Meet Our New Faculty and Staff

Our 2016-2017 academic year brings many new faculty and staff members our way. They come from Charlottesville, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and more. They bring an impressive amount of experience and many degrees. Best of all, they are all happy to be here and we are delighted to add them to our learning community.

  • Ed Hollinger, our new Head of School for 2016-2017, has had a distinguished career in transitional leadership and Friends school leadership, having served as the Interim Head at four different schools, including Virginia Beach Friends School, and as founding director of the Upper School at the New Garden Friends School. His other independent school leadership roles include Assistant Head, College Counselor, Guidance Counselor, and Athletic Director. Ed earned a Master’s Degree in Learning and Organization Change and a certification in Coaching and Organizational Leadership from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Temple University. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences from Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois and teaching certification from Franklin and Marshall College.
  • Peter Leone, our new Director of Finance and Operations, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has been a non-profit Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for many years. He was the Director of Finance and Administration for the Virginia Institute of Autism, the CFO and Chief Operations Officer for ReadyKids, and the Director of Foundation and Financial Services for the UVA Alumni Association.

  • Peter Gaines, our new Upper School Director, holds a BA in English from Colby College and an MFA in Creative Writing/Poetry from Warren Wilson College. For the past six years, Peter worked at University Liggett School as Upper School Director, and before that, as Dean of Students and in their college counseling office. Having spent ten years at Abington Friends School, Peter is also steeped in Friends education.

  • Andrea Craig, our new Accounting/HR Manager, has a long career in accounting for both non-profits and for-profit organizations. She was the Business Operations Coordinator for the Wakefield School, a JK-12th grade independent school, and has been both a Divisional Controller and an Accounting Manager in her career.

  • Jill Magistro, our new Accounting Associate, worked most recently at the Albemarle County Public School District. She served as the Borough Clerk and the Elected Tax Collector of a small borough in Johnstown, PA for ten years and Secretary to the School District for eight years.  

  • Matt Caduff, our new 5th grade math/science teacher, is a fourteen-year teaching veteran. He taught several grades at Stony Point Elementary School in Charlottesville and also served as an instructional coach for new and veteran teachers in the Albemarle County School District. Matt received his MEd at UVA and has participated extensively in innovative professional development.

  • Alex Siragy, our new physics and technology teacher, has a Bachelor’s degree from UVA and a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins. Alex was a teacher at The Calverton School in Maryland, where he taught an integrated science course to 9th graders, International Baccalaureate Physics to 10th and 11th graders, and AP Physics to seniors.

  • Harriet Livesay, our new Upper School Latin teacher, completed the PhD program in Classics at UVA, and for the last four years she has been building a Latin program at Middleburg Academy in Middleburg, VA. The students, faculty, and administrators who met Harriet valued her intellect, her wit, her clear focus on teaching methods, and her obvious enthusiasm for sharing Latin and Classics with adolescents. 

  • Amanda Evans, our new Upper School Spanish teacher, has a BA in Spanish from Sweet Briar College. She comes to us from Mountaintop Montessori where she has been teaching all levels of Spanish. She taught high school Spanish at Rockbridge County Schools, instructed at Speak!, taught English and Spanish in Japan, and worked as a bilingual research assessor at University of Virginia. 

  • Perry Medlin, our new Upper School drama teacher, received his BFA in Musical Theatre from Elon University in 2006. He has taught acting and musical theatre dance styles for the Orange School of Performing Arts in Orange Virginia, Live Arts Summer Theatre Camps and has worked with Larry Goldstein and Lydia Horan with the Tandem Friends Theatre Department. 

  • Avis Fields, our new Middle School PE teacher and Assistant Athletic Director, has a BS in Human Performance from Winston-Salem State University and an MA in Mental Health Counseling from Capella University. She has worked as a substance abuse counselor, directed a Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, and has served as a social worker, teacher, college-level coach, and tutor.

  • Bridget Hass, our new AP Biology teacher, has a BA in Biology from Mount Holyoke College and an EdM from Harvard University in Teaching and Curriculum. At The Paideia School in Atlanta, she taught all levels of Biology (she has taught AP Biology for fifteen years). She taught Middle School science at Charlottesville Catholic School, and worked as a tutor/substitute science teacher at STAB.

  • Larry Goldstein will no longer be teaching Upper School Drama, but will turn his energies to being our Development Director. Larry taught Drama for nineteen years here, directing over 60 productions and shaping many young people into lifelong performers. We’re grateful for his dedication to Drama and the great program he helped build and we look forward to his focus on fundraising efforts.

  • Al Sadtler has settled into being our new Athletic Director with nary a hitch. While his new AD duties will take up much of his time, students will be happy to know that he will still teach two sections of Middle School PE.
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Tandem Friends School is a co-ed Quaker day school for grades 5-12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
 
Copyright 2016 Tandem Friends School