who we are q&a board of directors major contributors school leadership history dollars & sense
Monarch School has served as a place of hope and belonging to thousands of unhoused students since 1987. Our unique and innovative Kindergarten through 12th grade school provides students with the stability and security they need to heal and learn.
Nearly 300 students attend Monarch School each day and are provided a holistic education designed to meet their academic, social, emotional, and life skill needs. Monarch School is a trauma-informed and strength-based community where students can persevere through the trauma of homelessness that has affected them and their success in education.
At Monarch, we give students the skills and tools they need to overcome these odds.
From increased attendance and academic performance to emotional wellness and earning a high school diploma, students are defining success on their own terms and thriving at Monarch. The school is a public-private partnership between the San Diego County Office of Education and the nonprofit Monarch School Project, a 501(c)(3) corporation.
Board Chair
Rochelle Bold
Community Volunteer
Vice Chair and Advancing Strategies Chair
James Harris
President
University of San Diego
Secretary
Lisa Bicker
Community Volunteer
Governance Chair
Debra Molyneux
Community Volunteer
Finance Chair
Graeme Reid
Assurance Partner
Ernst & Young LLP
Audit Chair
Sam Attisha
Senior Vice President/
Region Manager
Cox California
Resource Development Chair
Caroline Winn
CEO
SDG&E
Ryan Alfred
President
Digital Assets Data
Chris Connolly
Senior Vice President, Marketing
San Diego Padres
Christian Gagel
Controller
Singular Genomics Systems, Inc.
Ashley Gosal
Director of Legal
Bosa Development
Jennifer LeSar
President & Founding CEO
LeSar Development Consultants
Todd Mokhtari
President & General Manager
NBC 7 and Telemundo 20
Pamela Gray Payton
Chief Impact and Partnerships Officer, Vice President of Community Impact
The San Diego Foundation
Jill Skrezyna
Community Volunteer
Karin Vogel
Attorney
Sheppard Mullin
Afira DeVries most recently served as the United States Director of Spring Impact, a global nonprofit focused on scaling social impact solutions. Previous to that, she served as President & CEO for the United Way of the Roanoke Valley in Southwestern Virginia and Chief Development and Innovations Officer of United Way of Tampa, Florida. Afira has enjoyed a two-decade career as a health and human services executive, successfully leading innovation and growth for six thriving nonprofit organizations. Having generated more than a quarter billion dollars in support of social innovation over the course of her career, her extensive development, leadership and programmatic design experience will contribute to the vision and strategic direction of the Monarch School Project.
Dyane Plumly has worked for the San Diego County Office of Education for over 10 years. She has served as a classroom teacher, Instructional Coach, and Site Administrator. Dyane believes that students thrive when held to high expectations and engaging, relevant content. Dyane's work focuses on building literacy and reading intervention programs. She earned a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Washington, a Masters in Teaching at University of Washington, and Masters in Teaching and Learning in Technology at Ashford. She is trained in Restorative Practices and Trauma Informed Care to build Multi-Tiered Systems of Support to ensure students have exactly what they need, when they need it.
Marisol Alvarado has worked in education for 20 years in San Diego and New York City. She has a background in School Counseling and Family Engagement, and has worked with families impacted by homelessness at Monarch since 2007. During her time at Monarch she has worked in all levels of programming, including serving as a Parent Liaison, Director of Parent Engagement, Director of Student Support and Senior Director of Student Services. Marisol believes young people do best when they experience strong, positive relationships in all parts of their lives, have a safe place to learn and have a say in their own learning. Marisol helped to build the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Team and programming on campus, using researched based practices such Trauma Informed Care, a Strength Based Framework and Restorative Practices. Additionally, Marisol and the SEL team have designed programming and practices at Monarch using the Developmental Relationships Framework which focuses on expressing care, fostering growth, providing support, sharing power and expanding possibilities to ensure that students and families thrive.
Elizabeth serves as Vice President of Philanthropy, overseeing fundraising, marketing and communications. Her experience spans a broad spectrum of non-profit environments, from education and the environment to healthcare and the arts. Formerly Elizabeth also worked as a primary school teacher and arts education specialist. Her passion for education, the arts and philanthropy guides her work in serving the students and families of Monarch.
KishaLynn Elliott joined the Monarch School in September 2013 as Director of College and Career Development. In this role, she created the first student internship program at Monarch, partnering with workforce development partners and local businesses to provide students with career-readiness instruction and real-world work experience through on-the-job training and mentorship. In 2016, she transitioned to a new leadership role as Director of Program Evaluation, focused on measuring and demonstrating the impact of Monarch’s social-emotional learning (SEL) programming. In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused Monarch to close, KishaLynn developed systems for case managing families to ensure a continuity of support services and distributing resources to families to help meet their basic needs during the school closure. KishaLynn earned a BA in English from Spelman College in 2002. KishaLynn has been working in education nonprofit management since 2004. She is a certified coach, a licensed restorative practices trainer, and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) credential.
The outlook is grim for youth experiencing homelessness needing help in San Diego County. Recognizing a desperate situation, the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) funds a drop-in center in downtown San Diego. Named The P.L.A.C.E. (Progressive Learning Alternative Center for Education), it is staffed with a single teacher, Sandra McBrayer, and offers an opportunity for youth experiencing homlessness to get off the streets and pursue an education.
Needing a larger facility but lacking funds, The P.L.A.C.E. relocates to a low-income neighborhood in downtown. Despite challenges, the program continues to flourish.
Students rename The P.L.A.C.E., and Monarch School is born.
Students rename the school to Monarch School in honor of the butterfly’s transformation, which symbolizes their current struggle as well as the success they hope to achieve.
Monarch School Project is formed as a California nonprofit corporation.
The school moves to a new building on Cedar Street in Little Italy. SDCOE agrees to fund a 15-year lease, and Monarch School Project raises over $1 million to fund renovations, furniture and fixtures in the school. The new 10,000-square-foot facility opens with 48 students and includes a computer lab, three classrooms, a small health clinic, library and conference room, kitchen, laundry room and shower.
Monarch School reaches its capacity of 150 students in May, four years ahead of growth projections.
Building modifications are made in order to add a kindergarten and first-grade classroom. Monarch School is now able to serve youth experiencing homelessness from grades K through 12.
Monarch School Nat & Flora Bosa Campus opens. The 51,000-square-foot school on 2.2 acres in Barrio Logan is fully equipped with a gymnasium, single subject classrooms, a library, science lab, tutoring center, and many other features that are essentials to a modern, effective learning environment.
Monarch School is committed to fiscal responsibility and faithful stewardship of the funds entrusted to us by our generous donors.
It is our responsibility to ensure donated funds are kept safe and used only to carry out Monarch School’s mission of educating unhoused youth.