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Here is an opportunity to have a glimpse of the true foundation that has honored Creative Frontiers School with such a tremendous reputation. The education level and many years of teaching experience say one thing. The commitment, capability, passion, love of children and the learning process say the rest. Here at Creative Frontiers, you will find the orchestration of talent well beyond your expectations that we are very proud to present to you!
Robert Adams, Principal
Mr. Bob is the founder of Creative Frontiers School and has been principal since the opening of the Citrus Heights campus in 1982. He was raised in Southern California where his first three schools opened in 1975-7. Prior to that, he owned 3 swim schools, where children ages 6 months to 12 years were taught. Bob and his wife Sandy, have 3 daughters, Shelby (33) Tarah (27) & Courtney (25), that all graduated from Creative Frontiers and subsequently from four-year universities. (By the way, CFS is a no-fault, brag-about-your-children zone)! He also has five grandchildren, Kelsey (8) 3rd grade, Dylan (7) 1st grade, Bryson (4-Jr. Kindergarten 1), Lucas (2) a soon-to-be “Duckie”, Nico (just 4 mos.) and Sophie (due on Valentine’s Day)! Mr. Bob earned two Bachelors, one in Child Development, the other in Child Psychology, completed a Masters degree in School Administration, and started his Doctorate but never found the time to finish! Besides administrating, he has also taught kindergarten and first grade. Bob is very civic minded and has done a tremendous amount of volunteer work for children and education throughout various agencies, such as the Sacramento Children’s Commission, Placer County Children’s Council, California Textbook Review Commission, Chair of the Folsom School District W.A.S.C. Accreditation, as well as serving on many education committees at the local, county and state level. He has taught or worked with children for over 40 years and can not imagine life without hundreds of thriving children around!
Courtney Adams, Preschool Administrator
In case you didn’t guess (by the same last name), this Courtney is Mr. Bob’s youngest daughter! Courtney & her fiancé (Zsolt) moved back to Sacramento from Palo Alto last year. She was working as a Child Life Specialist at Lucille Packard - Stanford’s Children’s Hospital, but decided to start her family here. Baby Nico was born in June. She grew up at Creative Frontiers, literally, from birth on! She graduated Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s in Child Development, then obtained a CCLS: a Child Life Specialist Credential. When Courtney was taking undergraduate classes at Cal Poly, Mr. Bob was intrigue at how similar their theory was, compared to CFS & his beliefs, only to discover that many of Courtney’s teachers attended the same graduate school as Mr. Bob. It’s a Small world!
Suzanne Benedict, Pre-Kindergarten (Honeybees) Teacher
This is Ms. Suzie’s 5th year with us. She is married with 4 daughters and attended ARC where she got her Preschool Teaching Certificate. She came to us with 3 years experience in childcare (when she worked at La Petite). Ms. Suzie truly enjoys working with the Honeybees and with Ms. April - what a team !
Ruby Bisiar, P1 “Duckies” Teacher
Ms. Ruby is the best “Duckie” teacher in the world (according to Mr. Bob and many others!) This is her 3rd year with us – we wish we would have found her many years ago too! She has been with the Duckies class for almost 2 years now and when you meet her you’ll know why we all love her. Ruby is married to her husband Danny for 22 years and has three children, Cynthia 19, Sean 17 & Julian 6 in the 1st grade at CFS. Ruby has been a teacher for 13 years. By the way, if you are a “Duckie”, she has a wonderful website through our link at CFS!
Randy Bobby, Curriculum Consultant
Randy had been around Creative Frontiers since 1996-originally known as Noah/Christian Clothier’s grandpa! Fortunate for us, he retired after serving as Curriculum Director, Assistant & Acting Superintendent of the San Juan School District and chose to continue his work by consulting for the Creative Frontier’s staff!
Randy previously earned two bachelors, one in Recreational Administration and the other one in Social Science, in addition to a Masters in Education and Reading. He has been in the field of education for over 40 years. Randy spent much of his time working closely with the preschool and elementary staff to help develop curriculum and program enhancements far beyond the typical for most public and/or private schools. He is currently in the “I am almost retired” stage of his life! He places a tremendous amount of focus on team building skills, because he knows how important it is to tap into the vast abilities and resources of the CFS staff and children. Creative Frontiers has been very fortunate to have someone as remarkably talented and capable as Randy sharing his experience and wisdom with us!
