ABOUT MR. J
A native of the South Bay, Jeff “Mr. J” Jamile grew up in Torrance and attended Torrance HS before moving to San Diego to study and play volleyball for UCSD.
After four years of collegiate sports, bodyboarding, mountain biking, and fishing he decided to take a chance and teach English in Japan for one year.
His first day in the classroom with 40 young 6th graders staring at him wide-eyed was intimidating but realized that becoming a teacher was his calling.
6 years of working in the Japanese education system was an excellent start to begin teaching in his hometown.
He began as a 6th-grade teacher at Magruder Middle School in Torrance Unified and worked his way up to become a technology coach within 2 years at the district level.
His work with the district caught the attention of a school reform movement called “Different Ways of Knowing” which provided him with the chance to work in low performing public schools across the US, training teachers on the latest uses of technology to enhance learning.
While the experience was fantastic, he missed his own classroom of kids so he came back to Torrance Unified as a 5th-grade teacher at Seaside Elementary.
For 12 years he worked with an amazing team of teachers and earned a great reputation as a grade level with kids and parents in the neighborhood. However, the budget cuts in 2009/2010 decimated the ranks (and his teaching position) which made the future look bleak for him to continue as a teacher.
Ironically, those cuts were the impetus he needed to start Mr. J’s Academy and with the help of 10 loyal families, the dream of his own school had begun.