Faculty and Staff

Mrs. Lisa Barquin has been a staff member for 17 years. She has been associated with the school for over twenty years starting when her oldest child started first grade. All three of her and her husband's three sons attended and graduated from San Francisco de Asis Catholic School (St. Mary's). Lisa and her husband believe that SFdA provided a solid academic foundation, but also a firm foundation in their Catholic faith.

She believes that we join parents, who are the primary educators of their children, in promoting age appropriate academic standards and building Catholic foundations.

Mrs. Catherine King started teaching Pre-Kindergarten at San Francisco de Asis (SFdA) 10+ years ago and has worked with young children for 20+years. She believes “this school is truly a community you can be proud to be involved in, and my husband and I were blessed to send both of our sons to SFdA from preschool through 8th grade.” Mrs. King graduated from St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary and Xavier Catholic High School in Phoenix followed by Arizona State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She states, “The Catholic faith is an integral part of my personal, family and professional life. In reading over the parable of the sower, I was struck by its significance for Catholic schools and teaching. We are tasked, in partnership with the parents, with the important duty of preparing each child’s mind, heart and soul for receiving God’s word and love. What a blessing! Therefore, religious education is woven throughout our day.”

Miss Byrnes was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, grew up in Venice, Florida, and has lived in Arizona now for 10 years. Erin grew up with two Catholic educators as parents and attended Catholic School until college. She then attended Northern Arizona University where she studied Elementary and Early Childhood Education. She did her student teaching here at San Francisco de Asis School in the 3rd grade and fell in love with the community! She graduated Summa Cum Laude in May of 2015 with her Bachelor of Science. She is ecstatic to have the opportunity to teach here and is excited for the adventures the coming year has in store. When she’s not at school, Miss Byrnes enjoys music, fishing, and of course any form of coffee!

My name is Brenda Smith, and I am the first grade teacher here at San Francisco de Asis Catholic School. I have been teaching since 1987 and have taught a variety of grade levels before finding my home with the amazing 6 and 7 year olds. I am so blessed at my place of work, my ministry, as each day is never the same as the next. My first graders are always teaching me to hold on to my youth and view the love of the Lord through first grade eyes as this is so pure and selfless. I love that my students are very interested in learning and get so excited about the “little things.” Who knew that putting glittery crayons in the class crayon box or bringing in twistable colored pencils would make it “the best day ever?” As their teacher, it is my job to teach them to become readers, writers, mathematicians, scientist, and sociologist, but as their religion teacher it is my job to lead them to God and help strengthen their lifelong friendship with Jesus.

Mrs. Thompson earned her Bachelor of Science degree(s) in Elementary and Special Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood from Northern Arizona University. She also earned a Master of Education Degree in Special Education from San Diego State University. She has had the privilege of teaching in a variety of positions including: Second Grade (currently), Kindergarten, as a K-6 Resource Specialist, K-8 Technology, and Master Mind (a critical thinking, enrichment program.) She was blessed to attend Catholic school as part of her own foundational education. All three of her children have attended SFdA Catholic School. She feels blessed to be a part of this community as an Educator, Parent and a Parishioner.

“All things done in the classroom should lead us to Christ.”

My name is Samantha Witt and I am so excited to join this community at SFdA!

I am originally from Southern California, but I moved out to Flagstaff in 2015 to obtain my Bachelor's degree in Special and Elementary Education from NAU.

Since I graduated in 2019, I continued to work in the education field as a Paraprofessional for FUSD while I pursued my Master's degree in Special Education with an emphasis in Positive Behavior Support. My favorite things to do are either grabbing a cup of coffee from my favorite shop in town or having a game night with my friends! I look forward to getting to know all of you and serving this community!

Mrs. Espino has been teaching PE/Health at SFdA since 2007. Her daughter has just begun her journey as a student at SFdA and she is excited to watch her daughter grow in the faith and knowledge of Catholicism that can only come from a Catholic education. Mrs. Espino taught for two years at the public school but felt something was missing. The day Mrs. Espino closed the door on teaching in the public school, she got a phone call that SFdA was hiring A PE teacher. As the saying goes when one door closes, another one was opened.

It is her goal that every child who leaves SFdA will have a love for physical activity, and find at least one activity they can enjoy as they continue their journey to adulthood. Faith is integrated into the classroom through daily prayer and scripture readings. Students read a scripture passage and then analyze how that passage relates to what they did in class.

The students at SFdA truly make teaching awesome!