Teaching at La Jolla Country Day School

Faculty/Staff Directory

Department

Grade

Last Name

Deborah Shaul

Educator, US Humanities; Student Publications Coordinator

(858) 453-3440 x256

Bio

“As a teacher of literature, I have the opportunity to talk with students about how texts connect to their lives. I help them find their own voices through writing, presentations and discussion. The conversations of the class—the ones that connect to the students’ lives, their dreams, and hopefully through which they find inspiration—serve as the key way in which I can inspire greatness for a better world, starting with the small world of an English classroom at La Jolla Country Day School.”

Deborah Shaul has been teaching at LJCDS since 1997. She taught in private high schools and in several colleges in the Washington, D.C. area before moving to San Diego. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English and communications, with a French minor from the University of Michigan, and a master’s in American literature from the American University in Washington, D.C. She is ABD (all but dissertation) in American studies, working toward a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. American studies makes connections between literature and the historical context in which it was written, and Ms. Shaul regularly makes those connections in her classroom.

Ms. Shaul created the American studies program in 2009.
Joanne Bradley

Educator, US English and Humanities

(858) 453-3440 x246

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by loving what I teach and communicating that passion to my students.”

Joanne Bradley has been at La Jolla Country Day School since 1986. During her career here, she has been an English teacher and was also Upper School librarian, a perfect combination since she is an avid reader. While at LJCDS, Ms. Bradley has taught American literature, speech, Murder and Mayhem: The Villain in Literature, and women’s studies. In her role as Upper School librarian, she has also taught research skills, how to navigate databases and how to determine authenticity in websites. She enjoys sharing her love of literature with her students, and her happiest moments are when she sees her students experience the “light bulb.”

Ms. Bradley’s educational background is varied as well. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Italian from Mount Holyoke College, Master of Arts in English from Boston College, where she was awarded a teaching fellowship, and Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University.

Outside of school, Ms. Bradley spends much of her time volunteering with her two registered therapy dogs, Lulu and Sunshine. They visit many facilities, including hospitals, assisted-living homes, correctional institutes and schools during finals week.

Ms. Bradley loves to watch and play tennis, read and work on jigsaw puzzles. Traveling is also a passion, and her favorite place is Italy, which she has visited often. Born in Massachusetts, she is a die-hard Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics fan, and as a result, she learned resilience at an early age.
Kailey Giordano Ph.D.

Educator, US Humanities

(858) 453-3440 x473

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by deepening students’ connections to great literature, the study of which helps us understand the complexity of human experiences and, in that way, encourages us to be more accepting and compassionate. I challenge students to think in a concentrated, nuanced way about human problems and to find humane solutions to them.”

Kailey Giordano, Ph.D., is the co-chair of the Upper School Humanities Department. She teaches Upper School English I and English III and Science, Technology, and Literature. Dr. Giordano is the Upper School book club advisor and is developing an Upper School writing center, which will support all forms of writing across the disciplines. She earned a Ph.D. in Literature from UC San Diego and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from UC Los Angeles.

Dr. Giordano’s work on 17th-century England examines the concerns women writers raised during this period about the intensified exploitation of nature as England transitioned from a feudal economy to an agrarian-capitalist economy. She is currently adapting this research for her book-length project entitled Miranda’s Daughters: Women’s Ecological Thinking in Seventeenth-Century English Literature.

Before joining LJCDS in 2021, Dr. Giordano taught for two years at UC San Diego and the University of San Diego.
Fiona Halloran Ph.D.

Educator, US Humanities

(858) 453-3440 x114

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by helping students explore the origins and meanings of American identity. One of the most challenging elements of changing the world is knowing where to begin. A deeper sense of national and personal identity can drive students toward a clearer vision of the change they want to achieve and can, as a result, help them to improve all of our lives.”

Fiona Halloran, Ph.D., teaches Upper School humanities courses, including American Studies, AP European History, AP U.S. History, and Food and Culture. She also helps to guide the Model United Nations program. Dr. Halloran earned a Ph.D. in American history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in American history from American University in Washington, D.C. She is the author of Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons. She has been supported in her research on American political cartooning and 19th-century history by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Huntington Library, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute, and the University of Oxford.

Before coming to LJCDS in 2019, Dr. Halloran taught for four years at Eastern Kentucky University and for nine years at Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the parent of a member of the class of 2026 and is excited to see where an LJCDS education will lead him.
Amy Parish Ph.D.

Educator, US English and Humanities

(858) 453-3440 x347

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by connecting the student with the outside world and bringing that outside world into the classroom. I aspire to cultivate a life of the mind and a polymathic experience in the classroom that draws from the humanities, the social sciences and the arts to draw connections and create depth and breadth that is then applied in real-world contexts.”

