Teaching Faculty

Darla Tuning

Teacher, Kindergarten

Dana Crossland

Teacher, First Grade

Dana Crossland was born and raised in the Bay Area. She received a BA in Acting from UCLA and has studied Theater at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, Berkeley Repertory Theater and NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. She is passionate about music, art, reading instruction, Commedia dell'Arte (Italian mask theater) and being a parent. The 2011-2012 year will be her fourth year teaching first grade, and she us very excited to support COVA's mission!!

Mara Holtz

Teacher, Second Grade

While Mars loves teaching, it was not her first career. She had an eclectic background with jobs ranging from Country Club Membership Coordinator to Help Desk Technician (which she affectionately titled "Chaos Manager") to Magazine Publisher. Mara grew up in New York City and lived in Boston and London before finding her way to California. Throughout her many jobs and careers, dance has always been a consistent factor in her life. She has trained in a variety of dance forms (ballet, modern, jazz, African, Indian, Hawaiian, country western, smooth and Latin ballroom and Argentine Tango). She has also competed in Ballroom and was in two different dance companies while living in New York. She was thrilled to find a school that values the arts and music, where she is able to utilize both her love of teaching and love of dance.

Ray Wooliever

Teacher, Third Grade

Carl Barone

Teacher, Fourth Grade

Carolynn Jennings

Teacher, Fifth/Sixth Grade, GATE

Britany VanBurkleo

Teacher, Fifth/Sixth Grade

Robert Alvarez

Teacher, Seventh Grade, Eighth Grade Algebra

David Saeed

Teacher, Eighth Grade, Seventh Grade English

John Boyd

Assessment Coordinator, Math Specialist

Tom BetGeorge

Music Director grades K-8, Vocal Coach

Born in 1979 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tom BetGeorge has been studying and writing music for most of his life. In 2002, he received his bachelor's degree in Music from UC Berkeley followed by a master's degree in Media Writing and Production from the University of Miami in 2006. He is still pursuing his Ph.D. with an expected dissertation on overcoming vocal obstacles on non-western choral development. He has received numerous awards in performance and writing, receiving national recognition since age 13 (after his first year playing piano). He currently serves as a judge for multiple competitions to include the USA Songwriting Competition, the largest songwriting competition in the world. Regularly featured on international television, Mr. BetGeorge has served as a concert pianist, talent coordinator, music teacher, worship director, and an orchestra and choir director for ten musicals, four schools, one opera house, and eleven churches. Aside from music, Mr. BetGeorge has many passions including fitness, sports, martial arts, and of course, working with youth. You can usually find him windsurfing on Saturdays at the Cal-Sailing Club in Berkeley. Perhaps his biggest passion, however, is advocating for lower-income and homeless families in both Florida and California, where he has initiated and led non-profit organizations. At this time, Mr. BetGeorge is studying with world-renown vocal coach Seth Riggs, whose current and past students include Josh Groban, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Jackson, Natalie Cole, and the late Ray Charles.

Eric Hamilton

Director, Rock/Jazz/R & B Band, Intermediate Guitar

Classical guitarist, Eric Hamilton performs regularly at San Francisco Civic Center’s Opera Plaza, the First United Unitarian Universalist's Church of San Francisco and as a part of the Harbin Hot Springs concert series. Some other San Francisco venues include The Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, Grace Cathedral, and the Trinity Concert Series in Berkeley. He began playing the guitar when he was just 6 years old and got his first teaching job at age 16. Having toured the US, Canada and the Caribbean extensively during 1979-1983, he has since recorded seven commercial CDs, three of them with Mason Williams (Classical Gas) and one of them a 2005 Grammy nominee. Currently, Eric Hamilton performs in and around the Bay Area, serves as quality control consultant and stringed instrument tech for a San Francisco-based musical instrument import company, teaches music and yoga programs at the Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts in Oakland and beginning guitar at Katherine Delmar Burke School for Girls in San Francisco. See youtube performances here: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTu_gxuHQRQ