Administration
The Administrative Team is here to help. Our school is so much more than just classrooms, and the dedicated staff who work in the office help keep it running. Not sure who to connect with?
Jennifer Slater, Director
Jennifer Slater first joined DWS in 2009 as a substitute in our early childhood program. With a lifelong love of teaching that was first shaped from playing school with her sister as a child, Jennifer knew that Davis Waldorf School was a special place. She immediately fell in love with Waldorf Education. Jennifer held the Climbing Rose Kindergarten class for 7 years and also took on many leadership roles within the faculty during that time including being the first faculty chair at DWS and serving on the board. In 2020 when decisive and compassionate leadership was needed, Jennifer leaped into administration. She enjoys working with so many caring adults (staff and parents) who work to make DWS a remarkable place. When Jennifer isn’t working she enjoys spending time outside in nature with her young daughter, Riley and husband, Chris.
Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Certification, Rudolf Steiner College; B.A. Child Development, Sacramento State University
EMAIL: director@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 114
Nicole Deutsch, Assistant Director
Nicole Deutsch comes to DWS with a diverse background in communications, organizational development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, and Waldorf education. Raised in a small town near the west coast of Florida, she spent her childhood swimming and running around in the nearby woods. After graduating from the University of South Florida with a journalism degree, she worked for the next decade as a reporter and editor for various publications, living in Tampa and then New Mexico, where she and her husband Richard (former DWS middle school teacher) began raising their two daughters. In 2008, she and her family relocated to Sacramento so she could attend Rudolf Steiner College. After graduating in 2011 with a grades teaching certificate, she taught grades 1-5 at Cedar Springs Waldorf School in Placerville and served on the Board and College of Teachers. In 2016, she accepted a position as the Lower School Assistant at The Sacramento Waldorf School, before returning in 2018 to CSWS as their Director of Community Development. For the past three years she has been pursuing her M.Ed. at Sacramento State, which will be complete later this year. Her thesis studied the benefits of anti-racism education, and she helped craft Sacramento State’s Antiracism and Inclusive Campus Plan during her time working with the university.
EMAIL: asst.director@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 125
Gabrielle Walton-Hamilton, Business Manager
Gabrielle Walton-Hamilton graduated with Cum Laude Honors from Indiana Wesleyan University, with a Bachelors Degree in Business Management. She has also taken several classes at Columbia College Chicago, specializing in Performing Arts. Gabrielle worked as an Administrator at a non-profit in Merrillville, Indiana for several years before being promoted to Executive Director, where she was responsible for overseeing a 7 figure budget, directing local community programs, events and services, as well as assisting the CEO with policy development and staff trainings.
After moving from Indiana to California, she worked part time as a Business Instructor at Asher College and then later, full-time as the Finance and Administration Director at Improve Your Tomorrow, a youth based non-profit in Sacramento. Gabrielle gladly joined the Waldorf team in November 2020, right in the heat of the pandemic and has been in motion ever since. When Gabrielle is not working, she enjoys the arts, teaching, reading, traveling and fine dining with her amazing husband, Darrell.
EMAIL: finance@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE:(530) 753-1651 ext. 103
Vatrena King, Bookkeeper
Vatrena King graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. After spending many years in Los Angeles, in the entertainment industry, including a 5-year stint as a vocalist on the hit show Ally McBeal, she moved to Northern CA and enrolled her 2 children in Waldorf preschool. She began working as the Bookkeeper at Davis Waldorf School in 2006 and her sons, who graduated from DWS in 2016 & 2018 respectively, now attend UC Davis majoring in Design and Computer Science.
EMAIL: books@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 102
Katie Mahoney, Office Coordinator
Katie Mahoney grew up in San Francisco, CA and comes from a big family. She loved being from a big city and opted for something along the same size when she moved to Los Angeles at age 18 for college. Katie studied Child Development. Her career in Education has included teaching preschool, being a reading tutor, assisting in special education classrooms, and working with children and families in early intervention services. She has always enjoyed helping others. Katie has a son named Samuel and a dog named Sunny. She loves photography, hiking, swimming, chocolate and road trips.
EMAIL: office@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 135
Cori Brewer, Registrar
Cori Brewer began working at Davis Waldorf School in 2013 when her daughter was in First Grade. She held Morning Care for five years and also worked as an Aftercare Assistant, and an Office Assistant. She moved into the Registrar position in 2016. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her children and many pets. She also loves silly jokes, so if you see her wandering around, you should tell her one!
EMAIL: registrar@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 117
Kelly Brewer, Enrollment Coordinator
Kelly Brewer discovered Waldorf education in 1989 while working as a teacher and school Administrator in the Seattle area She instantly knew that Waldorf methods were the most beneficial approach to learning available and relocated to California to begin her Waldorf Teacher Training. She settled in Davis where a small Waldorf school was located on County Road 96. Coincidentally, she needed a local job and DWS needed an Administrator. Kelly was hired as the first official Administrator in 1990 when the school had only 60 children from K-3rd grade. She coordinated the first Capital Campaign and secured a loan from Rudolf Steiner Foundation to move the school to the donated land on which it now sits in 1992. She fondly remembers planting the trees on campus when they were tiny sticks! When her son moved to the Sacramento Waldorf School to attend High School, she moved to Fair Oaks. In 2007 she was invited back by the Faculty to once again be the Administrator. In 2016 the Maui Waldorf School recruited her to serve as their Head of School and to help develop their new High School. She loved her time on Maui overseeing a large Waldorf school on 2 campuses with nearly 400 children, 100+ Faculty, and Staff. She retired in 2020 and returned "home" to Davis where her long-term family and friends reside. In the summer of 2021, Jennifer Slater reached out to see if she might be interested in serving in the role of the Enrollment Coordinator part-time. Kelly came out of retirement and returned to DWS in July of 2021 to support the success of the Davis Waldorf School.
EMAIL: enrollment@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 116
Cheyenne Rada, Outreach Coordinator
Cheyenne Rada is a Sacramento State University graduate with an English Literature degree. Born and raised in Northern California, she has always had a love of music, dance, art, literature, animals, and helping people. Between working and going to school, she always found time to tutor her peers as well as younger students. She loves working with students of all ages and strives to see the moment when material clicks in a student’s mind. Her love for tutoring and helping people is what led her to Davis Waldorf School and she can’t wait to help all of the students, faculty, and staff here. When she’s not helping others she enjoys cooking, arts and crafts, painting, and reading.
EMAIL: outreach@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 x130
Eden Tomich, Marketing & Data Manager
Bio to come.
EMAIL: marketing@daviswaldorf.org
PHONE: (530) 753-1651 ext. 120