Meet The Staff
Jennifer Kudlas - Executive Director
Jennifer has been with the White Oak family as the Director of the Dawsonville location since 2012. Prior to joining, Jennifer had over 11 years experience in early childcare development. During this time Jennifer spent time as a 4 year old teacher and quickly moved into a director position at a center in North Carolina. She transferred to Georgia and spent 6 years as the Director of a KinderCare facility. She has completed specialized training, has obtained a Director's Certificate from DECAL and her TCC. Most recently Jennifer was promoted to Executive Director over all the White Oak locations. Jennifer is married with 2 children of her own and 3 stepchildren. Outside of work, you'll usually find her at one of her husband's basketball games or on the lake. Her favorite aspect of White Oak Academy is having the opportunity to watch all the children around her grow.
Claudia Wood - Director
Claudia has been a preschool director for over 25 years and taught preschool for over 10 years. Claudia is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she attended Edinboro University of Pennsylvania to study Early Childhood Education. Claudia also has a Child Development Associate Certification from the Council for Professional Recognition and a Director Certificate from the state of Georgia. Claudia has been married for 30 years and is the mother of 3 children and grandmother to 6 children. Claudia and her husband have lived in Forsyth County for 28 years and love being part of the community. Claudia's lifetime passion has been to ensure that our youngest learners have a safe, healthy and quality learning environment to thrive and grow!
Susan Edwards - Assistant Director
Susan has been with White Oak Academy since 2000 spending the first 12 years in our Dawsonville locations. Susan's experience has included bus driving, cooking, teaching preschool classes and working her way up to Assistant Director. She moved to our North Forsyth location and has been the Assistant Director there since 2013. Besides being a mother of two and a grandmother of three, Susan has an Associates in Early Child Care Education. The greatest joy Susan gets at White Oak is when the children run up to her and hug her for no reason, just to say hello.
Donna Williams - Curriculum Specialist
Donna brings over 14 years of experience in education. Working in various capacities of the field. Her experience expands from teaching private kindergarten, special education and previous management roles. During this time she realized her passion lies in helping fellow teachers find the love of education, while facilitating them on their journey of teaching children. She is a mother of 3 children of her own and 2 step children. She holds a degree in Early Child Care Education. She is also currently enrolled and working towards completing her Bachelor's degree in the same field.
North Forsyth Gallery
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