Professional Learning and Development Team

Mission Statement Link to this section

We exist to...

support SFUSD educators at all stages of their career to grow their practice and their leadership to create the conditions for all students to thrive. We support educators to experience or design and facilitate high quality, equity-centered professional learning (inquiry-driven, critically-conscious, culturally-relevant) to drive their own learning and that of their colleagues in service of students.

Teachers on Special Assignment Link to this section

Jessica Fishman
Jessica Fishman has spent the last 18+ years working in public education. This is Jessica’s sixth year serving as an instructional coach on the Professional Learning and Leadership Team. Jessica worked as a teacher, principal, and instructional coach at San Francisco Community School - a diverse K-8 school in the Excelsior. Jessica has been focused on educator leadership and development, equity, project-based learning, and balanced literacy in her work at San Francisco Community School (my-sfcs.org). She began her career in education teaching early elementary in the South Bronx through Teach For America and holds a master's in education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Jessica is particularly interested in how educators learn and grow together, fostering agency, collaboration, reflection, and relational trust so that we can bring about the belonging, connection, and change necessary for our students and our community.

Jessica Fishman

Jessica Fishman has spent the last 18+ years working in public education. This is Jessica’s sixth year serving as an instructional coach on the Professional Learning and Leadership Team. Jessica worked as a teacher, principal, and instructional coach at San Francisco Community School - a diverse K-8 school in the Excelsior. Jessica has been focused on educator leadership and development, equity, project-based learning, and balanced literacy in her work at San Francisco Community School (my-sfcs.org). She began her career in education teaching early elementary in the South Bronx through Teach For America and holds a master's in education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Jessica is particularly interested in how educators learn and grow together, fostering agency, collaboration, reflection, and relational trust so that we can bring about the belonging, connection, and change necessary for our students and our community.

Kathleen Helfrey (she/her/hers)
Kathleen is a Bay Area native who has been working in education for the past 15 years. She began her career in education in a rural community in Ghana, West Africa, where she met a group of elders who wanted to build a library in their village. This moment led her to co-found an educational non-profit designed to make education in rural communities more accessible. Her passion for education as a form of liberation led her to begin her teaching career at San Francisco Community School - a diverse, K-8, project-based school with democratic leadership structures. Through her work there, she was able to deepen her commitment to equity-centered educational practices and educator leadership opportunities to create conditions for all students to thrive. This is Kathleen’s fourth year on the Professional Learning and Leadership team, where she works collaboratively with educators to grow their practice and leadership capacity in service of students.

Kathleen Helfrey (she/her/hers)

Kathleen is a Bay Area native who has been working in education for the past 15 years. She began her career in education in a rural community in Ghana, West Africa, where she met a group of elders who wanted to build a library in their village. This moment led her to co-found an educational non-profit designed to make education in rural communities more accessible. Her passion for education as a form of liberation led her to begin her teaching career at San Francisco Community School - a diverse, K-8, project-based school with democratic leadership structures. Through her work there, she was able to deepen her commitment to equity-centered educational practices and educator leadership opportunities to create conditions for all students to thrive. This is Kathleen’s fourth year on the Professional Learning and Leadership team, where she works collaboratively with educators to grow their practice and leadership capacity in service of students.

Melissa Rodriguez (ella\|she)
Melissa has been in public education for 20+ years, primarily as a secondary ELA and ELD in the Bay Area and the Salinas Valley. She developed her practice through project-based learning, performance assessments, culturally responsive teaching, and professional learning communities. She is committed to the important work of supporting teachers, students, and families to create the public education system our communities deserve.

Melissa Rodriguez (ella|she)

Melissa has been in public education for 20+ years, primarily as a secondary ELA and ELD in the Bay Area and the Salinas Valley. She developed her practice through project-based learning, performance assessments, culturally responsive teaching, and professional learning communities. She is committed to the important work of supporting teachers, students, and families to create the public education system our communities deserve.

