OCDE Newsroom

An aerial view shows emergency crews cooling a large industrial storage tank with water at the site of the Garden Grove chemical leak as mist rises from the facility.

Garden Grove chemical leak: OC school districts adjust operations as emergency response continues

Staff reports May 24, 2026

Sierra Vista Middle School students Aryan Shah, Krish Marfatia, Kaito Yamashita and Davis Barbee win the Stephenson Family Award for Sports History at the NHD-CA contest earlier this month.

Orange County claims state-leading honors at National History Day, sends 21 students to finals

Madeline Gray May 22, 2026

Students participating in the OC GRIP program gather at Angel Stadium before the Los Angeles Angels’ May 19 game against the Oakland Athletics.

Weekly roundup: Sports Illustrated highlights OC GRIP mentorship event at Angel Stadium, and more

Vicky Nguyen May 22, 2026

From left, Rebekah Rylant of Don Juan Avila Middle School in the Capistrano Unified School District, Rolando Vivar of Fulton Middle School in the Fountain Valley School District and Pam McShea of Dysinger Elementary School in the Centralia Elementary School District were recognized with 2025-26 Outstanding PAL Advisor Awards from the Orange County Department of Education.

OCDE PAL team honors six campuses, three advisors for building positive school environments

Vicky Nguyen May 21, 2026

Student from Connections at University High DHH program brings artistic ASL to school musical

Nathaniel Martinez May 20, 2026

Weekly roundup: Segerstrom students visit Virgin Galactic site, schools take on Kindness Challenge, and more

Fermin Leal January 26, 2018

A group of students from Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana recently toured Virgin Galactic’s facilities and hangar where the...

Student Jazmine Alvarado points to her tiger design for an SUV

6th-grader’s ‘Tiger Truck’ design wins law enforcement competition

Fermin Leal January 24, 2018

Sixth-grader Jazmine Alvarado believes a tiger symbolizes strength, strong character and fearlessness — the perfect characteristics for a truck driven...

Students at the 2017 Orange County Academic Decathlon

Fifty years later, OC superintendent’s vision of ‘a decathlon of studies’ is bigger than ever

Ian Hanigan January 23, 2018

Believe it or not, this year marks the 50th anniversary of that 10-event scholarly showdown known as the Academic Decathlon. It’s been pretty well documented that the Academic Decathlon originated right here in Orange County, the brainchild of former County...

Allen Witten, teacher at Sunburst Academy, surrounded by students

Two OCDE teachers named among the 25 best by Parenting OC magazine

Fermin Leal January 22, 2018

Two Orange County Department of Education educators were named finalists for Parenting OC’s 2018 Top Teachers of Orange County Awards....

Weekly roundup: An earlier start date for Los Al students, The Deeper Learning Podcast, and more

Ian Hanigan January 19, 2018

Joining a number of other local districts that have moved up their start dates, Los Alamitos Unified will welcome back...

The Deeper Learning Podcast | ‘Exploring Kindness’ with Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares

Ian Hanigan January 19, 2018

Why have societies historically valued kindness? How can positive interactions with others impact our physiology? Why do we keep needing to remind ourselves to be kind? And what would happen if an entire county were to embrace kindness? These are...

Robert Salazar, Garden Grove Unified's building operations supervisor

GGUSD celebrates its ‘homegrown’ employees with new social media campaign

Ian Hanigan January 18, 2018

Garden Grove Unified has launched a new social media campaign celebrating staff members who were once students in the district....

86 O.C. students nominated for Disneyland Resort’s ‘Dreamers & Doers’ award for community service work

Fermin Leal January 16, 2018

Eighty-six Orange County students were selected by their high schools for their efforts to strengthen their communities, think creatively, conserve...

Weekly roundup: Students test storm water quality, governor wants more money for schools, and more

Fermin Leal January 12, 2018

Fifth-grade teacher Pam Conti from Pegasus School in Huntington Beach is on a mission to take water samples from Dana Point, and more from the Santa Ana River in Huntington Beach, back to her fifth-grade class to conduct tests to...

Gov. Brown: State to fully fund education initiatives thanks to expected $7.5 billion revenue ‘windfall’

Fermin Leal January 10, 2018

California will provide an additional $2.6 billion revenue to public education in the upcoming school year, Gov. Jerry Brown revealed...