own pace and deserve the opportunity to do just that without a lot of pressure. It appeared to Mitzi that a love for learning and a natural curiosity were two key ingredients that seemed to quickly be lost as many children settled into school routines.

After having four children of her own and moving up and down the eastern seaboard, the Prendergast family finally found a comfortable spot right here in Black Mountain, NC. Shortly after this last move, the search began for the perfect school environment for her youngest child. This brought her to The Learning Community School. Mitzi quickly became part of the community and shortly thereafter, started teaching in the K/1 classroom. The years have passed quickly, the kids are in college, out of college, married, having kids, etc. Over the years she has participated in many professional development classes and workshops that have encompassed Writer’s and Reader’s Workshop, specific phonics and reading programs, science workshops, and as of this summer she completed her associates training in the multi-sensory based Orton-Gillingham language education program. Mitzi is excited to have so many new (and fun) strategies for teaching the youngest children to read. (The best job in the world!)

Mitzi feels very fortunate to have found the school she had only imagined for herself, and the wonderful community which helps to
balance out her life. She brings some acquired wisdom, plenty of common sense along with her own degree of nonsense, and lots of love for all of the children in her life.

Cody Hughey has worked with children for most of her life. As an only child, she was thrilled when her only cousin was born and she spent much time rocking him on the hammock in the backyard. By eleven, she was babysitting for all ages of children, and by twelve, she was also caring for a set of infant twins. As an elementary school student, she earned parts in a few plays in the larger community as well as earning a starring role in the seventh grade play, I Will, a musical production about the life and work of William Shakespeare. She continued to love theater, but was not able to pursue further auditions or performing arts school due to family circumstances. As an undergraduate student, she considered pursuing a degree in theater, but ultimately completed a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Georgia in Radio, TV and Film Production and Photojournalism. She also completed nine years of study of the French language, two home stays, and one college level immersion while studying at the University Laval in Quebec for several weeks. After her undergraduate degree, she took on many different jobs, but leading a parent child play program allowed her to really discover herself as a teacher and leader. She began to put a plan into action to move to Colorado to pursue a Master's Degree in education and an elementary teaching certification.

After graduating in 2002 from CU Boulder with her Master's in Elementary Education, a 4.0 GPA and the title of Outstanding Student of her education program, she and her husband returned to the Asheville area for the first time since 1994. Her first year in the classroom, she led a 3rd grade class at Bell Elementary in Oteen and then moved to Evergreen Community Charter School leading the 5th grade until after the birth of her daughter Vivianna in 2007. During that time, she also achieved National Board Certification, and several yoga teacher training certifications and has been teaching yoga to adults and children of all ages since 2002. In addition, she has participated in several trainings and workshops on place-based environmental education, science, math and differentiation of instruction, including tiered lesson planning. Following the birth of her daughter, she left Evergreen to focus on mothering. She continued to teach parent/child classes, including mom/baby yoga, parenting and domestic arts, Music Together, puppetry and storytelling, and children's yoga. She has also continued to assist facilitating a local children's yoga teacher training program for several years, and enjoys teaching all content with a focus on mindfulness, caring, humor and love within the classroom community. Because our life's work is never *done,* Cody looks at life with a fresh perspective all the time and is forever a student, with children always being her greatest teachers.

Julie was born in D.C. to a couple of former teachers from Buffalo, NY. She spent her early years playing with her brothers in the woods and creeks of Western Massachusetts. Her family relocated to the suburbs of Charlotte for the rest of her school years. At UNC Chapel Hill, Julie started out studying education and history but caught the academia bug and ended up graduating in 1993 with honors in English and Religious Studies. She met her husband Brian her freshman year. She began teaching in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools after graduating. After trying out law school and taking classes in preparation to be a pediatric nurse practitioner, Julie realized she just wasn’t happy unless she was working with children in a learning environment. She began teaching again at a private school in Chapel Hill and taking education and child development classes. After marrying Brian in 1997, the pair was off to experience city life in New Haven, CT for Brian’s graduate training. While there, Julie taught at a small, progressive independent school in neighboring Branford and yearned for a return to the lush green surroundings and friendliness of the south.The growing family got their wish in September of 1999, when they settled in Asheville and their first daughter Mira was born a month later. Red-headed Ella came onto the scene three years later. Julie relished her years staying home with her girls but stayed plugged in by teaching Sunday school, homeschool co-op classes, and later volunteering and subbing in her daughters’ schools.