Carla Boerman, 4th/5th Grade Teacher
This is Carla’s third year with us. She started with the 5th/6th.graders. She moved from the Bay Area with her family; husband Brian & sons John and Jake - both in college. She also has a mutt: “Reeses” (an 8 year old “spoiled baby”). Her son Jake joined Carla in the pool last summer to make the first mother-son teaching duo in the school’s history! John joined us last summer and continues to work as an upper elementary after-school teacher. Having two children was not enough for Carla, as witnessed by her devotion to her class. Carla returned to teaching five years ago after choosing to be a stay-at-home-mom. She obtained her teaching credential at age 49 because she wants to be the best teacher she can be. You will learn soon that she has the wisdom of her age and the energy of her boys!
Tanya Chronister , 2nd Grade Teacher
Originally from Texas, she just moved her from Arkansas where she taught 3rd grade last year. She joined us recently as our second grade teacher and has a B.A. and teaching credential from Texas A&M (Corpus Christi). Her favorite thing to do is to spend time with her boyfriend & two dogs, (Wiggles/Roxi), and traveling and camping on week-ends in the local mountains. She is currently working on her CLAD credential and hopes to finish by December. Her long term goal is to be National Board Certified and get a Master’s Degree in Special Education.
Ivey DelGadillo, Junior Kindergarten 1 Teacher
Ivey subbed for us this summer and proved to be so extraordinary that we hired her! She is married and has two children, Isabella (2ND Grade) and Gabriel (Jr. Kindergarten) who currently attend CFS. Ivey has over ten years experience as a certified preschool teacher. She believes it is so important to know each child as individuals, in order to better understand their needs, while encouraging, guiding and directing them to their full potential. She is a natural new addition to our staff!
April Greenhaw, Pre-Kindergarten (Honeybees) Teacher
This is Ms. April’s 4th year as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher and I don’t know what we would do without her! She and Ms. Suzi make a dynamic team and the children love being Honeybees! April moved here from Grass Valley and attended American River College for her preschool teaching certificate. She likes to spend her spare time communing with nature, camping and hiking. She also loves crafts. In case you haven’t notice, she has a chronic case of natural happiness!
Cindy Higgins, Administrator
This is Ms. Cindy’s fourth year. My, how time flies, especially when paperwork is around – all over the office! You will see her all over the school, too. Cindy is from Chicago originally but loves California and is here to stay! She attended Northwestern University and Loyola University in Chicago for her Bachelors in Business. Ms. Cindy says she was not lucky enough to have children of her own, so she loves being such a big part of the school! She spends time with her adopted Persian “Bridgett”, and “Sammie” the school mascot. But Mr. Bob knows she is the glue between the business world and the CFS Classrooms - it’s so natural for her!
Lesley Matthews, After School, PE & Spanish Teacher
This is Lesley’s third year at CFS. It is sometimes hard to imagine, as she started in the after school program but proved quickly how talented and diverse of a teacher she is! Lesley teaches Spanish and Physical Education. She earned her degree from American River College after working in the Property Management Field for years. Lesley enjoys the outdoors, hiking, camping, swimming and especially horse-back riding. She also loves working with children and thrives to be in a very creative and nurturing environment. Her niece & nephew are enrolled in our preschool. Matthew is in Junior Kindergarten and Aubrey is a Pre-Kindergarten Honeybee!
Catherine Mitchell, 1st Grade Teacher
We welcome Cathy back to her fifth year at Creative Frontiers. Originally from the South Carolina, Cathy graduated from Mars Hill College in North Carolina with a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education. Cathy taught first grade at Thomas Heyward Academy (a private school) for 23 years and is quite a natural. The staff appropriately nicknamed her the “Child Wisperer”. Cathy is hoping the next 20 years at Creative Frontiers will be just as rewarding as her first 20. She and her husband Mike are proud parents of two college students: Christian (24-a Chun Kuk Do Black Belt), Parker (20-an Eagle Scout), and Julian (5h grade). Cathy’s hobby is nature and family and her church. Something many of you don’t know is that she has a passionate love of anything science! Who would have ever thought from a teacher that is such an outstanding reading teacher! After you get to know her, you will have to get used to being surprised at the most unexpected moment. We do.
