Adina Ackerman
6th Grade Humanities
Adina Ackerman was born and raised in Los Angeles. She studied Human Development at UC San Diego and received her teaching credential and Masters of Education through UCLA’s Center X program. Previously, Adina taught 4th grade at Temple Israel of Hollywood and 3rd grade at Figueroa Street Elementary. The 6th grade Humanities program of Ancient History is her new love. 6th grade (and ancient history!) is her favorite grade. Adina loves to travel and has visited all six habitable continents! She sings soprano in the Angel City Chorale and recently traveled to South Africa to do service work with the choir. In her free time, Adina enjoys hiking, reading, drawing, fashion, dancing, and watching Netflix. She has been with New LA since its opening and has enjoyed watching the school develop. This will be her fourth year.
Dr. Greg Hamilton
6th Grade Math & Science
Dr. Greg Hamilton is an experienced middle school teacher, whose professional experience has been inspired by his interest in the arts; At a young age, he enjoyed project based learning, scripting plays, designing sets, writing poetry, and making short films. All of this led to his training for public classroom teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, in NYC. Dr. Hamilton started his career teaching in an urban classroom setting on Manhattan’s Upper West Side at an integrated 5 – 8 public middle school. He spent the next 18 years teaching and learning in Harlem and on the Lower East Side. During the mid-1990’s he began coaching superintendents and principals while working closely with New York City and State education administrators as they developed policy and curricular guidelines for the public school system. Dr. Hamilton is a specialist in instruction, curricula, and assessment who has written extensively in journals and has shared ideas at conferences around the USA, in Canada, and in Afghanistan. Now married and settled in California, Dr. Hamilton is excited to join the New LA community and we are incredibly lucky to have him here!
Kevin Hiler
6th Grade Humanities
Kevin was born and raised in San Francisco, but moved to LA where he attended USC, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Classics. After graduating from USC, Kevin moved on to Pepperdine University where he earned his Teaching Credential and a Masters of Education. At Pepperdine, Kevin worked with Paul Revere Middle School and Venice High School in the English departments. At those schools Kevin had the opportunity to teach eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade English classes. In his free-time Kevin enjoys running, playing basketball, or doing pretty much anything related to sports. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, exploring LA, and watching USC Football.
Heather Skellie
6th Grade Math & Science
Heather was born and raised in Orange County, however, Los Angeles has been home for the past nine years. In her life, she has always pursued a diverse palate of interests; as an undergraduate at UCLA, she studied science, math and art history while volunteering her time in the community. She recently returned to UCLA to pursue a Masters degree in Education. Go Bruins! Currently Heather’s life is committed to an agenda of social justice education. She is passionate about diversifying instruction through extensive use of multi-media technology. She looks forward to collaborating with her students, families and co-workers. While a lot of her life is dedicated to instructional planning, she loves scuba diving, visiting Disneyland, playing the piano, and curling up with a good book. Heather is excited to continue being a part of the mission at New Los Angeles Charter and cannot wait to embark on this journey with you!