Amy Parish, Ph.D., creates a classroom experience that motivates students to internalize their learning enough to pursue it in the future in their own ways. She wants active learners to emerge—students who make sense of the world through their own eyes, experiences and values—so that their educational experiences might significantly enrich them.

Dr. Parish is an interdisciplinary scholar and internationally recognized primatologist who teaches at LJCDS and also at the University of Southern California. Her undergraduate training at the University of Michigan inspired her to pursue her doctorate in biological anthropology at the University of California, Davis. She is one of the world’s experts on the social behavior of the bonobo and has appeared on NOVA and the Discovery Channel and in National Geographic films. In 2016, The New York Times featured her work in an article about female camaraderie in bonobos. Dr. Parish applies her teaching experience in science, social sciences and the humanities to the English classroom at LJCDS, where she encourages students to think critically, re-examine their attitudes, and become aware of larger patterns in the fabric of our global society. She is a fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities.

Dr. Parish is the proud parent of an LJCDS class of 2011 graduate. In her free time, you can find her among her ape friends at the zoo, in dialogue at the LA Library as part of their acclaimed ALOUD literary series of conversations, or reading Joan Didion or other favorite authors.
Gary Peritz

Educator, US English

(858) 453-3440 x184

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by using literature as a tool for human understanding, with its ability to inspire compassion leading to action and positive social change.”

Gary Peritz believes that literature creates psychological awareness that carries over into the world, of complicated individuals whose inner lives are usually hard to fathom. Literary characters disrupt reader expectations, undermining prejudices and stereotypes, and teaching us the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves. His role as a teacher is to create lifetime readers who will continue to see that reading is a valuable socializing influence.

Mr. Peritz began his teaching career with an honorarium from the University of California, Santa Barbara, College of Creative Studies. As a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, he had teaching assignments in various departments: Third College Writing Program, Communications and Latin American studies.

In the summer of 1997, Mr. Peritz joined La Jolla Country Day School’s English department. He is a parent of two lifers who attended LJCDS from nursery school to graduation, classes of 2015 and 2017.
Kevin Riel Ph.D.

Educator, US English

(858) 453-3440 x479

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by encouraging students to trust their facility for trenchant critical analysis and the idiosyncratic music of their own voice. I also urge students to develop an aptitude for curiosity and skepticism, habits of mind that are keys to successful humanities scholarship, vigorous citizenship and a vibrant life.”

Kevin Riel, Ph.D., joined the LJCDS faculty in 2021 after spending two years at the Webb Schools, a position he started a week after finishing graduate school in 2018. Within a week at Webb, Dr. Riel knew that channeling the unstoppable energy of high schoolers was his calling.

Dr. Riel earned a Master of Arts in literature and creative writing and a Ph.D. in English, both from Claremont Graduate University (CGU). While his research specialty is 20th-century American poetry, he has a broad, transdisciplinary track record in the humanities. In graduate school, Dr. Riel lectured and adjuncted throughout the Claremont Colleges area and worked full-time for CGU as a grant writer and speechwriter for two university presidents. Additionally, Dr. Riel launched and headed CGU’s literary magazine, Foothill Poetry Journal, in partnership with the Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards. His academic essays and poems have appeared in internationally recognized publications, including the Journal of Modern Literature, the Iowa Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Prelude and many others.

A native San Diegan, Dr. Riel is delighted to be back home teaching near family, the world’s finest taco shops and (as an avid surfer) the beach. He and his wife have three young children and a rowdy labrador.

Kevin Riel’s LinkedIn
Robin Stewart

Educator, US Humanities; US Coordinator for Diversity, Equity, and Culture

(858) 453-3440 x194

Bio

“I inspire greatness for a better world by honoring my students’ dignity and by nurturing their ideas and intellectual creativity. I enthusiastically cultivate the potential in each of my students, and I encourage them to embrace literature and philosophy as catalysts to reflect on the possibilities for our world.”

Robin Stewart has been teaching English at La Jolla Country Day School since 2004. Prior to LJCDS, Ms. Stewart taught at an independent school in Macon, Georgia, and as an adjunct for a San Diego Community College. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English literature with a concentration in peace and conflict studies from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and her Master of Arts in African languages and literature from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

As a student, Ms. Stewart wrote poetry, played basketball and rowed crew. As a teacher, she continues to promote a love of poetry and a social conscience. She has served as a policy debate coach, facilitated the Amnesty International Club, and led student activities to celebrate diversity and global citizenship and promote equity and justice. As part of those responsibilities, Ms. Stewart has chaperoned LJCDS student representatives to the National Association of Independent School’s Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) for many years. She also facilitates the annual LJCDS Hope Conference, which is a student-led day of education and inspiration to embrace diversity with dignity and is modeled after SDLC.

Ms. Stewart is passionate about teaching sophomore English and senior English, including the senior elective World Beat: Literature of Africa and the African Diaspora, for which she is thrilled to utilize her graduate studies.