Our People
Dedicated facilitators who put children first.
Staff
Rachael Allen. (she/her), Facilitator
Rachael found VFS through kismet in 2008 and still can’t get enough of exploring the levels of evolution within the community. She is mom to a sweet son who has been at VFS since he came to be. She values sharing and witnessing deschooling journeys, which fuels her passion for collective liberation and healing. Rachael is dedicated to self-directed education and other dreams of transformative justice - to which she offers her intuition, creativity, and critical thinking skills. She is grateful to spend her days goofing around and getting messy with so many incredible, inspiring people.
Kathy Crisp. (she/her), Facilitator
Kathy is a New Hampshire native and initially came to Portland as an Americorps member working in Clark County, WA, on wetland restoration. She joined the Village Free School in 2010 and brings a love of people, a passion for life as revealed through nature, and a commitment to liberation. She is grateful to spend her days in an environment that trusts children implicitly, and delights in witnessing humans embrace their own agency. Kathy loves gardening, reading, camping, hiking, making art, and being with people. She believes in the intrinsic value of each person and in the power of community.
Justine McConville. (she/her), Admin/Literacy Coach
Justine grew up in Florida on the edge of a mangrove estuary. She moved to New York City in 2012 to get her MA TESOL and teach in the NYC public school system after living abroad for a year in Madrid. Her time as a public school educator was transformational and inspired her to look more deeply into educational alternatives to see if something outside of the coercive conventional education paradigm existed. After reading a lot of radical education books on the subway to work each morning, she made her way to Portland in 2016 in search of a school community that practices self-directed and democratic education. She is so inspired by the people who make VFS a place where young people are trusted, their individuality valued, and empathy for one another nurtured. She relishes in the simple and abundant joys of a day at VFS and cherishes getting to bear witness to the personal growth journeys of the people in this community. She is working remotely for the VFS 2024-2025 school year in an admin role while living abroad in Ireland.
Leif Schmit. (ze/they), Facilitator/IT Person
Hi there! I'm a 24yo, Genderqueer, Grown Unschooler, Theatre Professional, and Self-directed Education facilitator. If I've learned anything from the theatre, it's that collaboration, artistic expression, and play are central to the learning process. I ground my work at The Village Free School in curiosity, an abolitionist lens, transformative justice practices, and radical youth empowerment at heart. I have many hobbies and skills I've fallen in love with like Argentine Tango, Blues Dance, Ukulele, Pixel Art, Animation, Game design, Language Learning, and Mycology (the study of mushrooms!) over the years and I love finding the ways that different areas of knowledge can weave into and enhance our understanding of each other in surprising ways. I care deeply about making sure young people have the space and resources to cultivate their curiosity like I was able to so we can all get free from the oppressive systems of supremacy that we are raised to accept and perpetuate. You are needed, and your needs are seeds.
My heartfelt gratitude to my beloveds, mentors, students, family, community, ancestors, the land, and queer, BIPOC, indigenous, immigrant, poor, and disabled revolutionaries past and present for all the gifts they have - and continue to - offer the world while facing discrimination, marginalization, and oppression in all their insidious forms.
Kevon Jones. (they/them) Facilitator
Hi, I'm Kevon, I am a Portland native, I've been living on my own since I was 16. I am a nonbinary African American who is highly motivated, upbeat, and down to earth.
I learned about unschooling recently through Leif and Lovey. I'm blown away at how deconstructing norms can allow us room to really find ourselves and I'm excited for learning how to relearn and helping others on their own journey!
I believe that we all have the ability to positively affect those around us by being supportive and providing the space to explore who we truly are and what makes us happy. Though it isn’t always possible in the world we live in, I do my best to find and build spaces that allow us to embody these attributes.
Here are a few things I do to be centered and how I play: dance, DJing, listening to music, playing video games, watching anime, writing poetry and recently, exploring improv.
