Why Oak Grove?

Oak Grove School Panel Discussion

This year’s 2025 KFA May Gathering panel discussion about Oak Grove School featured a Q&A session with attendees and virtual viewers. Alumni, staff, board members, students, and parents shared their perspectives and experiences with the school community.

About Our Panel

Sage Danch, Moderator

Teacher, Parent, and Alumni

Sage has been an active participant in the Oak Grove community for twenty years in several capacities. He attended Oak Grove as a student for the first fifteen years of his formal education, later returned as a parent of two Oak Grove students, and now has been the current 5th grade teacher for the past four years.

It has been his long-term dream to return to Oak Grove in a meaningful capacity. Before returning to Oak Grove, Sage was an active outdoor educator and eventually went on to earn his master’s degree in Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resource Management. Sage is always pursuing new ways to integrate classroom curriculum with the outstanding outdoor learning spaces and open land upon which Oak Grove is privileged to exist upon.

Erin Gerken, Panelist

Parent and OGS Board Member

Erin moved to Ojai in 2019 to send her four-year-old son to Oak Grove. Prior to that, she spent over two decades in NYC working professionally as a contemporary dance artist, restaurateur, and hospitality and design consultant. From 2001-2010, Erin performed with Tere O’Connor Dance, touring both nationally and internationally. She and her partner own and operate several cherished neighborhood establishments in Williamsburg.

Drawn to community service, Erin began as a Parent Council Class Rep in 2019 and the following year, she co-developed a new program for pandemic-era Parent Engagement with another kindergarten parent. After welcoming her second child in 2021, Erin returned to active involvement at Oak Grove as Parent Council Chair. She is honored to serve on the Board alongside thoughtful and experienced members of the school community.

Dahlia Bates-Torres, Panelist

High School Senior

Dahlia is a lifer at Oak Grove, starting as a Gecko and graduating this year. She is an avid swimmer and has a passion for fashion design, which she will pursue in the next chapter of her life at Kent State University.

Arianna Macias, Panelist

High School Senior

Arianna began her journey at Oak Grove as a freshman. As a passionate environmentalist and advocate, she will be pursuing Political Science at UC Berkeley.