Dottie Foote, Ph.D. came to the school as Executive Director in the Fall of 2008. She holds a Ph.D. in Education and Psychology and a MS in Human Development from The University of Maine and is thrilled to be following in the footsteps of the school’s founders – advancing the work of alternative education. After spending years in the banking industry, non-profit leadership, and teaching for UMaine, Dottie worked on issues of social justice, specifically with issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in rural Maine. Her work with adolescents over 10 years prior to coming to the Community School was in the development of a cutting-edge social justice program for teens aged 14-19 called the Diversity Coalition (DC). The goal of DC is to stimulate these young men and women to develop a heightened awareness of real-world socio-cultural issues, reflect on their own social positions within these issues (class, race, ethnicity, gender, etc,) and further are encouraged to fully engage themselves in the community at large through concrete and public social activism.
Dottie teaches Psychology of Adolescence for The University of Maine and is a Board member of The Restorative Justice Project. Dot also is on Maine’s Shared Youth Vision Council and acts as an adviser to the Commissioner of Education as a member of the Committee on Truancy, Dropout and Alternative Education. And although the gardens need tending and the piano continues to gather dust – she loves to run and ski and keep an eye to the next new adventure for the CSchool. She lives in Rockport with her husband Charlie and her own adolescent personal trainers, Andrea 21, Morgan 18, and William 15 and a splendid Maine Coon Cat named Puck.
Martha Kempe – Passages Program Director
Martha holds an undergraduate fine arts degree from University of Oregon and a masters in Expressive Therapies and Counseling from the University of Louisville. She recently completed her Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Leadership from the University of Maine, Orono. Before joining The Community School in 2004, Martha was Director of Residential Services for Kent County Rhode Island, Design Program Specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington DC, Apprenticeship Coordinator for the Swain School of Design, Director of Grants and Contracts at UMass Dartmouth and a Title 1 Ed Tech for Camden/Rockport Elementary School. Martha loves family, good books, laughter and seeing new places.
Andrea Itkin – Lead Teacher & Curriculum Coordinator
Andrea has worked for The Community School since 2003. She loves the privilege of working one-on-one with young parents, learning everything about them and their children, encouraging them to nurture their own curiosity, and watching them grow as students, as parents, and as citizens. Before landing at the Community School, Andrea wore a variety of hats: in the late ’70’s she started a community day care center in rural Iowa; she worked in a natural food market in Maryland; and after moving to Maine she worked in restaurants, in newspaper production, as a residential counselor in a home for mentally challenged adults, and in several capacities in a domestic violence agency. Andrea earned her writing and teaching degree from Vermont College. She has acted in many plays, written a few, recorded books and conducted playwriting workshops in an after-school program. She loves writing (her own and others), hiking, gardening, boating and spending time with her far-flung family.
Heather King – Teacher
Heather joined The Community School in 2010. She grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire and later moved to New York, where she worked as a kindergarten teacher and Head Start home visitor. She then spent eleven years living in Pennsylvania and serving as an adjunct professor on the English and Reading faculty of Allegany College of Maryland. During this time, she also taught high school and college English and writing, served as a fundraiser for her college campus, helped raise funds for Heifer International, and was the keynote graduation speaker at the state prison in Pennsylvania.
Heather is a creative writer and author of the children’s book “Peace of Trash”, about a girl fighting for the educational rights of girls in the war torn Gaza Strip. She is also an avid reader and enjoys kayaking, canoeing, water skiing, hiking, going to the theater and connecting with her children. Heather lives in Windsor with her husband, Cory, and their three children, Dylan, Cade and Parker.
Lisa Peavey – Teacher
Lisa has lived in many states but has made Maine her home for the last 25 years. She attended the University of Maine at Farmington. She has taught English in public schools and in a youth development center, as well as teaching many subjects in a day treatment facility. Emma and Ethan are her two wonderful children. Among her favorite things are encouraging and watching her children participate in their passions of horseback riding and soccer. She also loves reading, laughing, learning new things, practicing yoga, and raising her pug, Dudley.
Joseph Hufnagel - Residential Program Director
Joseph has been a part of The Community School since 2008. Before moving to Maine, Joseph worked as a teacher and after-school director at The Middle School Academy in Boston, as a teacher and administrator at The Nantucket New School, and as a teacher, coach, and community organizer with Teach for America, where he worked along the Texas/Mexican border. He has also worked as an assistant dean with Exploration Summer Programs, as an outdoor adventure guide with various adventure-based organizations, including Outward Bound, as a teacher in an alternative school in Costa Rica, and as an intern in the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Joseph holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Boston College and a master’s degree in Environmental Education from Lesley University. Joseph also earned his certification in Special Education from University of Texas Pan America and his Massachusetts state certification to teach history and social studies. Joseph loves being part of a team, working with exceptional people, playing sports and music, exploring the world, and sharing life with his family and friends, most especially his beautiful wife, Amy, and adorable baby girl, Zoe.