Janet Molinari, Junior Kindergarten 2 Teacher
This is Janet’s ninth year with us and most of us feel like we have known her our whole life! She joined our Junior Kindergarten Program after teaching at another local preschool. Janet obtained a Preschool Teaching Certificate from American River College. She loves to explore and teach at the same time! Janet can always be caught jogging during her lunch break – rain or shine. Janet and her husband, Jeff, love to camp, and spend time with their daughter, Chanda and granddaughter, Shaye. By the way, you will see that Jeff comes around her to help out, but we consider him one of our regular volunteers and CFS chooses to maintain fingerprint clearance on him. It’s just a sign of the times, unfortunately. We even fingerprint our janitor!
Theresa Muniz, Junior Kindergarten 3 Teacher
Theresa is the newest member on staff, however, we all feel like she has been here for years! Theresa graduated with a Bachelor’s in Child Development from Cal. State Univ. Sac. and comes to us from Countryside Montessori School where she taught for 5 years. Their loss and our gain, and what a gain she is! She comes by the whole teaching experience naturally since her mother has owned a preschool in El Dorado Hills for many years. She has a wonderful personality and the children love her. She is very energetic and creative and much more fun than she looks! (So what does that mean? She is the life ANY party)!
Cathie Murdock, Third Grade Teacher
This is also Cathie's 9th year at Creative Frontiers after moving here from Utah, where she taught Third Grade. Cathie obtained her Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Utah and earned her California Teaching Certificate (with C.L.A.D. certification), shortly after her move to California. Cathie has a daughter, Kylie (21). Kylie attended a year of college in Oregon and has returned to California to continue her education here. Kylie comes by and helps mom on occasion as well. Cathie also has a baby grand daughter Iris, in New Orleans – not too far when you jump on a plane! I have no idea how we would exist around here without Cathie’s smiling face & her warmth towards children, parents and staff alike!
Roberta Orr, Kindergarten Afterschool Teacher
Mrs. Roberta has been with us for five years now. She works during the day for the San Juan School district cafeteria. She loves children so much she comes to CFS after school to work as one of our Kindergarten afterschool teachers. She loves our kids & the feeling is mutual! Mrs. Roberta has been married for 30 years and has two sons and lots of brothers and sisters. Family is very important to Roberta. In her spare time she does catering with a friend on the week-ends and during the summer.
Cynthia Phillips, Kindergarten Teacher
Ms. Cynthia started working at Creative Frontiers part time two summers ago. She was also working at the Huntington Learning Center. Because she is such a caring & natural teacher, we hired her as one of our full time Kindergarten teachers. We could not let this one go! Cynthia earned a Bachelors & Elementary Teaching Credential from Pacific Union College in Angwin, CA (Napa Valley). She started teaching Kindergarten in 1989 and has so many fond memories! Ms. Cynthia is a grandmother three times over and loves to be around them as often as possible, which we refer to as her “off” time (even though I don’t think she has an off button). She is the mother of four that are scattered throughout the states. She is as bright and cheerful in her class- a natural teacher who lives to teach!
Marnel Sexton, Kindergarten Teacher
Mrs. “S” joined us in March 2006 as a long-term substitute teacher for a teacher on maternity leave, but quickly proved how talented she was and was hired as one of our kindergarten teachers immediately after! She is the only teacher that annually does an administrative stint by joining us in the office to handle the extra organizational needs of that time of year. We would have loved to keep her there (because she is so organized!) but her first love is the classroom and once you have her, you’ll never wonder. Mrs. S grew up in Loomis. She is one of those people that has always wanted to be a teacher - ever since she was in first grade. She graduated from CSUS with a Bachelor’s in Child Development and then attended Chapman University where she completed her elementary credential. She and her husband Dan have a one year old daughter, Bailee, and is having a wonderful (but exhausting) time as a first time mom. Mrs. S has taught for most of her life, originally teaching dance for age 11-20 year olds, and then was a nanny to 5 for 5 years. She is very talented at bringing out the best in each child!
