Our Faculty

Mrs. Jane Burton - Principal

A native of Lancaster, Ohio, Mrs. Burton graduated from Hillsdale College with a B.S. in Chemistry and Math, and then went to the University of Virginia where she earned an M.Ed. in Mathematics Education. She worked with IBM as a systems engineer for twelve years, before devoting herself full-time to homeschooling her four children.

In 2003, she helped found St. Anthony Academy where she enrolled her children and became a member of their teaching staff.

In addition to teaching math, grammar, and poetry, Mrs. Burton currently serves as St. Anthony Academy’s principal.

Dr. Rita Angele - Assistant Principal & Upper School

The Assistant Principal and head of the upper school is Dr. Rita Angele. Rita’s teaching career began in 2001 at St. Dominic’s School in Post Falls, Idaho, where she was a teacher for four years. She spent another four years teaching at St. Anthony Academy here in its earlier years, after which she entered the Dominican convent in France, teaching there for six years. On returning to the United States, she moved to teach in Florida. She has taught from Kindergarten through 12th grade—a whole range of subjects, both in English and in French.

Dr. Angele is the 6th child of 12 children, and has 38 nieces and nephews, and 6 great-nieces and -nephews! Many of her family still reside in Post Falls, Idaho, which is where she spent much of her childhood.

Dr. Angele has a PhD in in Psychology. Besides being experienced and versatile in the academic subjects, she has also directed many theatrical performances, written and edited yearbooks and newsletters, and organized field trips.

Dr. Angele has traveled a good deal, visiting France, England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Mexico and Canada – a list she hopes to add to in the future!

Mr. John Henderson - Religion/History/Math/Latin

Raised in Columbia, Maryland, Mr. Henderson graduated from the Catholic University of America, where he was a member of Eta Sigma Phi, the national honor society for classical studies.

Mr. Henderson spent two years discerning a vocation to the religious life at a monastery in New Hampshire before teaching middle school social studies, religion, and PE at a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Mr. Henderson values the classical curriculum and is excited to teach at the Academy.

Mrs. Theresa Kleeman - Lower School

Mrs. Kleeman received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Northern Michigan University and then worked as a research assistant in the biochemistry department at Louisiana State University. She later moved to North Carolina where she worked in the pharmacology department at Duke University. She left this position to become a full-time wife and mother, during which time she traveled the country with her military husband and homeschooled her children.

Upon settling in Fairfax, Virginia in 2012, Mrs. Kleeman enrolled her children in St. Anthony Academy and joined their teaching staff. She has served as a teacher of middle school math and science, but has found her niche in teaching students in grades K-3, whose curriculum she developed.

Mrs. Kleeman is currently in charge of the lower school, where she also continues to teach.

Mrs. Mary Louise Loftus - Upper School

Mrs. Loftus is one of the founding members of the Academy, having served as one of the original teachers and its first principal. Currently, she teaches several writing classes using the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) method as well as a myriad of Literature and Religion courses.

A graduate of Christendom College with a B.A. in Philosophy and a minor in Economics, Mrs. Loftus also studied at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in the Masters program for counseling psychology. Her teaching career began in Ohio in 1993 with middle school and high school composition and literature.

She lives in Front Royal, Virginia, with her husband, Sean, and their 7 children, all of whom attend the Academy.

Miss Mikayla Umali - Lower School

A former student at St. Anthony Academy, Miss Umali has come back to teach at her alma mater while pursuing her degree at George Mason University. She is an assistant teacher in the lower school where she works with the first and second graders in all of their subjects.

Mrs. Adrienne Henzel - Kindergarten

Our kindergarten teacher is Mrs. Adrienne Henzel. She formerly taught history for high- and middle-schoolers in the Fairfax County public schools. She also taught history and English as a second language at international schools in the Middle East.

Mrs. Henzel earned her BA in European Studies from George Mason University and a teaching certificate from Texas Women’s University.

Mrs. Henzel’s three children studied at St. Anthony’s. With her extensive teaching background, we are overjoyed to have her caring for our kindergartners!

Mrs. Sara Tressler - Pre-K

Mrs. Tressler is a native of Massachusetts, and received her B.A. from Providence College. She spent her junior year studying theology, philosophy and French at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Mrs. Tressler attended the University of Connecticut School of Law, and spent a semester studying international law at Aix-Marseille University Law School in France. In her gap year between college and law school, Mrs. Tressler lived and volunteered with the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, teaching first-grade Spanish, reading and math to Haitian children living in bateys in the Dominican Republic.

Mrs. Tressler later had the opportunity to follow her passion for working with children, and lived and volunteered in Catholic orphanages and homes for children in France, Haiti and India. Following her graduation from law school, Mrs. Tressler moved to the Washington, D.C. area to begin a legal career with the federal government.

After starting a family, Mrs. Tressler homeschooled her three daughters for four years before her family was blessed to discover St. Anthony Academy, where the girls now attend and thrive. She is currently pursuing her Masters in School Counseling from Creighton University, and is honored and grateful to be a part of the St. Anthony Academy family. Mrs. Tressler teaches Pre-K class and moderates the Chess Club and Journalism Club.

Mrs. Lindy Rackiewicz - Science

While growing up in a military family and traveling throughout the United States and Japan, Mrs. Rackiewicz developed a love for geography. This led her to pursue a B.A. in Geography, which she received from the University of Mary Washington in 1973. Following graduation, she worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Research and Policy Committees, and as a Legislative Aide for a Michigan congressman on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

She left her career to become a full-time mother, raising six children and homeschooling three of them for eight years.

In addition to volunteering for over twenty years in both the boys’ and girls’ scouting programs, Mrs. Rackiewicz served as a substitute teacher and a volunteer in several capacities at Seton School in Manassas. Her love of geography, science, and Virginia history led her to a teaching position at St. Anthony Academy in 2004.

Mrs. Rackiewicz continues to share her love for “exploring God’s world” in science and geography both with her students at St. Anthony Academy and her 20 grandchildren.

Mrs. Dawn Kuker - Music

Mrs. Dawn Kuker is a professional singer and choir director in the Northern Virginia area. She has served as a cantor and also directed youth and middle school choirs at local parishes in the Diocese of Arlington.

She has extensive vocal training, and she shares her knowledge of vocal pedagogy and enthusiasm for singing with her students. She is trained in the Ward Method of Music Instruction, which is unique

as an integrated approach to music education designed for children in Catholic schools. She uses this vocal-based method “to foster beauty through the joy of singing.”