In 2007, she went in search of a school for her eldest that was more aligned with her own knowledge and beliefs about education. She found it at TLC! Mira started third grade at TLC that fall, while her little one continued in preschool at Asheville Montessori School, where Julie was teaching. That spring, Julie was hired to take over the 2/3 classroom at TLC the following August. She has spent time training in Orton-Gillingham multisensory language education and she has been able to make great use of her skills in the classroom and working on-on-one with students. At TLC, she adores her class and loves sharing her love of history and literature with them. In her limited free time, she loves spending time with her family and friends, cooking, playing board games, spoiling her pets, reading, enjoying music and Tarheel Basketball.

Jesse grew up just down the mountain in the little town of Tryon. Her summers at camp and weekends hiking with her family began her love of the outdoors. In high school, she sought new challenges and attended the NC School of Science and Math in Durham. She went on to UNC Chapel Hill to major in English and Women’s Studies knowing that she wanted to teach English.

She left academia to work for an outdoor adventure company in the DC area. Then she returned to Chapel Hill and finished her degree while working for the university’s outdoor education and leadership programs. She also spent a summer studying Shakespeare at Oxford and traveling around Europe. After graduating, she lead adventure trips out west and explored New Zealand for a few months before landing a job at the Orme School in Arizona. During her two years there, she ran the outdoor program and taught English for the first time.

In 2007, Jesse moved to Asheville to be closer to family, friends, and the Appalachians. She began the MAT program at Western Carolina that summer. But one month before leaving AZ, she had met Trevor. So instead of getting a teaching job in the fall, she turned back west and traveled around the country with him. Their trip ended in Asheville and Trevor loved it. He moved here too and they got married.

Jesse started teaching at TLC in 2010 and is excited to be teaching at a school that matches her educational philosophy. In the past, she taught Language Arts at a traditional, public middle school. She loved her students and teaching, but craved a nontraditional learning environment that meets kids’ individual needs. Plus, she is thrilled to teach outdoor education again!

Outside of TLC, Jesse finished her MAT; loves dancing, cooking, and gardening. She and Trevor bought a little log cabin in the woods and are doing a sustainable remodel. They have four pygmy goats. Her goals are to be outside, travel, and spend time with people she loves.

Tom Tracy has been hanging around TLC for over ten years. Born and raised in Alabama, this has nothing to do with his education except it makes for great stories about his summers living with his Aunt Snookie in the big ‘ol white house on Forest Hill Road. He pulls these stories out all the time in Writer’s Workshop. He never tires of telling them.

Tom received his Bachelor’s of Elementary Education at the University of Georgia where he focused on Children's Literature. He taught three years of elementary school in the south before moving with his wife, Libba, to Arizona. There he took an assistantship at Arizona State University to study in both the Elementary Education Department as well as in the Children's Theatre Department. He received his Master’s in Early Childhood Education. Once out of school in Arizona , Tom pursued music as a career but ultimately returned to the classroom. (He is now a member of the Dead Poets, which you can check out online at www.thedeadpoets.com.) He taught for six years in an inner city, award-winning school where he first discovered the great minds who were working and developing what we all know now as Writer’s and Reader’s Workshops.

Tom and his wife Libba brought their son, Guy, to TLC in his third grade year, just before the turn of the millennium. Savannah followed soon after. Tom helped bring the Writer’s and Reader’s programs to TLC through staff training and mentoring. Somewhere in this process, he got roped into (whoops), got the opportunity to direct his first musical, The Music Man, and from there continues to direct many more amazing shows.

Tom loves to create an environment where young people can express and explore themselves through their own writing and by delving deep into literature. He works hard to create a safe and rigorous community of writers and calls on each writer to write what has meaning to them.

To Tom, family is his main passion. He is married to his most excellent partner and he enjoys watching his own children blossom.

Forrest grew up in rural Southeastern Kentucky, reading lots of books and exploring the nearby railyards, the landscaped gardens his father designed, and the local National Forests. With these influences, he moved to Asheville to earn his undergraduate degrees in English and Outdoor Education. Soon after this, he completed his MA in English Literature from Boston College. In Boston, he was a Teaching Fellow at the university for freshman writing courses. He was fortunate to be able to design these courses, where he taught that writing is a process and emphasized the students’ relationships to the places in which they live. In 2008, he moved back to the Asheville area because, of all the places he had lived until then, it felt most like home. After answering an ad the newspaper, he began working at TLC School, but had to leave two years later because of an unforeseen family illness. He was excited to return in the fall of 2011, working in the Writers’ and Readers’ Workshops alongside Mr. Tom and Ms. Jesse. When not at school, he fosters several interests that include: a specific type of rock-climbing called bouldering, French turn-of-the-century paintings, contemporary poetry, and sanding the interestingly shaped sticks he finds in the woods.

