Elementary House

Founding Teacher & Kindergarten 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.

Kindergarten Teacher, Michelle Kellman
Michelle Kellman is thrilled to be a part of the Lighthouse learning community and get to relive the joy and wonder of kindergarten! Before coming to Lighthouse, she taught grades K through 3 in Oakland Unified School District for seven years. She also spent a year working as a learning specialist with students with reading difficulties. Ms. Kellman's current focus is developing her ability to
teach students for whom English is a second language.

Founding Teacher & 1st Grade Teacher, Helen Spruill
Helen Spruill is teaching Kindergarten at the Lighthouse Community Charter School. Ms. Spruill brings eight years of elementary teaching experience in urban districts in both the Bay and Los Angeles areas. She also spent a year teaching English Immersion Kindergarten at The American School of Durango in Durango, Mexico and is working toward fluency in Spanish. Ms. Spruill is a trained Reading Recovery Teacher and is currently completing a Reading Specialist Credential and a Masters Degree in Education at the University of California-Berkeley. Ms. Spruill was a 1995 Teach for America Corps Member in Compton, California.

1st Grade Teacher, Noelle Apostol

2nd Grade Teacher, Tamara Arroyo

2nd Grade Teacher, Jenny Rikkers

Instructional Aide, Gina Ortiz
Gina is an Instructional Aide for kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade.

Instructional Aide, Lola Prieto
Lola is an Instructional Aide for kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade and is a Lighthouse parent.

Middle House

Founder & 8th Grade Math and Science Teacher, Laura Kretschmar
Laura Kretschmar has taught middle school math and science for 6 years. She started teaching in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she saw the need for good schools and good teachers for all children. She then moved to Boston where she taught for 3 years at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School. The Parker school provided her with insights into how schools can be different to serve students well. Laura received her M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1999. She joined the Lighthouse Community Charter School Development team in 2000 and is currently teaching middle school math and science at Lighthouse. Laura teaches with a commitment to providing students with a meaningful and purposeful education that will inspire and prepare them for any future they choose.

Founding Teacher & 8th Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher, Geneviève DeBose
Geneviève DeBose is in her 5th year of teaching middle school. She taught for two years in Los Angeles and then relocated to teach in Oakland, where she has been for the last two years. She now teaches 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies at LCCS. She received an undergraduate degree in Ethnic Studies and a Master's degree in Education from UC Berkeley. She also received her teaching credential from Mills College in Oakland. She teaches to create positive change in our community and to help students empower themselves to create that same change.

7th Grade Math and Science Teacher, Mallika Scott

7th Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher, Becky Burrow
This is Ms. Burrow’s eighth year teaching in a middle school classroom. Before her arrival at Lighthouse, she taught Language Arts for five years in Houston, Texas and served as a Peace Corps education volunteer in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Her time in these settings taught her the value of teaching through adventure and experience, so she spent last year as a Master’s student at Stanford University researching how public school teachers are incorporating experiential learning in their classrooms. She is committed to developing literacy, self-efficacy and critical consciousness with the youth of Lighthouse Middle School.

6th Grade Math and Science Teacher, Jonas Juhlin

6th Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher, Gerald Reyes
Gerald Reyes is a chaser of dreams, hope, and rising voices. This year, his chase eagerly brings him to the Lighthouse Community, after recently leaving Hayward. While he brings a Masters in Education and Teaching Credential from the Center of Teaching Excellence and Social Justice from the University of San Francisco, Mr. Reyes realizes that the true journey into teaching excellence is with life-long learning. And so this year, he is thrilled to venture into the exhilaration of discovery as the 6th grade teacher of the Art of Language and the Study of Society. Aside from running the new “Rhyme Light” Spoken Word Poetry after school program here, he could occasionally be found facilitating workshops with the Bay Area Writing Project. If you see him walking around the halls dazed, it is because he is still in awe of the dedication, commitment, love, and care within the entire Lighthouse Community.

6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Sports4Kids Teacher, Valencia Winfrey
Valencia Winfrey is the Sports4Kids site coordinator and she coordinates a collaborative and uplifting physical education program for all Middle House students.Ms. Winfrey also serves as a 6th Grade Advisor and After School Program Teacher.

6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Art Teacher, Angelina Vergara
Angelina Vergara has been teaching arts-based education in Oakland public schools for eight years, through the East Bay Conservation Corps AmeriCorps Program and the Museum Of Children’s Art. Although she works with several art mediums, she is currently a commissioned practicing muralist and is pursuing her Masters in Education with the Center For Teaching Excellence and Social Justice at University of San Francisco. Ms. Vergara firmly believes that everyone is an artist and that art is vitally essential to everyone’s personal growth and connection to their world.