Carrie Braman – Lead Teacher & Curriculum Coordinator
Carrie has worked at The Community School since 2009. Before moving to Maine, Carrie completed her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana, where she taught Freshman Writing Composition. She has also taught at the Centerpoint School in Winooski, Vermont, which served as a strengths-based educational alternative for at-risk high school students. Carrie began her teaching career in a third-grade classroom at the New Mexico School for the Deaf, where she taught both deaf and hearing students in an integrated classroom. Carrie earned her BA in English from Bennington College in 2003. She has had a life-long interest in alternative education and has attended alternative college, high school, and semester programs. Carrie is obsessed with pie. She has been to Pietown, NM on several different pilgrimages and wants to write a book of essays about her search for the best slice out there. From this, it should be obvious that Carrie likes to cook, eat, and write. She also love making maple syrup and aspires to own her own sugarbush one day. She occasionally plays the accordion.
Trevor Slater – Lead Teacher
Trevor began his educational career studying outdoor experiential education at Hampshire College where he earned his B.A. He went on to work for Outward Bound as a course instructor for at risk youth and then became a lead teacher at the Learning Community Day School in Baltimore serving disenfranchised teens. He through hiked the Appalachian Trail before moving north to his birth state of Massachusetts and working as a counselor at a boarding school for troubled teens. After moving to Maine, he worked at King Middle School while earning his Masters in Special Education at the University of Southern Maine. He taught in public schools for 5 years after that while pursuing his hobbies of Crossfit and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. He is the proud father of two and currently makes his home in Brunswick.
Tom Butler - Art Director and Residential Support Staff
Tom joined The Community School in 2010. Tom’s background is in both Art History and Fine Art Practice. He holds a BA and MFA in Fine Art Sculpture and has exhibited internationally. Believing that Art is essentially a social activity, he brings dialogues and disciplines both modern and traditional to the table. Alternative methods and approaches are discussed and shared to encourage the students to see things in a new way, with the aim for them to create and believe in their own personal visual language. Tom grew up and went to school in London, England and has recently moved to Rockland with his wife Kate. He is also a huge fan of ghost stories (though has never seen one) and makes an excellent pasta sauce, if he doesn’t mind saying so himself.
Emily Sapienza - Residential Campus Director
Emily joined the staff in 2010, returning to the Midcoast area after a year in Washington, D.C. Emily grew up just outside of Boston, and has worked for The Department of Defense, The Obama Campaign, National Public Radio, WRFR-LP Community Radio (93.3 Rockland & 99.3 Camden), VillageSoup and The Penobscot School. She has also worked at language schools and elementary schools in Italy, Boston, and New York. Emily lives in Rockland and loves kayaking, fine cheese, and practicing her favorite dance move. Her heroes include Julia Child, Jean Piaget, and Shel Silverstein.
Maureen El-Hajj – Residential Overnight Counselor
Maureen worked for seven years at Home Counselors, Inc. before joining The Community School in 2009 as a Residential Overnight Counselor. Maureen was born in Washington D.C, as the second of eight children, and later moved to Maine, where she attended Hamden Academy and Bangor Community College. Maureen studied liberal arts and early childhood education in college, and has run her own cleaning business for the past 18 years. Maureen has three children; Ryan, Kristofer, and Lauren, and lives in Rockland. In her down time, Maureen’s favorite activities are hiking, kayaking, dancing and camping. She loves working at The Community School because she loves teenagers and wants to see them succeed in life.
Diantha Bovey - Residential Overnight Counselor
Diantha first joined The Community School in 2010 as a Social Work Intern with The University of Maine. Upon completion of her internship, Diantha joined the staff as Residential Overnight Counselor. Diantha grew up in many places all over the United States; a few years ago she chose Belfast as her hometown where she sets up indie-rock shows and grows organic vegetables. Diantha is an artist and a musician, most noted for her art-rock band Full Contact Kitty. She has performed all over the East Coast as well as in India. She will graduate from UMaine with her Masters in Social Work in 2012 and hopes to practice music therapy with teenagers and young adults.
