Board

Board Member, Enrollment Committee Chair

Randall Bartlett is the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for Propel Charter Schools, the largest and fastest expanding group of charter schools in Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1999 from Oberlin College with a BA in religion and history. After working as a substitute teacher, he felt the calling of the classroom and following the direction of his brilliant wife, received his M.Ed. in Integrated Learning and Elementary Education from Antioch University New England, in Keene New Hampshire. Randy then taught Kindergarten and 3rd and 4th grade public school classrooms, while getting his administrative license through Keene State College. Following the birth of their daughter, he and his wife decided to move to Pittsburgh, where his wife is from. In Pittsburgh he served as an elementary and high school principal before his current work. Randy has a long history with Waldorf Schooling and his family was delighted to join the community in Pittsburgh. He loves spending time with his wife and three children enjoying the region.

Board Secretary

Donna Belajac is an Emmy-Award winning casting director and small business owner who works on film and television projects in the tri-state area. Her company, Donna Belajac Casting, also offers acting classes to children, teenagers, and adults through Donna Belajac Actors Studio. Ms. Belajac is a former Waldorf School of Pittsburgh parent whose daughter attended the school for seven years and graduated from the fifth grade in 2006. After many years of involvement with the school as Parent Association (PA) president, PA representative to the board of trustees, class parent, and office assistant, she realized that she didn’t want to “leave” the school even though her daughter had moved on to middle school. She continues to serve the board as secretary and is the board’s longest-tenured member. Her husband served on the board for several years as well and they remain passionate about keeping Waldorf education available to the children of Pittsburgh.

Board Member

Rob Conroy is a Pittsburgh lawyer, freelance journalist, musician, published poet, former union representative (PSEA), and former political press secretary. He received a B.A. in Journalism (with an English minor) from Penn State University in 1993 and a J.D. from Widener University School of Law in 1996. Rob is active in the Pittsburgh arts/cultural scene and is an ardent supporter of/advocate for many progressive causes, including the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s HEAT (Hunger Education Advocacy Team) program and the CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates for children placed within the child welfare system) program. The son of two secondary-school teachers, Rob is a product of both the Catholic (K-8) and public (9-12) educational systems and has been a lifetime advocate on behalf of quality, holistic education. He genuinely believes that the Waldorf method, with its emphasis on educating the whole child, could be a key building block in building a better society.

Early Childhood Faculty Chair

Miss Jeanne began her teaching career in 2003, working with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in a mixed-age classroom at a local private school. She joined the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh as a nursery teacher in 2008 and began her first year of Anthroposophy Foundation Studies. In 2009, she began the Waldorf Early Childhood Certification Program at the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California. Jeanne always has been actively involved in the arts, particularly music and dance. She received a B.S. in Elementary Education with a minor in music from Dusquene University. After college, she worked in arts administration for more than 25 years.

Board Member

Greg has over 20 years experience working in the nonprofit sector. Currently, he is vice president of program development and evaluation, and director of civic engagement initiatives, at the Coro Center for Civic Leadership in Pittsburgh. Prior to this appointment, he served for two years as Coro’s director of research. In his work with Coro, Greg works collaboratively to design, finance, and implement an intergenerational leadership curriculum that engages over 200 business, government and nonprofit leaders and over 1000 citizens each year. An experienced trainer, Greg facilitates over 80 hours of civic leadership workshops annually. He has been instrumental in helping to launch several successful, multi-year initiatives aimed at building more inclusive, vibrant and sustainable communities in Pittsburgh, including collaborative neighborhood planning in the South Hilltop (2006-2007), engaging adult citizens and students in the school reform effort (2007-present), preparing emerging leaders to run for public office (2009-present), planning for community leadership succession in the Hill District and Uptown (2009-present), and building capacity for human service agencies to support civic engagement (2008-2010).

Greg also serves as co-director of the Program for Deliberative Democracy, a Carnegie Mellon-based applied research initiative to incorporate the informed voice of citizens into local policy and program decisions. In 2008 the program was awarded the League of Women Voters Good Government Award for its innovations in citizen engagement around issues ranging from climate change and health policy to public art and neighborhood revitalization. In 2010 the program worked in partnership with the Pittsburgh Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh, Institute of Politics to conduct the first-ever Deliberative Poll in Allegheny County devoted to gathering citizen opinion on local government improvement.

Greg has held research and teaching positions at Oberlin College, the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University. He is the author of The Politics of Place: Contentious Urban Redevelopment in Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005) as well as numerous articles and reports on urban politics, deliberative democracy and civic engagement. Greg holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.A. from Teachers College Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Board Member

Bio forthcoming.

 

 

 

Board President

Alexandra Gruskos is an attorney for the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth, and Families, working in the office’s adoption program. She is a 1996 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a magna cum laude graduate in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. Ms. Gruskos chairs the board’s grounds committee, heading up the school’s efforts to reclaim the landscape surrounding the building and enhance the school’s beauty. She and her husband, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital, have watched in awe as their son has moved through his two years of Kindergarten and into the grades. This has deepened their commitment and involvement in the school. They believe in the responsibility of each parent toward the school. Ms. Gruskos works on the board with the aspiration that this loving, learning environment will continue to thrive.

Parent Association Representative to the Board

Veronica Harris is the mother of two children attending the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh and is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Parent Association and as a Parent Representative to the Board. In 1999, she earned her degree in Environmental Health Protection Science from Point Park University and has worked in a variety of unrelated fields in the time since. Veronica and her husband Jeff were both familiar with Waldorf Education before having children and have been a part of this school community since joining Morning Garden in the winter of 2005. They are pleased to be an active part in this growing, developing school. Veronica enjoys her volunteer time at the school, as well as reading and taking walks in the woods with her family and their good dog, Mazie.

Grades Faculty Chair

Ms. King began teaching middle school English in 1993 after receiving her B.S. in elementary education from West Chester University. She continued to teach in both the public and private school sectors while earning a master’s degree in language arts education. Ms. King took a break from teaching when her first child was born and began to learn about Waldorf education in 2003 after the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh relocated to her neighborhood. She eventually enrolled her children in the school and became actively involved as a parent volunteer. She joined the faculty in 2008 and is working toward Waldorf teaching certification at Sunbridge College in New York. Ms. King enjoys spending time with her family, doing yoga, biking, cooking, and going for walks in her neighborhood.

Board Treasurer

Russ Sabo is a Senior Partner with Harbor Research, a business-consulting firm based in San Francisco, CA. Russ has over 25 years of experience in business having worked in senior management roles at Emerson Electric in St. Louis, MO and Eaton Corporation in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2005 he left Eaton’s electrical group in Pittsburgh to move into consulting in the technology sector. He and his wife Marie Richmond have five daughters and reside just outside Pittsburgh. Their brood is quite spread out, with three daughters in university and the two youngest enrolled at the school. Russ and Marie are quick to point out that although their tenure with The Waldorf School has been relatively short, they can say without any doubt that it has been the best educational experience they have ever found for their children. This experience has drawn them into a deep commitment to the institution.