BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND FOUNDING TEAM
BETH RUDIGER
Board Chair
Beth has taught in both public and private schools, as well as homeschooled her two sons. She received her B.A. in sociology/anthropology from Carleton College and her M.A. in education from Claremont Graduate School. Before retiring from the Middletown Area Merchants Association in 2021, Beth served as its president for five years and a director for three more. She is a director of the Middletown Luncheon Club. She owned Lake County Jazzercise in Middletown from 2006 to 2022 and still teaches fitness classes and healthy living practices there.
Beth feels fortunate that her sons attended Waldorf schools during their early years. She lives with her husband, Mark, and their two dogs in Lower Lake, CA. She loves being out on her land, reading, listening to classical music, hiking, and exploring new places.
PATRICK IACCINO
Board Member and Secretary
Prior to retirement in 2017, Pat spent his 38-year career in service to education. He served as a teacher and coach for nine years and spent the last 29 years in administration. He has been a Dean, Vice-Principal, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Director of Special Education. He spent the last 11 years of his tenure as District Superintendent in Upper Lake.
Pat is committed to the success of students and believes that school should provide students with a variety of options through their K-12 experience, which is why he is passionate about bringing this new holistic, Public Waldorf school option to Lake County.
MORGAN VOGEL CHINNOCK
Board President and Co-Founder
Morgan has worked as a grant writer, adjunct professor of English at Pacific Union College, ghostwriter, secretary of a small law firm, and programming director for a summer camp in the Sierras. She completed the seven-year program at wildernessFusion, an outdoor healing arts school, and was a teaching assistant there. Morgan's M.F.A. in Writing is from University of San Francisco.
Before the birth of her second child in early 2020, Morgan saw clients at her practice, MothMoon Healing, and served on the board of the Middletown Area Merchants Association for three years. A resident of Lake County for over a decade, Morgan loves cooking, wilderness survival skills, gardening, and being a mama.
SAVANNAH MITCHELL
Chief Financial Officer and Co-Founder
Early in her teaching career, Savannah Mitchell taught at Head Start in Clearlake and was an early interventionist for Easter Seals, working with children with developmental disabilities all over Lake County. Before she had her first child in 2017, she taught at a Waldorf-inspired charter school in Sonoma in grades 1-3.
Savannah holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Education from Pacific Union College and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from Fresno State University. She also earned a Waldorf Teacher Diploma from the Center of Educational Renewal, which represents four years of deep study. A mother of two, Savannah has lived in Lake County for most of her life and desires to see her community thrive.