Amanda Wogaman - Residential Overnight Counselor
Originally from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Amanda fell in love with Maine during her time at Unity College, where she studied Adventure Therapy. During this time, she completed course work in psychology, lead adventure trips for people of all abilities, completed an Outward Bound semester, and volunteered for events like The Winter Special Olympics. She graduated in 2010, and joined the Community School in early 2011. In the summer months Amanda can be found working in the administration of The Summer Camp, which provides a free camp experience for girls from foster care and inner-cities in New England. Most recently she was an Instructor at Nature’s Classroom, where she taught science and led field groups in the great outdoors. Amanda enjoys board games, sourdough bread, and traveling by head lamp.
Summer Watkins - Residential Overnight Counselor
Summer grew up in small town Oklahoma hiking the plateaus, exploring caves, and playing basketball. She went to school at the University of Oklahoma where she got her BA in Environmental Studies. Summer has worked with children in one way or another, either through coaching, babysitting, or peer tutoring, since she was 13. She came to Maine on a whim in 2007 to do trail work at Baxter State Park, and fell in love. Summer has a BIG love for The Summer Camp, the all girls camp she works for several months each year, and is excited to live and work in Maine year round! Summer really enjoys cooking for other people, sharing stories, wilderness adventures of all kinds, mountain biking, reading, drinking tea, watching baseball, and just general merriment.
Emily Keef – Residential Overnight Counselor
Emily first became interested in helping young adults after she graduated from the music and dance program at Portland Arts and Technology High School, where she volunteered to tutor dance and movement arts to students after she graduated.
Emily’s undergraduate education at Naropa University and Marlboro college deeply influenced her fondness for social justice, alternative education, cross cultural studies and a love of nature. She also experienced a variety of amazing opportunities, such as volunteering in New Orleans and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, and co-leading a group of fellow students in Canyon Lands National Park in Utah. Emily’s most recent place of employment was at ROOTS Enrichment Center, a holistic alternative and eco-friendly school, where she was the lead toddler teacher. Emily is currently earning her master’s in Mental Health and Clinical Counseling at the University of Southern Maine. She hopes to use her counseling practice to integrate wilderness, cognitive and expressive therapies, applicable to inner-city adolescents and young parents.
Emily has a three year old, Oliver, who is an amazing and high spirited boy who she loves with all her heart, and an amazing and loving partner Matt, who continues to impress her with his beautiful woodworking projects. Some of Emily’s interests include spending time with her extended family, art, poetry, gardening, growing and using culinary and medicinal herbs, cooking, riding her bike, dance, music, and making up silly hip hop songs with Oliver and his cousins.
Cathy Ames – Culinary Instructor
Cathy has been working at The Community School since 2000. Cathy was born in Camden, attended Camden Rockport High school, and later, studied English and Education at The University of Maine Augusta. Cathy has four children, and in 2009, she became a proud grandmother! Cathy loves working at The Community School because she loves kids and believes everyone needs a chance in life. Cathy’s mission at The C School is to help give kids the tools to be successful, and also to help make sure they are eating more than Raman Noodles when grow up! Cathy lives in West Rockport, and when she’s not at the school, she can be found cooking, baking, or camping and swimming in the outdoors.
Jean Ouellette – Admissions Director
Jean joined The Community School as the Admissions Director in May of 2011. After graduating from the University of Maine with a BS in Food Science and Human Nutrition, Jean went to work for the nutrition program known as WIC where she worked with young families throughout the Midcoast region. After twenty years in WIC, she decided to change things up and became a part of The Community School’s mission of helping students to discover their strengths and achieve their goals. Jean enjoys reading, knitting, and cooking for the special people in her life. She is also an avid animal lover (except for frogs which she finds creepy). When she is not at the school she is busy on the farm she shares with 3 horses, 2 goats, 2 ducks, several chickens, a cat, and a goofy Bullmastiff.
Laurie Pierce - Finance Manager
Laurie joined The Community School in 2009 as our Finance Manager. Laurie is a life-long Maine resident and a long-time foster parent. Laurie attended George’s Valley High School and has many years of bookkeeping experience, most recently for Pen-Bay Christian Schools. She has also served as treasurer for several local non-profit organizations, and was drawn to The Community School because of its positive, community-centered approach. Laurie is a huge fan of chocolate, and lives in Owl’s Head with her three kids and their dog, Mia. When she’s not at the school, Laurie enjoys spending time with her kids and listening to the amazing things they have to say.
The Community School Staff
” The common sense and the uncommon compassion of the Community School has improved hundreds of young lives and enriched the surrounding neighborhoods.”
- Former U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell
