Carlota Lim has been with PUSD for 23 years teaching 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade at Walnut Grove Elementary. She was also a part-time adjunct instructor at Cal State East Bay, and a six-time IISME/Ignited Summer Fellow. She loves to integrate technology and innovation, music, cultural awareness, and social-emotional learning with her curriculum. She was a lead launch teacher and trainer for Project Lead The Way. She also taught summer enrichment classes at PUSD using Makers Empire and Alice 3D Animation Programming after completing an 80-hour training certification at Stanford University. Recently, she was awarded the 2020 Teacher Innovator Award by Fab Foundation and Chevron for innovative remote teaching during the pandemic school year.
She and her husband James have three college-aged children who are Walnut Grove, Harvest Park and Amador Valley High School alumni. Outside of teaching, she enjoys traveling, playing and making music, and watching films. She also loves spending time with her family and English Bulldog Lily, and Zooming every Friday night with her college roommates.
Anne Johnson started her teaching career in 2002. She came to teach for Pleasanton Unified in 2007, after teaching Middle School for San Ramon Unified for five years. She taught at Amador, her alma mater, for 11 years teaching AP Spanish Literature, Spanish 2, Spanish 3 and AVID. Her passion for all areas of education led her to get her master's degree in Spanish Literature and her administrative credential. She joined PUSD's Hospital and Home School team in 2019 and the Virtual Academy team in 2020. Outside of work, Anne enjoys traveling abroad, learning new languages, being active outdoors, and spending time with her family and friends.
Jenifer Perazzo knows that successful diverse students become successful diverse adults. Jenifer has been an educator for 25 years. She has taught science at the elementary, middle, and high school levels across the state, country, and world. Jenifer has earned her undergraduate degree from CSU, Chico; her multiple subject credential from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; her single subject science credential from CSU, East Bay and her master’s degree in education and administration credential from CSU, East Bay. Jenifer has been employed in the Pleasanton school district for 12 years as an Independent Study teacher, Elementary Science Specialist, Lead Science Teacher and facilitated curriculum adoption for both science and history/social studies. Jenifer holds guest status at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in the Astrophysics department conducting education research and development. Jenifer and her family own and operate Overlander Safaris, a safari company that travels throughout Africa on wildlife viewing expeditions. Jenifer is the founder and CEO of Elimu Safaris (Swahili for “Educational Journey”), an educational non-profit organization that believes in bringing high-quality education around the world with a focus of bringing educators to teach, learn and support schools in eastern Africa. Jenifer is very thankful for the opportunity to learn more about education and to share her knowledge with her students and colleagues.
Lisa Highfill started her career in PUSD in 1994 as a fifth grade teacher, shifting roles to coach/integration specialist for the district in 2013. Working in the ed tech field since 1998 when she earned her Master's Degree in Ed Tech Leadership and online learning, she went on to become a Google Certified Innovator, a YouTube Star Teacher, a Merit Fellow, and a Leading Edge Digital Educator. Lisa is the co-creator and co-author of The HyperDoc Handbook and Teachers Give Teachers. When not on her computer, you can always find Lisa with her head in a book, or in the kitchen cooking lots of food to share with family and friends.
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Kurt Richey has been inspiring students for over 30 years. A Bay Area native with an MA in English, he began his career teaching English at Mission San Jose High School and then moved to PUSD in 1998. At Foothill High School he served as department chair and taught all levels of English. In the last decade he has added Health Sciences to his repertoire and has enjoyed encouraging students to live their best lives. Whether in health or English class, he is passionate about students engaging with concepts and applying what they learn. Mr. Richey is grateful to not only be a teacher in the community but also a resident. Outside of the classroom, he enjoys hiking, cooking, and spending time with his wife and three sons.
Arick Little Believer that math is for everyone. Math instructional coach, math teacher, and abuser of puns. After finishing his degree at Iowa State University (Go Cyclones!), Arick began a very rewarding career teaching math at Amador Valley High School. His many roles in the district include: math teacher, department chair, instructional coach, and integration specialist. When not teaching math, you might catch him on a trek with Henry and Oscar or far away on a trip with his family. Arick strives to help students enjoy math and enjoy the process of learning math.
Julie Frey values the importance of being a life long learner, and has a varied background in education, starting in PUSD in 1996 as a middle school teacher, and receiving Master's degrees in Counseling in 2001 from CSU, East Bay, and in School Psychology in 2019 from Saint Mary's College. She has worked in Pleasanton for the majority of her career as a school counselor with students of all grade levels. While parenting her own children, she worked as a home instructor with Independent Study, and a TUPE educator. Most recently, Julie returned to PUSD from Kazakhstan, where she worked as the social emotional school counselor at Almaty International School for two years, counseling students virtually and in person through the pandemic. When not working, Julie enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, learning new languages, reading, and hiking with her 2 dogs.
Nathan Parrish is a geographer at heart since the days of long family road trips, scanning landscapes and making connections between places. Since 2008, he has brought that passion for the world into practice throughout PUSD (teaching at Amador Valley, Hart Middle, and Foothill), where he has taught at every secondary grade level in the district and almost every social science course offered. An overriding goal in his career has been building meaningful connections for students with the curriculum and creating student opportunities beyond the classroom utilizing field work methodology. For personal enjoyment he can be found traveling with his wife and two daughters and tinkering on his hobby farm where he tends to his garden, livestock, and bees.
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Bo Eun Yang joined PUSD this year looking forward to starting an exciting new Korean language program. She has been a foreign language educator, teaching both Korean and English. After receiving her BA degree from Yonsei University in South Korea, she taught English in middle and high schools for 6 years. Then she moved to the USA and earned her MA in TESOL from San Francisco State University. Being more passionate about teaching her first language and culture, she has taught Korean to learners at various levels in a Korean language school and an online academy. She also worked in the reading intervention program as an instructional assistant at Pleasant Hill Elementary School. Believing that the key role of a world language teacher is to help students make real-life connection beyond the classroom, she loves to incorporate history and cultural contents into her instruction. Outside of teaching, she enjoys watching K-dramas and traveling with her family.
Jayalakshmi Ramani is a multi-talented individual with a bachelor's degree in Financial Markets, Services and Management coupled with experience in Training and Organizational Development and an inherent passion for Teaching. She kick started her career as a Training and Organizational lead for a leading software services company before realizing her passion for teaching. She began her teaching career in India and transitioned to the City of Pleasanton preschool and PUSD after an international move. Her pedagogy with both adults and kids has widened her perspective and fostered a keen sense of cognizance that allows learners to set their own pace and goals and provide in person learning support to students at PVA. Painting, reading books and exploring different places are some of the fun things Jaya enjoys with her family.