1st-2nd Grade
Jennie Ortega graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia with a BS degree in Elementary Education. She taught 4th grade from the time she graduated, until her first child was born. She and her husband, Jose, have now been home schooling their five children since their oldest child was five years old. Jose is a System’s Analyst and part-time seminary student at Reformed Theological Seminary. The Ortega family lives in Tucker, where they are active members of Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
3rd-4th Grade
Ruthie Norton is a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, and received her BA degree in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1997. After marrying John, her high school sweetheart, and moving to Fort Worth, Texas, she spent three years teaching Kindergarten. She served on the Curriculum Planning Committee, and also as the designated special needs teacher for the Kindergarten grade level. Wanting to put her college minor to use, she spent the next two years teaching Spanish at the middle school level. During this time, she also served as the ESOL teacher for students with limited English proficiency and as a translator for parents of these students during ESOL meetings. During her last year of teaching, her son Ethan was born, and she was thrilled to stay home full-time after finishing that school year. She still has a desire to use her gift for teaching, so for the past four years, she has been tutoring students one-on-one in all subjects and at various grade levels, including college. This has been extremely rewarding for her as it allows her to stay home with her son and still help students achieve academic success while also developing in them a new love for learning. Her family moved to Buford, GA, in August of 2006, and she began teaching for Veritas. She is also an online tutor, which allows her to teach math and reading to students in grades 3-12 from all over the country. She enjoys reading and spending time outdoors with her family.
3rd-4th Grade
Michele Crooks is a graduate of Taylor University in Indiana and has her degree in Early Childhood Education. She has 13 years of experience in the classroom, including five years under the Kinsey’s at Fellowship Christian in Roswell. She will bring her creative teaching methods, her love for learning and skills of classroom organization to Veritas. Her son, Adam, will also attend the Dunwoody campus. Her family is active at Midway Presbyterian Church.
5th-6th Grade
Jamie Mehaffey will be teaching the 5th/6th grade students at Dunwoody. She is a graduate of Biola University and has earned her Masters degree in Education. She has recently moved to the Atlanta area from California where she taught at a private Christian school. She is eager to meet her students at Veritas and make an impact in their lives!
7th-8th Grade
Gretchen Beck has been teachign for 21 years. For seven years, she lived in Peru working with street children and families in crisis as a missionary with her husband, Peter. She has a Bachelor's degree from Wheaton College and three Masters degrees: Learning Disabilities, Behavior Disorders & Severe Emotional Disturbance, and Bilingual Multicultural Education. she and her husband, Peter, have been married forover 20 years, and they have three children, a son and two daughters: Norman, Kendi, and Kaylee. Currently, Gretchen teacher 7th and 8th grades for Veritas in Dunwoody and is the Middle school teacher for Bright Futures Academy, an inner city school in Atlanta.
Becky Norman teaches 7/8 grade at Dunwoody. She is a graduate of Covenant with a degree in Elementary Education. She has homeschooled her children and has several years of experience in the traditional classroom. She attends East Cobb Presbyterian Church.
9th-12th Grade ENGLISH
Sondra Sparks received her BA degree in Drama from the University of California at San Bernardino, and her Master of Arts in Education from Oglethorpe University, Atlanta. For the past twelve years, Sondra has taught sixth-eighth grades at Perimeter Christian School in Duluth, Georgia. For the past seven years, she has primarily taught English at Perimeter. Sondra also has nine years of teaching experience in California, where she taught high school drama and speech, and all subjects in sixth grade. She comes to Veritas with a total of twenty-one years of teaching experience and a love for teaching students how to write and appreciate literature. Sondra and her husband Terry, have a love for missions, having served on Campus Crusade for Christ for eighteen years. They attend Genesis Bible Church in Dunwoody, and are involved in leading a home fellowship. Terry and Sondra have three daughters and two grandsons.
9th-12th Grade HISTORY, BIBLE, and GREEK
John Clark graduated from Wheaton College in 1970 with a B.A. in Sociology, and a minor in Philosophy. He then earned an MTS from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and did further postgraduate work in Popular Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University. John has taught numerous adult continuing education classes for the Evening at Emory program for sixteen years and taught Sunday School and served as Christian Ed director for two different churches in Atlanta. His wife Laurie has taught blind students for forty years. They attend Church of the Redeemer in Sandy Springs. John’s hobby and passion is researching and collecting 20th century American popular and folk music.