SVDP School

It is with great pleasure that we introduce our newest team members to the SVDP community. Timothy Ogburn will be the lead teacher in the 8th grade classroom. Catherine Ballard will be supporting ELA/SS in both the 7th and 8th grade. Keith Eskinazi will be the lead teacher in the 7th grade classroom. Whitney Couch will be the new art teacher to kindergarten through 8th grade.

Tim Ogburn grew up in Kansas City and Colorado, attending college at the University of Colorado. After earning his degrees there, he and his wife, Deborah, moved to San Francisco, which has been their home for the past twenty-seven years. Residents of the Mission District for most of that time, they have two daughters, Madeleine and Lucy. Madeleine recently graduated from college and entered the work force, and Lucy just completed her first year in college. Tim enjoys spending time with his family, birding, reading, cooking, camping, and taking long walks through San Francisco. Deborah works for a construction company.

This upcoming school year at Saint Vincent de Paul will be Tim’s twenty- ninth as a teacher. Over that time he has mostly taught English and social studies at the middle school level, but he also has experience teaching 5th Grade and high school. What he most hopes for in his students is that they discover new loves in his class. To that end, he likes to engage students in Socratic dialogue and provide them with many opportunities to explore their interests in reading and writing.

Catherine is a native of the Bay Area, and a San Francisco resident since 2015. She is a graduate of Scripps College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies, and a Master of Arts in Women's Studies in Religion at Claremont Graduate University.

She has dedicated herself to becoming a life-long educator and learner, and strives to instill a similar desire in her students.

Mr. Eskinazi is a seasoned STEM professional with a passion for educating, mentoring, and coaching young people.

He has extensive experience with Biotech tools in diverse areas spanning Forensics, Agbio, Basic, Translational, and Cancer Research. With degrees in both life sciences and computer information systems, Keith likes to connect with students and help them build relevant links to their daily lives.

He enjoys martial arts, yoga, surfing, and soccer, along with a variety of outdoor pursuits. He also loves spending time with his wife and three boys on adventures in the SF Bay Area and beyond.

Mrs. Couch is a fifth generation Bay Area resident. Her great, great grandfather originally came to California for the Goldrush... unfortunately, he did not discover gold! She grew up in Los Altos Hills in Silicon Valley; her love of adventures and artistic interests have given her inspiration to travel the globe. She has studied theater in Sydney, Australia, trained as a pastry chef in Paris, France, learned marble sculpture in Paros, Greece, and taught art to children in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Mrs. Couch has been teaching art in schools for the past six years in Redwood City and Daly City. As an artist, she thrives on sharing her passion for art and creativity with her students. She feels these are vital skills for children of the 21st century to tap into their own creativity and take risks.

She lives in San Francisco in a 100-year-old Victorian with her husband, two daughters and two goldfish, Nooky and Bubbles. You may see them visiting a museum, hiking, biking, or running the streets of San Francisco.

Thank you to all school and parish members who participated in the planning and feasibility study. CCS reported out to our committee and board members on the evening of June 10th. Below you will find the executive summary of their findings.

Find updates to our progress on this project at Envision the Future.

Email: administration@svdpsf.com
Website: www.svdp.com
Location: 2350 Green Street, San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: (415)346-5505