Hello amazing Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center Families! I am soexcited to be joining this amazing learning community. ERCLC is an extremely special school and I look forward to a fresh new start for our school in 2021! As I’ve
been in education for about 20 years, I’ve spent many years building and supporting charter schools, especially homeschool independent study! I look forward to getting to know each and everyone of you this year! 

Warmest wishes, Heather Rocha,
Superintendent

I have been involved in education since the early 1980s and have a strong interest in the natural environment. One of the many joys of being at ERCLC is being involved in our property’s restoration and return to its native vegetation. As a farmer’s son, I spent the first quarter century of my life in the rural Midwest. I remember my mother’s replanting of some land returning it to a native prairie, and going with her in the spring to view wildflowers and pick morel mushrooms in an undisturbed woodland. My father was an accomplished marksman and hunter who innately understood weather, animal, and bird life.

I am an Education Coordinator at ERCLC who believes that life is an adventure!
After graduating from Humboldt State University with a degree in Theater Arts, I earned my teaching credential and went on to teach in classrooms in Concord and Lindsay. Ultimately, I decided to homeschool my own three daughters. At ERCLC, I teach art, sewing, and other classes. I am passionate about learning new things: reading,exploring, being a part of the maker movement, and sharing these experiences with others. My goal is to support families, give to our community, and help enrich your child’s education.

I love teaching what I teach and where I teach. ERCLC offers students (and teachers) opportunities for growth and creativity that are, sadly, rare in education. Over my fourteen years at the school I have taught a lot of different classes, but all of them have had to do with the written or spoken word. Reading, writing and acting are things that I love to do and that I love to share with students.
I began my teaching career in Los Angeles as a high school English and drama teacher in East L.A., and then moved to Sequoia High School Continuation School in Visalia. As I worked with my students, many of whom were struggling in school, I began to realize that the problem was not always with the student, but sometimes with the system of education that was forced upon them. I didn’t want to be “just another brick in the wall”…and that was what I was beginning to feel like in the traditional school setting.

Born and raised in Sanger, CA, I was homeschooled through second grade. I graduated from Sanger High in 1997, and from Reedley College (where I fell in love with teaching in the ceramics lab) in 1999. I put myself through Fresno State by decorating ice cream cakes for Baskin Robbins and substitute teaching for Fresno Unified. In 2001, I graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies (which pretty much means I know a little bit about everything but not a whole lot about any one thing). I am a proud valley local through and through, I suppose. I went on to begin working on my multiple subject credential but took a break to start a family.

All of life is a constant education. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
I have been an educator since 1991 and have enjoyed working with students of all ages and their families. I’ve had experience as a classroom teacher, administrator and education coordinator. My own two children were homeschooled through Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center for several years as well as growing up as staff kids in this supportive environment since the first year this charter school opened in 2001. It is a privilege to work for a school that supports learning in a variety of ways.

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher!  I’ve taught in huge urban public schools and tiny rural charters, but I couldn’t be happier than I am now, supporting families learning together at ERCLC.
I’m an L.A. native and earned my B.A. in Philosophy from Loyola Marymount University and my teaching credential through LAUSD’s Intern Program. When my daughter was twelve, a group of us founded a charter school when we recognized a need for an environment where each child was recognized as unique, with their own passions and strengths.  As a former classroom teacher, I know how difficult it can be to nurture kids as individuals, so I am honored to work with families now who are pursuing this.  I particularly enjoy helping students develop as readers and writers and have special expertise in teaching young kids.

Hello, I’m the Special Education Coordinator here at ERCLC. At the time of this writing, this is my fourth year at ERCLC. ERCLC is really the greatest place in Visalia, if not on Earth. Watch out Disneyland!
I have a BA in Liberal Arts from Fresno Pacific University. I earned my Multiple Subjects and Special Education teaching credential, as well as an MA in Educational Leadership and an Administrative credential from Chapman University.  I have experience in the general education and special education classroom, and have taught English as a second language. I lived in Japan for seven years and I continually run into people who have also lived Japan. I guess it is a small world after all!

I am the Math specialist for the 6-12th grade programs at ERCLC. I earned a BA in Mathematics from Fresno State and an MS in Education from National University before going into teaching.  For eleven years I taught in a traditional school setting and then spent another eleven years homeschooling two of my three children. I then found ERCLC and was able to start teaching here. I was fortunate to be exposed to a wide variety of activities growing up and in my adult life. These include: racing sailboats, fencing, ocean kayaking, fishing, traveling, reading, making, and falconry.  I bring this variety and knowledge to our campus by teaching diverse classes and supporting individual students in their own educational journeys.

Barbra has always been a grown-up name in my opinion. One that I felt didn’t really suit me. My family calls me Barb and often it sounds horrible from the mouths of new acquaintances. Some of my brothers and sisters call me Barbi. My momma always thought I’d be Babs. That didn’t fly until college and the camp scene. My southern friends call me Barbra Irene, don’t forget the drawl! Just after high school I renamed myself Barbra Irene Westfall III. My mother’s mother was Barbara June, my father’s mother Irene Margaret, therefore I am the third. My two year-old roommate Luna squeals Bobbi every time I walk through the door. My grandmother Barbara was called Bobbie. It feels quite right that my newest family, Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center calls me Teacher Bobbi.

It was serendipitous coming to ERCLC in 2002 when the school transitioned 30+ students from the Exeter storefront to our present seven acres. With a built-in bookcase, a full size couch and being greeted by a toddling baby offering earnest fistfuls of cheerios – I felt at home.

ERCLC was then a one room schoohouse with half the space, an all purpose karate/band/classroom/lunchroom with a motorhome as back-up. Shortly after, my son enrolled. The land was wild and unruly yet, undeniably inviting with yes, the original “hole.” Some of our founders: Klara East, Sara Sample, Denise Carmen, and Rose Ann Gutierrez were here, as well as Peggy, Bryan, and Jeri Hoag.

Coming from the LA Unified School District, it took me a couple years to completely detox from public schooling. Fortunately I was able to and successfully homeschooled my son at ERCLC from 5th through 11th grade. He graduated a year early and has moved on to a successful university career. After taking an eight year career break I have joined ERCLC as the Administrative Assistant…a shift that feels less like a career move and more like a welcome home party.
In my previous Los Angeles-based incarnation, I graduated from UCLA with a BA in English Literature and owned a business catering to the whims and fancies of Hollywood celebrities

Our family came to ERCLC in 2002.  In 2003, I began working part time assisting the Business Manager, eventually taking over the position full time.  I grew up outside of Chicago and graduated from Rockford College with a BFA in Theatre/Acting (perhaps this is where part of my “passionate” personality comes from.  That and being half Italian). I came to California in my mid-twenties to work in Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park.  This is where I lived for six years and met my husband, Tom.  We then moved to Virginia and worked in Washington, DC, followed by Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and Olympic National Park in Washington.