Supporting Ms. Katherine Giglio

Dear Waldorf School of San Diego Community, Family & Friends:

After dedicating 15 years of energy, enthusiasm, and love to teaching, mentoring, and nurturing our children and the WSSD community, Ms. Katherine Giglio volunteered in 2020 to be furloughed to help our school cope with the financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the Early Childhood Program. As many of you know, because of financial challenges due to COVID-19, she has been let go and will not be returning to WSSD. Ms. Katherine was hired as an Early Childhood teacher, and she taught pre-school and parent/child classes. For most of the years that Ms. Katherine was faculty at WSSD, she was Chairperson and Director for the Early Childhood Program. She also served on the Pedagogical Group, the Social Health/Inclusion Group and the Building Committee that led the charge to expand the Early Childhood grounds. Last summer she worked tirelessly to help WSSD navigate COVID-19 so we could keep the school open.

Due to losing employment at WSSD, Ms. Katherine had to give up her home in San Diego. In January 2021 she moved in with her mom in Los Angeles, where she currently resides. Being someone who sees the silver lining in the clouds, Ms. Katherine is thankful that she has been able to help her mom more now that they live together.

Ms. Katherine’s health insurance coverage through the school ends September 30, 2021. This timing coincides with her bilateral knee replacement surgery scheduled for September 21, 2021. After surgery, it is expected that she will undergo at least 2 weeks of intensive care and then ongoing physical therapy through at least the end of December. It is critical that Ms. Katherine be able to maintain continuity of care while she is healing from surgery. For this to happen, she needs to pay for COBRA, which is costly.

Although Ms. Katherine is not currently working at WSSD, she will always be part of our community, and she hopes to stay connected to WSSD. Any support you can provide to help cover the tremendous amount of upcoming medical expenses and to establish a fund to cover additional expenses during this unexpected life transition is greatly appreciated! All donations will go to support Ms. Katherine.

Many of you may be wondering what is next on Ms. Katherine’s plate. She will begin a master’s program in counseling and art therapy at Loyola Marymount University. Although she is sad to not be at WSSD, she is looking forward to beginning this new chapter and being able to work with parents and children in different ways. Through this new education, she will be able to put her passion for working with adults and family to good use! We wish Ms. Katherine all the best and are grateful for her many contributions to WSSD! Let’s all support Ms. Katherine the way she has tirelessly supported so many of our children, families, and the WSSD community over the last 15 years.

With gratitude,

Heather Corliss, MPH, PhD

WSSD BOT Member and parent to a rising 5th grader