Meet our Staff - 2025-2026
The Bridge School staff is a vibrant, diverse, and committed group of educators who collaborate to meet each student’s needs. Each year our core teachers are joined by an evolving team of specialists. Our classroom teachers hold advanced degrees, as do many of our specialists.
Core Classroom Teachers
Jessica Wride
Cedar Classroom Teacher
Jessica (she/her) is in her third year as our 5-7 year old teacher, and has over 10 years experience as an elementary classroom teacher in the Issaquah Public School District. She also has extensive experience in teacher coaching and mentoring for educators in K-12. Her depth of knowledge and experience in child development and social-emotional learning contributes to the well-being of all our students and the success of our caregiver volunteers. Jessica is also a visual artist!
Jessica has a B.A. in History and a B.A. in Child Development from Washington State University, Pullman and a Master in Teaching degree from City University, Seattle. She holds an Early Childhood (Generalist) National Board Certification.
Kitty Barnett
Maple Classroom Teacher
Lead Instructor
Kitty Barnett (she/her) is an award winning educator with over 20 years of experience in the classroom. She holds an M.S. in Ecology and Biological Science from University of Minnesota and an M.A. in Teaching from Miami University of Ohio. She has specialized in middle school science instruction, and has taught across K-8 during her career.
As a teacher, Kitty is happiest and most effective when she has the freedom to design and implement inquiry-based projects that invite students to actively participate in their learning. She approaches teaching from a perspective that every child wants to succeed and it is our job as educators to teach in a way that works for them and that encourages them to blossom and grow.
Kitty has a dog named Strawberry and is a member of a competitive Dragon Boat team, the Seattle Flying Dragons.
Specialists
Anna Erickson
Outdoor Education Instructor
Anna (she/they) was a Bridge School teacher from 2015-2019 and then again from 2023-2025. Anna’s excited to continue as an Outdoor Education Instructor in 2026.
Her professional teaching career spans from over a decade in early childhood to a Master’s Degree in Teaching with experience in classrooms ranging from K-8. She is a musician, mother, certified permaculturist, organic gardener, amateur carpenter, and budding herbalist. Her work is rooted in social and environmental integrity with a firm belief in human kindness, self-awareness, metacognition, and solution oriented critical thinking.
Ali Arnote
Outdoor Education Instructor
Ali (she/her) grew up between the wilds of Northern Arizona and Tokyo, Japan, where she was lucky enough to play freely in the outdoors creating such vivid memories of her adventures that she still finds herself sizing up trees for their climb-ability, looking for sticks to race down streams or introducing herself to new plant friends. She returned to the US to earn degrees in Visual Anthropology and Photography from University of Southern California and Visual Communications from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
While she has worked with kids her entire life, Ali began working in a school setting in 2004 which grew into opening a process based kid’s art studio in Southern California. She is a certified Tinkergarten Leader and has been exploring outdoors with kids and their grown-ups since 2016. Ali works with all ages in our program. She has also been a parent of Bridge School students and a Board Member! Ali continually finds delight in sharing her connection with nature while watching the pure joy as students develop their own.
Allison Gobat
Music & Theater Specialist
Academic Support Specialist Creative Enrichment Instructor
Allison (she/her) is a hands-on, sensory-led, active teacher. She likes to keep the children moving, experiencing, having fun, and learning through doing. She likes to bring multiple senses into her teaching so that she can reach each student wherever their strengths lie. She believes in allowing skill development to happen in its own time for each student — there is no “one size fits all” for learning. Allison has taught Preschool through High School in various positions: special education inclusion specialist, one-on-one instructor, special programs teacher, specific subject tutor, and music, theater and arts teacher.
She has a Master’s degree in Special Education from the University of San Diego and holds certifications in Elementary Education, K-8 Special Education, and Early Childhood Special Education.
Caitlin Huertas
Visual Arts Instructor
Music & Theater Specialist
Caitlin (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, creative director and curious crafter. She was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio but now loves her home in the PNW.
Before teaching at The Bridge School, she opened Outer Space Seattle, an indoor playground for kids of all abilities. Prior to that, while in advertising, Caitlin has worked with many brands such as Woodland Park Zoo, Amazon, T-Mobile, Alaska Airlines, the Seattle International Film Festival and more.
Caitlin has a B.A. in Communication & Art from Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, OH.
Whitney Young
Movement Specialist
Whitney Young (they/them) has an extensive background in early childhood education and administration, most recently with Breitenbush Retreat Center and Community School of West Seattle. In addition to their experience and educational background in early childhood and elementary education, Whitney is an ever-curious educator, with professional training in neurorelational approaches, emotional regulation, and restorative conversations. Across roles, Whitney holds the same goal: to create spaces where people feel grounded, connected, and free to explore.
Administrative Staff
Amanda Hill
Head of School
Amanda (she/they) joined Bridge staff as Head of School in 2023 as a life-long educator with 15 years of experience teaching, supervising educators, building programs, and managing teams in a college setting. Amanda views each leadership opportunity as a chance to serve, support and uplift community members while providing clear direction and vision and respecting each other’s time, talents, identities and boundaries.
Amanda’s passions as an educator include addressing systemic privileges in education, implementing anti-racist teaching methods, fostering gender inclusive communities, and creating accessible, welcoming learning environments for neurodivergent students. Amanda is also a studio potter and an avid reader. They have been part of The Bridge School community since 2019, when their child joined as a Coho student. Before pursuing a career in college education and administration, Amanda taught preschool and K-5 students in community settings and studied early childhood development.
Amanda holds a BA in English and a minor in Women’s Studies from California State University East Bay and a Master’s in English from Western Washington University. Prior to joining The Bridge School, Amanda was Professor of Rhetoric and Composition and Director of the Writing Center at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
