Our School
every child, every minute, every day
Our Mission
The Mission Preparatory School equips students with the knowledge, skills, and strength of character needed to succeed in college and serve as leaders in their communities.
Our mission is mighty and urgent, and it takes an exceptional school to achieve it.
At the Mission Preparatory School, the quality of education and learning outcomes is excellent; the consistency of our top notch test scores proves it. Our teachers are tremendously committed to their profession and potential for impact. We are supported by an unwavering community and families who entrust us with the hearts and minds of their children.
Yet, at Mission Prep, we know that the work we do is never ending. We cannot rest on our past accomplishments and we must continue to raise the bar for our constituencies.
Mission Prep is an exceptional school because we make no exceptions. “Every Child, Every Minute, Every Day” is our guiding principle. This principle, along with our mission statement and our core values — prepared, respectful, engaged, persevering —are the pillars of our school.
Why Mission Prep stands apart
School uniforms
100+ minutes of daily literature
70+ minutes of daily mathematics
Nightly homework
Longer school days and school year
Some Stats
490
Students from Kindergarten
to 8th grade
1:6
Staff to student ratio in the classroom
27
Average number of students
per class
every child. every minute. every day.
Our Values
Prepared. Respectful. Engaged. Perservering.
Prepared.
We arrive at school on time everyday with our minds, methods, and materials prepared to perform our respective roles and participate fully in the Mission Prep community.
Respectful.
We demonstrate our respect for our students, families, and colleagues by creating and maintaining school and classroom environments that are achievement-focused, peaceable, professional, organized, and effective and by treating everyone in our school community with kindness and dignity.
Engaged.
We focus our time, talents, and energy on our urgent work; we follow through on all commitments and expectations; and we soak in and seek out feedback and knowledge to improve our practice continually.
Perservering.
We uphold our commitment to our mission by taking initiative to improve on our own and our school’s performance and by tackling challenges with optimism and personal responsibility especially when the work is difficult.
Your child’s safety is important.
From earthquakes and fires to health emergencies and lockdowns, your child’s safety is our top priority. Read our Health and Safety Plan to see what policies and procedures we have in place.
Mr. Abraham Joshua’s Learning Commons
He allowed them to come as they are into the classroom, and Mr. Joshua modeled that well.
If you enter through the front door of Mission Prep and immediately take a sharp left turn up the stairs, the path will lead you directly to the Abraham Joshua Learning Commons, a space dedicated to our late seventh and eighth grade science teacher, Mr. Joshua.
Cynthia Jerez, our school’s executive director, shared that the work his family is doing in creating spaces to expand science opportunities for youth of color cemented our school’s decision to name this collaborative space after Mr. Joshua. It was also his hope that we build a community of support, collaboration and access. That's what that space provides for us day-to-day, a space to allow teachers to plan and collaborate and for students to get additional support.
In his first year of teaching, Mr. Joshua had already envisioned what the space could be for our school community. For many of us, during our first year of teaching, that’s something we probably wouldn’t have thought of or have the capacity to think about. However, I’m not surprised because of how he envisioned his classroom community to be.
I had the honor and privilege of working closely with Mr. Joshua because we shared the same physical classroom space. So, I got to see him grow and develop as a first year teacher and bring joy and excitement into the classroom. He cared so much about his students and wanted to ensure that they had a rigorous, culturally relevant and fun learning experience in science. Most importantly, he allowed them to come as they are into the classroom, and Mr. Joshua modeled that well. He was proud of his Eritrean heritage and wasn’t afraid to share his lived experiences and passion with students. Any time Mr. Joshua sang and danced at school, it brought joy to our community, because he was incredibly talented, and he invited students to bring their passions and talents to school as well.
Abraham Joshua was born on Nov. 25, 1998 in Texas. After moving to Washington, D.C., his family eventually settled in Morgantown, West Virginia. Mr. Joshua attended Morgantown High School where he found a passion for chemistry and singing, competing in the school quiz bowl and performing in choirs and dance shows. During his time at Princeton, Mr. Joshua studied chemistry, materials sciences and engineering. After graduating, he joined Teach for America and moved here to San Francisco to teach at Mission Prep. Mr. Joshua shared that he wanted to make a difference because representation matters and that his ultimate goal was to go to medical school to open up his own clinic to serve underprivileged communities.
We love and miss you, Mr. Joshua.
— Levi Lovang, 8th Grade Math Teacher
Our History
The Mission Preparatory School opened in August 2011 with two classes of kindergarten students. In the 2019-20 school year, that first cohort began 8th grade.
The school educates students from throughout San Francisco and surrounding Bay Area communities, with a particular focus on students in the southeastern part of the city.
Mission Prep serves families who desire a rigorous college-preparatory academic program and highly-structured environment for their children. We provide an extensive, research-based literacy program to meet the needs of all students, including targeted support for English Learners and students with special needs.
