Meet our Staff
Dedicated & Certified
About Me
Kathleen received an elementary certification (K-6) from Meredith College and a psychology degree from North Carolina State University. After graduating, she taught in various elementary schools and preschools and most recently taught in Arlington Community Preschool from 2014-2020. Kathleen founded Jumpstart Christian Preschool in the spring of 2020. She believes that pre-k is the most important year of education, and her classroom lessons exhibit that philosophy with her fun and interactive units in art, music and science.
Kathleen Petrey
Director & Pre-K Teacher
Jackelin Perez
About Me
Jackelin joined JCP in early 2022 and has been a huge asset to our program. She is from Bolivia and has worked with the elderly. She has taken classes in childhood education and loves working with children. Jackelin is loving and kind and soft spoken and the children adore her. She is always looking for ways to help around the school doing prep work, gardening, and cleaning.
2-3's Teacher
Maria Orellana
About Me
Maria is from El Salvador and she joined JCP in 2021. She loves to be with the children and has a magic touch reaching their hearts; the children adore her. They feel comforted by Maria all of the time; she is very loving and kind and the children feel safe with her. She works hard and is always helping the staff and students.
Teacher Assistant
About Me
Merry started working for JCP in 2021 intermittently with other jobs until 2024 when they started working part-time. She oversees and photographs the bi-annual school photo-days and creates our end-of-year slideshow and yearbooks. She loves working with and reading to the children and hopes to encourage each child's curiosity in every aspect of life and learning about our world.
Lauren Petrey
Assistant, Photographer, IT management, and Japanese Teacher.
Credibility
Each Teacher develops lessons that meet the needs of their class. These lessons are guided by the Virginia's Foundation Blocks for Early Learning. Our teachers are certified in 1st Aid & CPR, receive physicals annually, background checks, and fingerprinting upon hiring