Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade
Sixth Grade
Mr. McDonald was born and raised in Santa Rosa. He graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota where he played on the soccer team and worked in the arboretum. After college Kevin spent four years in Tokyo teaching English, studying Japanese, and learning karate. He then returned to California, where he has been teaching for twenty years, most recently at the French-American School in Santa Rosa and Terra Linda High School in San Rafael. Kevin holds a multiple-subject credential and single-subject credentials in science and math. He believes that the key to teaching is making connections to the real world, whether it is wildlife conservation, economics, or sports statistics. Kevin still plays soccer, and on the weekends he enjoys attending concerts and art shows with his wife. He has been to six of the seven continents, and he plans on adding Antarctica to the list in the near future.
Seventh Grade
Rick Betz holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing/Literature from UC Santa Cruz and a Masters Degree in Education. He joined the Novato Charter School in 2003.
“Looking back down the road of my life, I am currently in my 18th year as a, primarily, middle school teacher here at NCS. Before that I spent 17 years at the Marin Waldorf School, completing two runs through the grades with a “sabbatical” year in which my wife and I ran a preschool. Along the way, Judy and I raised a family. We have three children, now 33, 30 and 26! Oh, my! I did my Waldorf training and received my Master’s in Education at Antioch, New England. Prior to leaving for the east coast my wife and I married in Ben Lomond, California. There we both graduated from USCS. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Literature via San Francisco State and UC Berkeley. Looking back to high school I met and fell in love with Judy. And me, I was born in LA, the result of my parents selling my mom’s engagement ring to flee the Broadway scene in New York in order to pursue careers in Hollywood. Before that, well, that is no longer my story, so for further details, give me a holler. I’m happy to oblige!”
Eighth Grade
Mr. Kinney holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara and a teaching credential from Dominican University of California. Both as an educator and a parent, Mr. Kinney has been involved in education reform through his work with innovative charter schools.
Mr. Kinney specializes in teaching science and he is credentialed in both Physics and Biology/Life Sciences. He has been teaching at NCS since 2007.