Mira Carberry (they/them/theirs) - Elementary Math Grant Manager
Mira worked in youth development and afterschool programs based in the Tenderloin neighborhood, working with students from SFUSD elementary schools, including Bessie Carmichael, Tenderloin Community, Redding, and Starr King. During that time, they learned how quickly a kindergartener can lose a shoe on public transit and how urgently we need to listen to our young people and take seriously their desires to make this world a more beautiful, just place. In 2013, Mira became a grade bilingual classroom teacher at Buena Vista Horace Mann (BVHM) K-8 school in the Mission District. During their ten years at BVHM, Mira taught 3rd grade for 7 years and then looped with a cohort of 3rd graders up to 5th grade. Alongside their classroom teaching, Mira co-founded Grupo para el Avance de Niñas y Aliades (GANA), a teacher/student collaborative program that supports girls, non-binary, and transgender students to express their gender identities and take action against gender-based discrimination at school through student leadership. This year, they have taken on a new role as the Elementary Math Grant Manager with the PLL team. They are working with Flynn, Muir, Malcolm X, and Sanchez elementary schools to support the ongoing development of Lesson Study and Teaching Through Problem Solving. They believe these methodologies present the opportunity to create pedagogical shifts that transform learning, both by elevating joy and rigor and by creating more equitable outcomes for students across SFUSD.

Mira Carberry (they/them/theirs) - Elementary Math Grant Manager

Mira worked in youth development and afterschool programs based in the Tenderloin neighborhood, working with students from SFUSD elementary schools, including Bessie Carmichael, Tenderloin Community, Redding, and Starr King. During that time, they learned how quickly a kindergartener can lose a shoe on public transit and how urgently we need to listen to our young people and take seriously their desires to make this world a more beautiful, just place. In 2013, Mira became a grade bilingual classroom teacher at Buena Vista Horace Mann (BVHM) K-8 school in the Mission District. During their ten years at BVHM, Mira taught 3rd grade for 7 years and then looped with a cohort of 3rd graders up to 5th grade. Alongside their classroom teaching, Mira co-founded Grupo para el Avance de Niñas y Aliades (GANA), a teacher/student collaborative program that supports girls, non-binary, and transgender students to express their gender identities and take action against gender-based discrimination at school through student leadership. This year, they have taken on a new role as the Elementary Math Grant Manager with the PLL team. They are working with Flynn, Muir, Malcolm X, and Sanchez elementary schools to support the ongoing development of Lesson Study and Teaching Through Problem Solving. They believe these methodologies present the opportunity to create pedagogical shifts that transform learning, both by elevating joy and rigor and by creating more equitable outcomes for students across SFUSD.

Nobie Camarena (he/him)
Nobie has worked in public education since 1997. The majority of that time was spent working as a K/1 teacher at San Francisco Community School - a small, diverse K-8 school in the southeast corner of the city. Throughout his time there, he anchored his classroom practice in project-based learning, problem-based learning, and other constructivist learning practices, focusing on the interplay of agency and collaboration in creating an empowering community. Nobie is driven by a deep faith in the potential for love and community within humanity, intellectual honesty and curiosity, and the potential for joy in the midst of struggle. He believes our schools must be places where students can be and explore their whole selves and that adults must create a new way of being and being together if schools are to be a place of transformation.

Nobie Camarena (he/him)

Nobie has worked in public education since 1997. The majority of that time was spent working as a K/1 teacher at San Francisco Community School - a small, diverse K-8 school in the southeast corner of the city. Throughout his time there, he anchored his classroom practice in project-based learning, problem-based learning, and other constructivist learning practices, focusing on the interplay of agency and collaboration in creating an empowering community. Nobie is driven by a deep faith in the potential for love and community within humanity, intellectual honesty and curiosity, and the potential for joy in the midst of struggle. He believes our schools must be places where students can be and explore their whole selves and that adults must create a new way of being and being together if schools are to be a place of transformation.

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This page was last updated on June 1, 2025