The entire school program provides the systems, suppor, and clear, consistenlty reinforced expectations needed for all students to focus on academics, maintain high stands of behaviot, acquire social-emotional competencies, and develop the core values of being prepared, respectful, engaged, and persevering.
Our Vision
Our team and our families work together to ensure that our vision of “every child, every minute, every day” is a reality for our Prepsters.
The Mission Preparatory School addresses the need for a free, public, college-preparatory school that provides a rigorous, high-quality K-8 education in San Francisco.
With an uncompromising commitment to upholding the highest academic and behavioral expectations for all children, Mission Prep is designed specifically to address the learning needs of an underserved and underperforming student population.
Through an intensive focus on literacy and the implementation of strategic academic support structures, we ensure mastery of essential skills and content knowledge, accelerate student achievement, support student acceptance to top high schools, and lay the foundation for every child to excel in and graduate from college.
Mission Prep is non-religious in its programs, admissions policies, employment practices, and all other operations; does not charge tuition; and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Admission is open to all children whose ages meet the current California Education Code requirements and who reside in California.
“I love Mission Prep because they have the best teachers”
— Zyla Lane, 3rd grade
Our Policies
+ Family Handbook (Comuníquese con la oficina principal para obtener una copia traducida.)
Our Team
-
Cynthia Jerez
Executive Director
-
Liz Alvarado
Executive Assistant
-
Share Maldonado
Human Resources Generalist
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Cindy Quintanilla
Director of Finance & Community Operations
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Yaneli Cevallos
Director of Academics
-
Beatriz Franco
Compliance and Operations Specialist
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Devan Jester
Student Support Services Coordinator
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Lisa Tialavea
Data and Curriculum Coordinator
-
Railey Williams
Data and Curriculum Coordinator
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David Reynolds
Instructional Coach
-
Keianna Colón
Community Systems Manager
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Jessica Isidro
Office Specialist
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Kat Cardenas
Student Support & Expanded Learning
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Leo Alvarenga
Operations and Health Coordinator
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Jaqueline Galvez
Nutrition Coordinator
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Rosario Melendez
Nutrition Coordinator
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Maricela Islas
Morning Crossguard
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Sofia Garrett
Attendance Clerk
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Natalia Hernandez
Extended Learning Program Student Support
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Brenda Martinez
Student Support and Expanded Learning Instructor
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Valeria Miranda
Community & ELT Liaison
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Daniel Ortiz
Middle School Education Specialist
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Sydni Tokuyama
Elementary Education Specialist
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Denise Garcia
Academic Interventionist
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Alondra Garcia
High School Readiness Counselor
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Teresa Garza
Child Therapist
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Kim Lopez
TK Teacher - ASU
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Karla Alvarez
TK Teacher Assistant-ASU
-
Lupe Quijada
Kindergarten Teacher - UCSB
-
Maritza Garcia
Kinder Teacher Assistant - UCSB
-
Yoalli Correa
Kindergarten Teacher - FSU
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Shantell Hines
First Grade Teacher - Berkeley
-
Lothar Meza
First Grade Teacher Assistant- Berkeley
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Sidney Wright
First Grade Teacher - Stanford
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Samantha Chavez
First Grade Teacher Assistant - Stanford
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Rebecca Mikkelsen
Second Grade Teacher-UGA
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Roselyn Celis
Second grade Teacher Assistant-UGA
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Rafael Arriaza
Second Grade Teacher - UCLA
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Joshua Laguna
Second Grade Teacher Assistant-UCLA
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Brandon Butler
Third Grade Teacher - Skidmore
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Julia Doszkocs
Kindergarten Teaching Assistant - FSU
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Melissa Zhou
Third Grade Teacher - USC
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Nicanor Alvarado
Third Grade Teacher Assistant-USC
-
Marie Barajas
Fourth Teaching Assistant- UPenn
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Samantha Kerns
Fourth Grade Teacher-NYU
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Sofia Sanchez
First Grade Teacher
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Travis Holley
Fifth Grade Teacher Assistant- Pomona
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Remo Reyes
Fifth Grade Teacher Assistant-UCSC
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Gabriel Flores
Sixth Grade Teacher-UCR
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Andrea Rios
Sixth Grade Teacher-Chico
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David Gutierrez
Middle School Teacher Assistant
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Miyatta Gusau
Seventh Grade Teacher - Cal Poly
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Astrid Alvarado
Middle School Teacher Assistant
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Jose Tapia
Seventh Grade Teacher-Sonoma
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Levi Lovang
Eighth Grade Teacher - UC Davis
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David Zhou
Eighth Grade Science Teacher
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Giee Lapid
Enrichment Teacher
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Amaya Gomez
Dance Enrichment Teacher
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Cristian Gutierrez
Art Teacher
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Carl Carpenter
PE Coach
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Adrian Padilla
TK - Fifth PE Coach
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Denisse Garcia
FEC Co-President
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Andrea Bustamante
FEC Co-President