Barbara Sepanski, “Froggie” Preschool 2 Teacher
This is Barbara’s seventh year as the Preschool 2 “Froggie” Teacher. She actually started her teaching career in 1974, just one year before Mr. Bob opened his first school. She earned her Bachelors in Elementary Education from Dominican College in Wisconsin as well as her preschool and elementary teaching credential. She has taught both preschool and elementary for many years and was even a Preschool Director. We feel so fortunate to have found her! Barbara’s favorite hobby is being a grandparent to her 6 grandchildren. Five of them live in California and the newest one was recently born in New York. Now, the fact that she has taught 3 of Mr. Bob and Ms. Sandy’s grandchildren makes her even more special!
Tamara Thomas, Junior Kindergarten 1 Teacher
This is Miss Tamara’s fifth year with us, however, her knowledge and classroom abilities makes you think she is a 20-year+ veteran teacher! She started substituting but impressed us so much that we join us as one of the Junior Kindergarten 1
Teachers! One reason Tamara is so experienced is because she started hanging out in the classroom at a very young age: Her mother was an elementary teacher for many years. Due to this influence, she has wanted to be a teacher her whole life.
Tamara got her degree in Early Childhood Education from Ashworth College. She is v-e-r-y creative with an exceptional artistic eye and she also wants to write children’s books. In addition to her love for children, Miss Tamara loves art, painting, sewing and cross-stitch.
Wayne Treadwell, Maintenance/Handyman
This is Mr. Wayne’s fourth year with us and he comes to us from the hills of the Southern Ozarks of Arkansas. Wayne grew up on a farm with four sisters and his parents. He acquired an early love of nature along with endless and invaluable handyman skills. After serving in the U.S. Army, Wayne moved to Los Angeles where he worked in ground’s maintenance and carpentry, in addition to building mobile homes and sailboats. Wayne also has experience working for the U.S. Forest Service as a helicopter crewman, firefighter and ranger. The job that trained him most for CFS was when he worked at Sierra View District Hospital in Porterville as a maintenance man, carpenter, painter, etc. He also happens to be one of those rare individuals who built his own home! (A fun fact: so did Mr. Bob’s dad – and that where he learned how to keep the school glued together before Mr. Wayne arrived). In his free time he enjoys camping in the mountains, hiking, fly-fishing, woodworking and art. Wayne also enjoys helping others in his spare time, not only for Creative Frontiers but also for parents needing help with special projects! By the way, in case you don’t know - Wayne as part of the CFS “support staff” was fingerprinted for the safety of your children. Unfortunately we see this is a must in our 21st century!
Lenora Watson Junior Kindergarten & Afterschool Teacher
Ms. Lenora started as a parent volunteer about 6 years ago when her oldest daughter, Lenora, started with us in the Duckie room, then evolved into our lower elementary program. “Little” Lenora is currently a 2nd grader. Marica, her youngest daughter, now attends preschool here as well. Lenora is married to Mark and he owns & manages a Round Table Pizza (Citrus Heights-Sunrise at Greenback). She returned to school in order to receive her teaching certificate in Early Childhood Education – just because the school inspired her by our teaching abilities with Lenora. She is now one of our Junior Kindergarten 2 teachers. We don’t know how she can juggle so many activities at one time – but she is very good at everything!
Melissa Wheeler, Preschool Dance Teacher & Substitute
This is Ms. Melissa 3rd year with us. When she joined us initially as our Dance Teacher, she was inspired by our talented staff and their abilities & soon thereafter discovered she was only one class away from obtaining her Preschool Teaching Certificate. Last year, she requested to work full time with Ms. Tamara in Junior Kindergarten 1 – then this year, Melissa and her husband decided to travel more and work less. They live in Loomis and raised two children who now live in Santa Cruz for college. Melissa’s hobby and training has tremendous roots in dance and the theatre. She still teaches jazz in her spare time to children and seniors. Melissa is a tremendous choreographer and has worked on such productions as the Wizard of Oz. She is young at heart as well as very talented with children!
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