Noppawan Lerttharakul. (she/her), Facilitator
Noppawan came all the way from Thailand to join VFS in 2015. Back then, she had a short-term plan to witness democratic education in action. But she fell in love. Each day at VFS, Noppawan brings her passion for learning, a sense of wonder, and the magic of creativity to share. She holds a Master’s degree in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University. Her culminating project focused on the intersection of care, democracy, and sustainable learning. Along with VFS students, she is humbled by the daily opportunity to experience education as, in bell hooks’s words, a practice of freedom. For her, a democratic free school is a place where students take charge of their own education, life gets real and messy, and care for one another sustains us.
Lovey Davis. (they/them), Facilitator
Hi! I’m Lovey. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, lived in a few other places but was mostly raised in Baltimore, Maryland in a multiethnic and multigenerational household. Though I am mixed with many things (please don’t ask what) I was mostly raised with Black, Latino, and Indigenous cultures. I am a massage therapist and reiki practitioner. I was inspired to become an energy and bodyworker because I learned how impactful it can be for helping people with PTSD and I value centering trauma informed care. Through school I learned so much more knowledge of the body and how we carry feelings and experiences in our bodies. My hobbies include dancing, finding new music, writing, painting, crafts, table top role playing games, story telling, biking, being in nature, swimming, and so much more. I am so excited about being a facilitator at Village Free School because traditional school didn’t work for me and I really appreciate the decolonization that accompanies this environment. I’ve been learning about unschooling and a self-directed learning environment and have been excited about it for years so I’m glad to be a part of the community. Some of what I’m hoping to contribute is my emotional intelligence as well as encouraging self-care, self-love, and autonomy of self in this community. I have been told that I have a grounding and nonjudgmental presence that helps people feel like they can be their authentic self around me.
Derek Czajka. (he/him), Facilitator
Derek is on an ongoing journey to learn what it means to be a blind person at a free school, which seems to be a rare experience, if not a singular one. He comes to Portland and to VFS after many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one in Western Massachusetts. He has spent the past decade or so supporting young people in various capacities, from volunteer tutor, to school-based mentor, to SDE facilitator. Derek is also an avid choral singer, and currently sings with the Cántico Singers. He has a long-standing interest in language and linguistics. A few years ago, he began a self-directed study of the Irish language (sometimes called Irish Gaelic), which is still ongoing, and led to a four-week trip to Ireland in summer 2022. he has also done some study of Spanish and French. Derek is excited to be a part of the community at VFS, and is up for anything from a chat about phonology to a round of Uno.
Princess Margaret. (she/they) Facilitator
Hiii!!! I’m Princess! I grew up in Ohio loving learning and hating school. By the time I was finishing High School I was really struggling, so I moved into my van seeking a change and drove until I hit the Pacific.
I bounced around California for a while finding queer community, and myself. I did a stint as a ballroom dance teacher, and joyfully threw myself into learning everything I could about partner dancing. I couldn’t cut it in the high-stress high-pressure sales environment of the ballroom dance community, so I took a bunch of odd jobs, including teaching kids to swim, and I discovered how much I loved working with young folks.
Eventually I found my way up the coast to Portland, and nearly ten years ago, I welcomed the sweetest baby into the world. Becoming a mother transformed me. Suddenly all the struggles I went through as a child were urgent again. I felt called to deconstruct the patterns and structures that harmed me when I was a child, and an intense desire to find new, better ways to support my own child, and all the sweet, perfect children in this world.
Before finding my way to the Village Free School, I got an associate’s degree in early childhood education and taught preschoolers. I am hype to be part of this community supporting each other and our children in the midst of the unique ways this society marginalizes young people. I have a special love for math, space, and natural history and I am so excited to share that love with these incredible kiddos—if/when they want that!
Leadership Team
Our Leadership Team consists of the staff, our Board of Directors (the Council), and our Ombudspeople. The Council meets monthly to make operational decisions and ensure the healthy functionality of the school. The Ombudspeople liaise between families and/or the school in times of conflict as emotional support or mediators.
Cali Hayes
Council Chair
Amy Conway
Councilperson
Sarita Flores
Councilperson
Cavale Sevcech
Councilperson
Aaron Longwell
Councilperson
Daveed Jacobo
Councilperson
Hannah Olavarria
Ombudsperson
Stephanie Black
Ombudsperson