New Marquez Principal Lisa Timmerman stands in the area where students will attend school. Portable classrooms have been place on the lower play yard.
If you’re looking for an excellent school, with strong leadership and low teacher-to-student- ratio, Marquez Charter Elementary is the answer. Lisa Timmerman was selected to be the new principal for the school year and to help lead it into its next chapter.
The neighborhood was devastated by the January 7 Palisades Fire, which also destroyed Marquez Elementary. The school’s mosaic survived but needs restoration.
Who would want the challenge of reopening this school?
After having worked for two years as principal at Westwood Charter School, with about 680 students, Timmerman said that when former Marquez principal Dr. Latana Reeves decided not to return, she thought about applying.
“I love the school, my kids went here,” she said, but asked herself, “Am I the person who can get this done?”
Her family, including husband Brian, a local swim team coach, her daughters Leah and Quincy, all gave enthusiastic approval. One said, “Mom how could you not apply?”
“I’m honored to have been chosen,” she said, but acknowledged “I don’t have all the answers.’
Timmerman said, “There are going to be a lot of challenges, but we have the opportunity to create a really amazing campus.”
Her first challenge is getting teachers/students back on campus, which should happen sometime next month. Then, the next step is reassuring families that it is safe (there’s constant soil/air testing by LAUSD). Finally, she plans to make sure there are mental health resources for kids and staff, and to create normalcy.
LAUSD is keeping the same number of teachers as it had last year at the time of the fire. Then, the school population was 314 in kindergarten through fifth grade. That means with fewer pupils attending this year, the teacher-to-student ratio will be high. (People have moved out of the district, while they decide whether to replace their homes.)
Timmerman started working on her administrative credential from University of Southern California in 2019. After receiving it, she first worked as an administrator at Fairburn Avenue and Rossmore Elementary Schools. In 2022, she became the assistant principal at Dixie Canyon Community Charter School. A year later she became principal at Westwood.
Timmerman has had experience with construction on campus, “At Dixie, they were putting in a new school building and we watched the framing go up and the kids had lots of questions.”
Timmerman was a teacher at Marquez, starting in 2003. “As a teacher, as a parent, my kids loved Marquez, Paul Revere Middle School and Palisades High School and it has carried them forward,” she said.
Her oldest daughter, Leah, graduated from U.C. Davis Law School in May, took the bar exam and will start work as a deputy district attorney in Ventura.
Quincy also graduated in May with her master’s degree in sports management from Georgetown.
Timmerman graduated from Cal State Northridge with a degree in radio-television and film and started working as a L.A. County Lifeguard in 1989. It was there, working with kids, she decided to earn a teaching credential, which she received in 1995.
While working at Zuma, she made a rescue in 1997, saved the victim, but tore muscles in her shoulder. She continued to work as a lifeguard during summers, but four shoulder surgeries later, she retired in 2012. She still swims and recently completed the Pier to Pier Hermosa to Manhattan swim. Although she took first in her age category, her competitive edge came out, because “Brian beat me by 20 seconds,” Timmerman said.
School will start at the Nora Sterry location on August 14, but the plans are to return to the Marquez campus as early as September. The portable classrooms are in place on the lower play yard. A new playground has been put into place in the mid-section of the campus. Construction of new classrooms will take place on the upper yard.
Transportation is available to Nora Sterry from Marquez, for residents who have returned to their homes. People are encouraged to use the parent portal to sign up.
She also invites new families to apply to Marquez. “When I left, it always was a dream to come back,” Timmerman said. “I’m excited to watch the community return and thrive again.”
And she adds, “It’s going to take everyone.”
Principal Lisa Timmerman stands by the upper yard, where the new school will be constructed.