Meet Our Founders

Dr. Paul Astin, Ed.D. and Jenny Griffiths, M.A., are longtime educators and Topangans who founded Manzanita in 2014 with the intention to create a new and meaningful alternative to the existing education system—one that honors the unique community and landscape of the Santa Monica Mountains, while preparing students to become independent thinkers and confident, embodied leaders in a rapidly changing world.

Dr. Paul has worked in education for over 30 years. He has been a teacher and administrator in both public and private schools, as well as the founder of a health-education nonprofit and a jazz pianist. He has a BA degree in Prehistoric Studies, a bilingual and bicultural teaching credential, an MA in Latin American Studies, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from UCLA, where his dissertation focusing on adolescent development and middle school reform won the Dissertation of the Year Award in the Educational Leadership Program.

Jenny has a master’s degree in Art Education and has taught art and organized community art events for more than two decades. She has also designed and delivered courses for mothers in building mother-daughter groups, a project supporting networks of mentors for adolescent girls. She now oversees the Seeds (K-2) early childhood program at Manzanita. Jenny has also received training in leading council and has been leading our parent council group at Manzanita since 2014. 

They continue to be inspired and humbled by the Manzanita community, and their dedication to educating the next generation of thoughtful and effective leaders and creators.