Faculty and Staff Directory

The La Jolla Country Day School faculty, administration and staff are strong, diverse and talented individuals who have been drawn together for a common purpose. Ours is a vibrant community with an exciting charge—to create a stronger, better place where our children and those of future generations can grow to become excellent individuals, citizens and adventurers of the world.

Below is a list of the administration, staff and faculty. To locate a member, click on the drop-down menus below to search by division, department or last name. Faculty and staff bios are also available below.

Faculty/Staff Directory

  • Photo of Scott Sanders
    Scott Sanders
    Educator, US History and World Language; Coach - Cross Country
    (858) 453-3440 x248
    Bio
     
    “As a teacher, coach, advisor and trip leader at La Jolla Country Day School, I provide opportunities for student experience, knowledge, growth and leadership in the classroom, on local running trails, and on hiking trails in Utah. I support and encourage students as they discover the greatness around them and within themselves.”
     
    Scott Sanders has worn many hats during his tenure at LJCDS. Currently, he teaches French and History, coaches cross country, and leads the EE trip to Southwest Utah. His two children, Ethan ’21 and Logan ’22, are both Country Day “lifers” now enjoying college in Oregon and New York. 
     
    Mr. Sanders has coached the cross country teams since 1999 and has been head coach since 2001. During this time, the teams have won a combined 18 CIF and 15 Coastal Conference championships and finished as runners-up seven times at CIF and nine times in the conference. The women’s team has competed at the State meet 12 times, with four top-10 finishes. The men’s team has made 17 appearances, with five top-10 finishes, including third place in 2012 and 2013. Coach Sanders was named San Diego section Boys Coach of the Year in 2013. A season highlight for Coach Sanders is the annual Alumni Run.
           
    Summers as a camp counselor inspired Mr. Sanders to pursue a teaching career. After a junior year in Paris and graduation from Washington & Lee University, he began teaching at a boarding school in Maine. A master’s in French from Middlebury College soon followed. Before joining the LJCDS faculty in 1998, Mr. Sanders taught in Los Angeles and also spent a year teaching in Colorado, where he developed an abiding love for the Denver Broncos, trail running, and skiing. Additionally, he likes to travel with his family, hang out with his dogs, take lots of pictures, read, hike, and eat sushi.
  • Photo of David Schall
    David Schall
    Educator, US Math
    (858) 453-3440 x254
    Bio
     
    “??I inspire greatness by bringing multiple decades of teaching experience and a wealth of tried-and-true strategies and methodologies to the classroom. My students are motivated to learn mathematics in an atmosphere filled with wonder, joy, humor, warmth, teamwork, diligence and compassion. I embrace the liberating academic freedom, exceptional collegiality, and scholarly intensity of the LJCDS learning community. I delight in working with the greatest faculty, staff, students and parents in San Diego.”

    Dave Schall graduated with high honors from the University of California, Davis, with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1983. After earning his California State Teaching Credential at San Diego State University, he taught for 18 years at Oceanside High School. Since 2003, Mr. Schall has spent all or parts of his tenure at LJCDS as a teacher, academic league coach, mathematics department chair, senior and sophomore class dean, grade-level coordinator, Upper School registrar, and assistant to the director of service learning.
     
    Mr. Schall has been married to his wife, Kim, since 1986, and they have raised five wonderful adult children: Amy, Zach, Alex, and twins Emily and Sarah. Their fur baby, Beesly, is a boisterous and mischievous chocolate lab. Mr. Schall and Kim are proud grandparents of a baby girl, Rhea Louise Salmon. With the addition of Rhea, the Schall home continues to burst at the seams with activity, joy, craziness and laughter.
  • Photo of Deborah Shaul
    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.
  • Photo of Jim Short
    Jim Short Ph.D.
    Middle and Upper School Performing Arts Educator
    (858) 453-3440 x245
    Bio
     
    “I inspire greatness for a better world by using theater and the arts as a tool for building connections and fostering empathy. For both young performers in my productions and spectators of all ages, I call on our community to recognize the intrinsic humanity showcased in our plays. Witnessing and understanding shared values, struggles, goals and fears helps all of us to foster new relationships with our neighbors.”

