Gin Ranly , SCEE

Gin Ranly is the Director of Education at The Schuylkill Center where she leads and supports environmental education programming for schools, teachers, scouts, and others throughout the Philadelphia region.

Gin is originally from Ohio where she grew up in a rural agricultural environment.  She earned a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame in Environmental Sciences before moving to Philadelphia.  She also has a Master’s in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.  Gin worked with Fairmount Park, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Philadelphia Water Department before coming to The Schuylkill Center in 2004.  Her primary focus has been on watershed and aquatic studies.

Gin loves working, teaching and relaxing in the outdoors.  She enjoys gardening, hiking and camping in her free time.  Gin and her husband are working to fix up an old farmhouse in Roxborough. 

Gin works with Kathleen Geist to develop weekly science labs for the Green Woods middle school that connect students with the local and global environment as they study basic physical and life science concepts.  She enjoys using the many natural features of The Schuylkill Center’s landscape to demonstrate science concepts and provide learning opportunities for Green Woods students.

Jean Wallace, CEO

As the CEO of Green Woods Charter School, Jean is responsible for guiding the design and implementation of our award-winning curriculum and for supporting the direction of all areas of school life. Jean works in collaboration with our staff, Board, community and educational partners to build on our successful past towards an even greater future.

Charter schools are public schools.  As such Jean is accountable to the Department of Education for ensuring that our students are receiving a standards-based learning experience, from qualified teachers, within the guidelines and mandates of Federal, State, and Charter School Law. In addition to the many responsibilities associated with curriculum and instruction, Jean supports Green Woods through ongoing communication and collaboration with the school’s Controller, to ensure that Green Woods is not only achieving as a school, but also as a business.   

As a member of the State Council for Environmental Education, Jean works with many of the State's environmental experts and agencies. "By working collaboratively with the Department of Education and the outstanding environmental agencies throughout our state, Green Woods is able to gain both valuable resources along with well-deserved local, state and national recognition for the exceptional work being done by our teachers and students," Jean said.

In addition to the daily interactions with Green Woods dedicated staff and parents, Jean enjoys those rare and special times when she gets to trail along on hikes with our budding naturalists. "Hiking with even our youngest students and seeing how they interact with the natural world always presents a wonderful learning opportunity for me. Green Woods students are skilled observers, able to take in the big picture of the field ecosystem while at the same time patiently exploring the leaf litter in search of the smallest signs of life."

Jean is extremely proud to have been selected to be a member of a cohort of educators who will pave the way for a new doctoral program in Educational Leadership at Arcadia University this Fall. Jean currently holds four Pennsylvania education certifications: Principal K-12, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, K-12 Environmental Education, and Elementary Education. She earned her post-graduate certifications and her MAEd in Environmental Education; a BA in Elementary Education, and an Associate Degree in Health Science.

Jean lives with her husband, her mom, her daughter Mary (our awesome Art Room volunteer) and two very lovable Labradors, Murphy and Kodi Bear.  

Each day is a new day of exploration and discovery as we challenge each other to provide the best possible learning environment for our students.

In less than four years time our amazing teaching staff has taken teaching and learning to a whole new level. Working in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, our teachers, themselves, developed our K-8 award-winning EIC Curriculum which engages our students in integrated learning experiences that span all disciplines. Utilizing our 350-acre learning laboratory as an outdoor classroom, our partnership with the Schuylkill Center continues to grow and thrive as the Center’s expert educators spend many hours working with our classroom teachers to enhance the teaching of environment and ecology concepts.

Green Woods is the only public/charter school in the entire country to be housed directly within a nature center. Years ago I earned my graduate degree by utilizing this same setting as a laboratory for learning. It is so rewarding to now spend time observing our students as they explore and discover new things while hiking in the same woods where I learned so much about the natural world.