Meet the CLCS Board

Gaylon Parsons is the CLCS Board President.  The CLCS community has been an important part of her life since her eldest child walked into Ms. Wesley’s Kindergarten classroom in Nea 2010. Gaylon's younger child attended both Nea and ACLC. In the spring semester of 2024,  she served as a long-term substitute ELA facilitator at Nea. CLCS learners, facilitators, staff, admin, and families deserve the very best, and she's honored to return to the board to serve this amazing community.

Gaylon arrived in the Bay Area in 2000 and began work as a program evaluation consultant to nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies. She used social science methods with a focus on qualitative data collection and analysis to answer questions about the effectiveness, outcomes, and impacts of programs. Gaylon's  content areas included early childhood education, full-service community schools implementation at the middle school level, and positive youth development. She spent three years doing workforce development at a community-based organization in Oakland, as the director of development
and evaluation, before spending the last dozen years at Audubon California where she served as deputy director through 2023. Gaylon still loves birds, and can often be found standing under a tree, looking up.

She graduated the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literatures, and holds an Advanced Studies in Evaluation Certificate from the Claremont Graduate University.

Sandy Calloway  

Jim Kaufman

Heather Dutton is a Math Facilitator and Math Department Lead at Nea’s Upper Village (grades 6-12) and ACLC. She regularly facilitates Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Pre-Calculus.

Heather has been involved with Nea since its start, first as a math tutor and as a facilitator since 2013. She is passionate about building relationships that help learners grow their math skills and confidence. She is also passionate about developing empowering, differentiated, and rigorous math curriculum. She loves and is deeply committed to the Nea Community and all its learners.

Heather has a B.A. in Liberal Arts Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her teaching credential from National University. Prior to teaching, she had a career in college-level educational publishing starting as a sales representative and then working for almost a decade as a developmental editor. She edited textbooks in Psychology, Biology, and Earth Science. After her daughter was born, she worked from home as a private math tutor. She tutored at ACLC and served one term as a community member on the ACLC Governing Board.

Heather lives in Alameda with her partner, her daughter, one dog and one cat. Besides math, she loves art, reading, camping, hiking, music, yoga, and watching soccer.

Danielle Pence has been a part of the CLCS community since 2015, when her oldest learner began at Nea.  She has been a room parent for multiple years for both her learners’ classrooms and she previously served as a Nea Board parent member before joining the CLCS board. She appreciates the community both Nea and ACLC builds around their learners that includes facilitators, support staff, parents and families. Danielle has seen firsthand the confidence, independence, respect, curiosity and advocacy these schools foster in the learners through both of her children.  She believes these two CLCS schools are truly a treasure to our community in Alameda that serves families both on and around Alameda.

Danielle has a master’s degree in counseling psychology and has worked for well over a decade as a licensed marriage and family therapist. Her primary focus has been working with youth and families involved in the foster and juvenile justice systems providing community-based services and advocating for underserved populations. She was also the Assistant Director of Specialty Mental Health Services for Asian Health Services. Currently, she works as a Clinical Review Specialist in Quality Assurance with the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department. She believes strongly in assuring that our youth have access to mental health services and other adjunct services that support them in their success academically and as community members.

Danielle is a Girl Scout leader, Scouts of America merit badge counselor, professional dancer and trained labor and postpartum doula. She loves spending time with her family, and you can usually find her on the field or at a gym cheering on her son as he plays baseball and basketball, or in a dance studio or theater cheering her daughter on as a performer in both dance and theater.

Annalisa Moore became the Executive Director of CLC Schools in July 2017, after having filled several leadership roles at Nea CLC since 2013. She is a dedicated educator with more than ten years of administrative experience and over three years in the classroom. She holds a Masters in Education, a multi-subject teaching credential, and a BA in Liberal Studies with a minor in Youth Services and Administration.

When serving as a Grant Manager with the Alameda Unified School District, Annalisa managed a multi-million dollar budget, oversaw 78 staff, and provided intervention and after-school programs across four elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools. Annalisa later joined The Academy of Alameda, a start-up charter school, as their Dean of Students in 2011. In this role, she shifted school culture through programmatic reforms that resulted in a significant decrease in disciplinary issues and improved academic performance ratings each year.

Annalisa believes deeply in CLCS's child-centered and project-based approach. As a 4th-generation educator, she has a passion for learning and understands what is needed to support learner success. She is eager to continue developing CLCS's innovative curriculum. Annalisa is also deeply committed the Alameda community and its youth. When she is not busy at work, you can find her at home with her husband and three children.

Lee Harris is a parent of an ACLC learner/graduate.  He is also a seasoned consumer attorney and activist with decades of experience advocating for individuals, small businesses, and communities facing complex legal challenges.  As President of Consumer Attorneys Of California, he has championed the rights of California consumers and fire victims.  In Alameda, Lee has played a pivotal role in community development, serving as President of both the Alameda Planning Board and the Community of Harbor Bay Isle Homeowners Association.  His leadership includes navigating the transition of the Alameda Naval Air Station to city control and supporting the construction of a needed public school.

Lee has also testified before the California Legislature as an expert on insurance issues and served by appointment on the California Commission to revise the state's Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers.  Recently, he was honored at SF City Hall with a lifetime achievement award by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers for his consumer advocacy work.

Lee holds a degree with honors from Harvard and earned his law degree from the University of San Francisco, where he received the American Jurisprudence Award for Evidence.

Taryn Mickus has been a part of the CLCS community since 2014, when her oldest child started kindergarten at Nea. She is a proponent of Nea and ACLC’s learner-led approach and has seen it benefit her children. She has served as president of the parent organizations at both schools. 

Taryn’s professional background is in business management and marketing.  She is the founder of two healthcare companies and previously ran communications for higher education clients including Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and Villanova School of Business. She is honored to be on the CLCS board and hopes to use her expertise to ensure the success of its schools for years to come

Dr. Sabunmi Woods, is a Board Community Member and has been involved with the organization since 2014-15.  Dr. Woods is the K-12 Culture and Extended learning team program coordinator for Lodestar, Oakland.  She has been working in education for over 20 years in different capacities and has a doctorate In Educational Leadership.   Sabunmi was born and raised in Oakland, an educator, and mother of a teenager. She loves working in education even with all the challenges we are facing today.  There is still nothing else she'd rather do. She loves working with the children and their families making sure they reach all of the resources they need to thrive.