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Founder & Executive
Director, Stephen Sexton
Stephen Sexton is Executive Director of Lighthouse Community
Charter School. Mr. Sexton has taught in urban, rural, and
suburban communities and has worked as an instructional
leader in many capacities. Getting his start in education
through the national teacher corps, Teach for America, Mr.
Sexton taught science for two years in the Watts community
of Los Angeles at Gompers Middle School. Continuing to build
upon his teaching experience, he taught math, science, and
technology at the Francis W. Parker Essential School and
Regional Teacher Center where he worked under the tutelage
of Ted and Nancy Sizer. Through Teach for America, Mr. Sexton
worked as a mentor and advisor to incoming teachers and
as a school director for three consecutive summers at the
TFA Summer Institute. He has also worked as the Director
of Curriculum for Teach for America. In this position, he
wrote and implemented a comprehensive and rigorous curriculum
for at least 1,000 new Teach for America teachers. In addition,
Mr. Sexton served as the After School Coordinator and Community
Liaison at ASCEND, one of the first new autonomous schools
to open in Oakland. |
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Founder & Director of Strategic
Development, Jenna Stauffer
Jenna Stauffer is Director of Development of Strategic Development
at Lighthouse Community Charter School. Getting her teaching
career started almost ten years ago, Ms. Stauffer was a
Teach for America corps member in Los Angeles in 1995 where
she taught middle school
science and leadership at Gompers Middle School. Jumping
from one educational extreme to another, she then served
as Lead Teacher at a start-up, parent-run private school
in upstate New York called the Wilderness Community School.
She received her Masters of Education from the Harvard Graduate
School of Education in 2000. Ms. Stauffer has
also taught in part-time positions at the San Francisco
Community School and A School Cultivating Excellence, Nurturing
Diversity (ASCEND). In August of 2000, Ms. Stauffer became
the Lead Developer/Founder of the Lighthouse Community Charter
School coordinating and managing the school’s start-up
and charter approval
process and in 2002, transitioned to the position Director
of Strategic Development in which she is responsible for
financial management, operations, facility development,
community outreach, and fundraising. She sits on the California
Charter Schools Association’s Statewide Membership
Council and the Advisory Board to PG & E. In her free
time, she enjoys hiking with Durango and Steve, reading
anything by John Steinbeck, and can often be heard after
hours practicing the piano in the school's multi-purpose
room. |
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Director of Instruction,
Melissa Barnes Dholakia
Melissa Barnes Dholakia is the Director of
Instruction at Lighthouse Community Charter School. Ms.
Barnes Dholakia has spent the past twelve years focused
on the goal of ensuring academic excellence for all children.
For the first half of her career, she focused on mastering
the art of teaching - at the elementary, middle, and high
school levels. In the latter half, she moved on to transfer
her knowledge and lessons learned in the training of new
cadres of teachers. As an instructional leader, she has
worked with both pre-service teachers and thirty-year veterans
to develop and hone their curriculum, instruction, and assessment
practices. She holds a BA from Whitman College, an MA from
University of Oregon, and was a 2002 New Leaders for New
Schools Fellow. Ms. Barnes Dholakia grew up in Oakland and
joined Lighthouse in 2003. |
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Home Language
Coordinator, Jeannie Bruland
A third generation teacher, Jeannie Bruland is in her seventh
year of teaching in the Bay Area, having taught students
from kindergarten to college. She currently serves as the
Home Language Coordinator at Lighthouse, where she supports
tutors to develop curriculum to develop students’
native languages. Her other roles at Lighthouse include
teaching English home language and Spanish as a Second Language
at the primary level, and serving as a seventh grade advisor.
Jeannie received her Spanish bilingual CLAD credential from
San Francisco State University. She teaches because she
believes in the power of education to help students understand
the world and change the world. |
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Elementary House Lead Teacher, Heather Thompson
Heather Thompson, a founding K/1 teacher at Lighthouse,
has taught primary students for six years in Oakland and
in Donna, Texas. She holds a Masters degree in Education
in Language, Literacy and Culture from the University of
California at Berkeley and has presented professional development
workshops for Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound and for
Teach For America. She eagerly returns to the classroom
each September because of the brilliant and funny things
that her students say and because she loves the challenge
of organizing and inspiring learning in children. |
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High School Coordinator,
Joshua Weintraub
Joshua Weintraub is the High School Coordinator at Lighthouse
Community Charter High School. He has taught middle school
and high school both in the United States and abroad (Mexico,
Guatemala, and South Africa)
for the last 7 years. Locally, after teaching one year of
Biology and Physical Science at Richmond High School, he
taught four years of Language Arts & Social Studies
at Oakland Charter Academy Middle School. In addition
to his teaching duties at Oakland Charter Academy, Mr. Weintraub
also served on the school©ˆs leadership team for
two years, and acted as the Educational Leader for one year.
Currently, Mr. Weintraub teaches 6th and 8th grade at
Lighthouse Community Charter School and is pursuing an administrative
credential and Master©ˆs Degree in Educational
Leadership in the Principal Leadership Institute at UC Berkeley.
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Administrative Assistant,
Lily Talley |
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Chief Security Officer, Durango
Ms. Durango received her training at Puppy U., where she
graduated with honors. She has handled security for the
Sexton house hold for 8yrs. |
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