    Jim Short, Ph.D., believes strongly that arts education is integral to developing the whole human. Whether the student has a passion for storytelling, a penchant for Shakespeare, a thirst to make others laugh and cry, or simply a desire to build an ensemble with their peers, theater offers a special place to nurture the soul inside of every individual. As a theater educator and director, Dr. Short focuses on the process of theater-making to help students reach their potential as both artists and young people.

    Dr. Short earned his doctorate degree in theater and drama from the University of California San Diego (UCSD), where both his practice and research focused heavily on theater with youth, comic studies, masking and embodiment, and performances of risk. Before joining LJCDS in 2022, he taught as a lecturer and adjunct professor at UCSD and San Diego State University.

    In his free time, Dr. Short enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter and exploring new hiking trails across the state.
  • Photo of Jonathan Shulman
    Jonathan Shulman
    Educator, US History; Director of the Center for Excellence in Citizenship
    (858) 453-3440 x302
    Bio
     
    “I inspire greatness by educating our students on the importance of civic engagement. In a free society, we have the constitutional right to say what is on our minds. As such, we can make the choice to speak truth or falsehoods, to speak laudably or reprehensibly. It is our obligation to seek out the facts and to respond in a way that recognizes our own as well as others’ sense of dignity.”
     
    As the history department chair, Jonathan Shulman is passionate about promoting civic engagement. He develops partnerships with civic organizations, including the City Club of San Diego and the San Diego Historical Center, and coordinates off-campus and travel opportunities for students. Mr. Shulman is head teacher–coach of the Torrey Mock Trial Team, a program that is recognized as one of the best in San Diego County.
     
    Mr. Shulman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Tufts University and a master’s in war studies from King’s College London. He was the first K–12 educator to be elected president of the California World History Association, he is an active partner with EUROCLIO—the European Association of History Educators, and he has served as an AP World History exam reader for the College Board since 2010.
     
    Before joining LJCDS in 2003, Mr. Shulman taught at the American School of Milan, in Italy; the Beijing Film Academy, in China; and the Greenhill School, in Dallas, Texas. He previously worked as chief of staff to the Appropriations Sub-Committee Chair in the Maryland House of Delegates.
     
    A fan of the movies, Mr. Shulman was the co-producer and director of Minyan in Kaifeng, a documentary about the modern-day descendants of an ancient Chinese Jewish community. The film, narrated by Leonard Nimoy, played at several international Jewish film festivals to great acclaim.
  • Photo of Robin Stewart
    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.  
  • Photo of Lillian Sung
    Lillian Sung
    Educator, MS and US World Language
    (858) 453-3440 x320
    Bio
     
    “I inspire greatness by immersing my students in a foreign language and culture.”
    Lillian Sung believes her experience and training have enabled her to evaluate diverse teaching styles from a unique perspective. In her own teaching, she strives to strike a balance between traditional and liberal methods. While Ms. Sung places a high value on maintaining classroom discipline and fostering hard work, she also tries to create an environment where students take joy in learning and feel comfortable participating in class. Ms. Sung appreciates the opportunity to give back to the community by sharing her knowledge and cultural heritage with students at La Jolla Country Day School.
    Ms. Sung grew up in Taiwan, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She came to the United States to pursue her master’s degree in linguistics, with a focus on teaching Chinese as a second language. She later received a California single-subject teaching credential in Mandarin. Prior to joining LJCDS in 2011, she worked as a Chinese instructor at Palomar College.

    Ms. Sung’s favorite quote is by Scott Hayden: “Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners and the love of bringing the first two loves together.”
 

Faculty and Staff Spotlights

La Jolla Country Day School

9490 Genesee Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037
858-453-3440

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