Drinking Gourd Elementary School |
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How to Reach Us
Staff & Contact Info
Director
and Quail Class Teacher
Trisha Whitney is the Executive Director and teacher of the Quail Class. She founded the Drinking Gourd Elementary School in 1990.
In addition to her work at the Drinking Gourd, she has been the Director and lead teacher of a private school in Virginia, a sign language interpreter for the public schools, and a private tutor.
She has taught her unique methods to other teachers and parents through workshops and magazine articles. She published “Kids Like Us: Using Persona Dolls in the Classroom” in 1999. This book, which is being used by teachers in seven countries, is about teaching social skills and anti-bias attitudes to young children. She is also the author of a chapter of the book “Feminist Parenting.”
Trisha earned a degree, with honors, from California
State University, Fullerton in 1980. Trisha says,”I am proud
to work at a school where the students’ needs always come first.”
Send Trisha an e-mail
North Star Class Teachers
Debra
Goldsbury is the teacher of the North Star class. She
joined the Drinking Gourd School in 2004 after spending fifteen years
as a teacher at the Happy Medium school in Seattle, Washington. While
at Happy Medium, Debra was instrumental in developing the curriculum
for their new primary program. Her anti-bias work was featured in a
film created by the Teaching Tolerance division of the Southern Poverty
Law Center that was distributed to schools across the nation. Debra
says, “I am delighted to be
working at the Drinking Gourd School. It is a school that promotes academic
and social skills as being equally important.”
In the Office
Gary Oster is the Administrative Assistant at the Drinking Gourd School. Among many other tasks, Gary arranges all Open House events and school visits, and handles all enrollment paperwork. If you need to talk with him, Gary is usually available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons.
School Administration
The Drinking Gourd School was founded in 1991. The
school is a non-profit organization. A Board of Directors, made up of
past parents and supportive community members, oversee the business of
the school.
The school is financed through tuition and enrollment fees. Tax-deductible
donations fund special projects and scholarships. Scholarships are awarded,
based on need, whenever the school’s finances or scholarship donations
make this possible. Parents do various jobs at the school to keep costs
(and therefore tuition) as low as possible.