David was born along with his twin brother in Charlotte, but was raised most of his life in Waynesville, NC. He attended Appalachian State University where he studied Spanish Education. While at A.S.U. he worked as a University Tutor (Spanish) and found his calling by collaborating with professors and tailoring instruction to the individual needs of his students. He studied art, conversational Spanish, and current events in Madrid, Spain. His last semester was spent student teaching Spanish at Erwin High and Middle Schools.

After graduating in 2002 David took at a job at a large 4A high school north of Charlotte where he taught Spanish for six years and coached boys soccer and golf. He also taught part-time at a non-profit center for Hispanic children wanting to better their academic progress and English skills. While in Concord, NC he remodeled a couple of houses, married his wife Lana, and traveled through central-western Mexico. After the birth of their daughter Ava, David and Lana moved back to Asheville to be closer to family and friends. He took a job at Hendersonville High School and remodeled another house in East Asheville on a couple of acres where he and his family of four now live with their two dogs and three chickens. During four years at HHS he taught multiple levels of Spanish, sponsored the Spanish Club, created and sponsored a racquetball club, and received National Board Certification. His passion with Spanish starts with the culture inherent in language and seeks to create an environment rich with authentic resources and experiences.

Teaching ten years in traditional public schools left David looking for something better, innovative, and more creative where a student’s individuality is important and vital to learning. That’s what interested him in TLC. Outside of teaching David enjoys spending time with his family, reading, playing soccer and racquetball, hiking, fly-fishing, and being outdoors whenever possible.

Carol was born in Louisville, KY and lived there happily amidst a large extended family. Her father’s job necessitated a family move to Northeastern NJ as she was entering sixth grade, so she completed all of her schooling in the New York City metropolitan area, where she earned an Associate in Applied Science in Chemical Technology from Bergen Community College, a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Ramapo College of NJ, a Master of Business Administration in Corporate Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a Master of Science in Teaching, Secondary Level Mathematics from Iona College.

During this time she also got married and began a family. She has two beautiful daughters, Sarah and Jessica, with her husband Lenny. She worked for almost 15 years at the corporate headquarters for Volvo in various capacities before pursuing a career in education. As the pace of life picked up and work began to overtake quality family time, her family decided to search for a new area to relocate. After much research and many trips, they all decided upon the Asheville area, so they moved here in 2005. Carol’s family, her sister’s family, and her mother all moved to separate households in Leicester and began a new, slower-paced quality life.

Today she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, reading, playing games, playing classical piano, doing endless crafting and sewing projects with her kids and their friends.

Carol is delighted to have found TLC. She loves showing students that math and science can be fun by using various techniques while always setting the goals as high as possible. There's always lots of laughter and learning in the classroom when Carol is in charge!

Clare Duplace was born and raised all over Cincinnati, Ohio. From the very start, she has held a love for learning, nature, books, poetry, art, and music. She attended Montessori schools from elementary through high school, attending the first Montessori public high school in the country. There she was a part of the school’s steel drum band; she has played other instruments including the flute, guitar, and fiddle. Her travels during and outside of school have taken her many places, including Europe, Vermont, Bahamas, Mexico, and the majority of the states. She loves to go to new places and meet new people. She enjoys writing and typing on her typewriter, making giant meals for people, listening to records, reading, swimming, being in the woods, beekeeping, making forts, and on and on.

After graduating from Warren Wilson with a B.A. and Liscensure in Elementary Education, she went on a three month romp through Europe, and then followed an old love for the land and moved to Vermont. While living there, she taught at a Waldorf School, was a children's librarian, and created yet another close-knit community for herself.

After a couple years there, she missed the Blue Ridge mountains so much that she decided to head back to this area. She attended an herbalist school while holding three jobs. After her school experience was complete, she realized that she was missing one of the essential aspects in her life: children. Thanks to a tip from a friend, she found out about an opening at The Learning Community School and she quickly came in for an interview. The minute she walked in the front door, she knew that this was a place she wanted to be. Since that moment, it has been nothing short of incredible and the most natural next step in her journey. Her dream is to have an Earth-based community school, be a healer, have babies, and live out her days on a farm by the sea.

