Our Head of School

Meet our Head of School

Dr. John Carlstroem

Dr. John Carlstroem has over 35 years of experience working in a variety of educational environments. Most recently, John served as the Head of School at Black Pine Circle School (in Berkeley, California) for the past nineteen years. Prior to that, John was the Assistant Head and Upper School Director at the Hamlin School in San Francisco. John also served as the Executive Director and Executive Vice President of NatureBridge, a non-profit organization that works to provide students with significant experiences in National Parks. John has served on several nonprofit Boards, including: Save the Bay, the California Teachers Development Collaborative, WildCare, and the Biodiversity Council. John was the Keynote Speaker at the National Montessori Conference in 2001, and has presented at multiple educational conferences through the years. John’s undergraduate research was in Marine Biology (Elephant Seals and Humpback Whales), and his graduate work in nonprofit management and “Belonging” in Independent Schools. He has worked professionally as a whale biologist and naturalist, in Hawaii, Mexico, California, and Alaska.

John and his family have been visiting Maui for over thirty years (first for the whales, and then for all the other terrific reasons). Currently, John and his wife, Natasha (also an educator), live in Kihei. They have a 23-year-old daughter, Marina, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, but desperately misses Maui (especially in winter). For fun, John loves to play guitar and write songs, snorkel and SCUBA dive, read, eat delicious food, and hike.