Theresa Cote has been a member of the TLC community since 2000 when her son, Max, entered Kindergarten. She volunteered with and then headed up the art program for many years before becoming a school employee. She also started TLC’s after-school art club. She has begun integrating art with the rest of the curriculum, which has been a major success. She continues to look for ways to add more art opportunities into TLC’s daily routine. Additionally, Ms. Theresa has designed, produced, and coordinated the costumes for all the musicals. You can check out some of her amazing handiwork on the “school musical” link.

In her spare time, Theresa enjoys working own art projects, with a current focus on surface design. She lives in Swannanoa with her kitten, Marlow, her chinchilla, Bun Bun, and her son, Max.

Whitney was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She grew up loving the outdoors which took her to Colorado for college. It was in Colorado where she discovered her passion to work with children. She received her Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology from Colorado State University in 2001. While attending Colorado State, Whitney volunteered at a local elementary school working one on one with a student in an inclusive setting. This experience sparked her desire for a career in education. Though she loved Colorado dearly, she missed her family back south. Her goal was to find a place still in the mountains but closer to family. And that's how she landed in Asheville. Shortly after moving to Asheville, Whitney started school again at Western Carolina University. In 2004 she received her Masters of Arts in Teaching with a Special Education concentration. While in graduate school, Whitney gained experience working in a variety of educational settings including a public elementary school and a school for at risk youth. Just one month after finishing classes at WCU, her son Jackson was born. Family was number one and she decided to put her career on hold to stay home and raise her children.

Whitney has been a part of the TLC community since 2009 as a parent, volunteer K/1 assistant, and board member. In 2011, Whitney joined the TLC staff and is thrilled to help fulfill the mission of this amazing school!

Whitney lives in Asheville with her husband Doug and two sons, Jackson and Owen. She loves spending time with her family. Together they enjoy music, hiking, camping, and skiing.

Colleen grew up in southeast Michigan. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University in Electrical Engineering, with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering. She has worked as a software consultant and verification engineer in the banking, state government, non-profit, and telecommunications sectors. Colleen and her husband lived and worked in Stockholm, Sweden for two years before their first child was born.

Becoming a stay-at-home parent and later a school volunteer sparked Colleen's love of working with children. She has been a classroom reading assistant since 2006, and has been a substitute teacher since 2007. Colleen was the PTA president for two years at the Montessori school her children attended near Raleigh, where her family lived before relocating to Asheville in 2009. When moving to Asheville, one of her family's top priorities was a quality school, and TLC was a serendipitous discovery. She became a certified child meditation facilitator in 2010. At TLC Colleen has served as the musical co-producer since 2010, has served on the Board since 2011, and has been a substitute teacher for all grades. She is currently taking lateral entry teacher training courses, and is thrilled to be a part of this dedicated, loving, professional group of teachers and staff who make TLC such an amazing school. Outside school, she loves to run, Nia dance, travel, and paint.

Aline Carillon began singing before she could speak. As a child she could be found in the mountains of New York State dancing and singing to anyone and anything that would listen! As a student, she studied flute and voice from a very young age. Participation in school, church choirs and bands were formative components of Aline’s youth.

Realizing that music would be a life-long passion, Ms. Carillon earned a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College and taught elementary school music in upstate New York for several years. A yearning for warmer weather and new horizons led Aline south, where she and her family eventually landed in western North Carolina. Her son Jeffrey brought her to TLC. While operating a Bed and Breakfast in the Black Mountain area, Aline began teaching music as a parent volunteer; then spent the next ten years building the program TLC has today from the ground up. She utilizes singing, rhythm chants and games, movement, rhythmic and melodic instruments, composition, performance and musical theater in her music instruction. As a choral director, Ms. Carillon utilizes the vast array of choral literature written for young singers. She often arranges larger choral works to accommodate the vocal ranges and capabilities of her various choral groups.

When not at TLC, Ms Carillon pursues her passion for music education as the director of the Black Mountain Youth Chorale, which she founded in the fall of 2007. In addition, she remains active in the professional and community music world in our area. Aline is a dedicated member of the Asheville Choral Society and the All Souls Cathedral Choir.