Quick look: Ken Kafton began working in Irvine Unified before the district was officially established. More than 50 years later, he continues to support schools as IUSD’s lead press operator — and was recently honored as one of the district’s 2025 Classified Employees of the Year.
Our friends in the Irvine Unified School District recently shared the story of a longtime employee whose career began even before that district officially existed — and who’s been putting ideas on paper ever since.
Ken Kafton was still a senior at Mission Viejo High School when he started working at the San Joaquin School District’s print shop in October 1970. His next-door neighbor, Lin Trestrail, needed some extra help and brought him on board a few hours a day. A year later, Kafton was hired full-time to run the small offset press and produce printed materials for students and staff.
“It’s an ever-changing type of deal,” Kafton, whose official title is lead press operator, told IUSD. “Every day is a bit different, and the challenge of learning how to do things and helping students and teachers is rewarding.”
When the San Joaquin School District was split into Tustin, Irvine and Saddleback Valley unified school districts in 1972, Kafton stayed on. In fact, he’s been at the IUSD print shop ever since, making him the only employee who’s been with the district for its entire history.
Back in the day, Irvine was still mostly farmland and orange groves. Teachers, administrators and staff gathered annually for a single luncheon that could fit in one restaurant, something that would be impossible now in one of the state’s fastest growing — and highest performing — districts.
Fifty years of growth for IUSD
“It was such a small district at the beginning,” Kafton recalled. “The teachers and staff, we were a close-knit family basically because of the size. … Now it’s impossible to do something like that because it’s so much bigger. I never thought Irvine would grow quite this much.”
Still, Kafton said, the culture of dedication and innovation has endured.
“From the very beginning, everyone was driven to do their best,” he said. “People weren’t focused on being No. 1 in the state or anything like that. Their focus was and has been to do their best to help out the students and the community.”
That spirit helped position IUSD as an early adopter of new technology. In the mid-1970s, long before Zoom or FaceTime, the district embraced a video conferencing system and used it to connect classrooms with World War II veterans and other guests.
“The district was good at coming up with ideas and implementing new technologies,” Kafton said. “They didn’t want to stay in a cookie-cutter type formula. If you had an idea that helps kids learn and expand their knowledge, they were open to suggestions.”
Classified Employee of the Year
Kafton says that mindset continues to define IUSD’s approach — including how the district manages its print shop.
“The district has always been big on decentralization,” he said. “For us, we’ve run the print shop more like a commercial print shop than any other district in OC. We don’t tell schools what they should do; they tell us what to do. … It helps you keep focused on why you are here and what your job really is.”
Today, at 73, Kafton leads a three-person team that produces much of IUSD’s printed materials. He still works out of the same building where he got his start more than 50 years ago — and he has no plans to leave anytime soon.
In fact, Kafton is still making his mark — not just on paper, but on the district itself. On Tuesday, May 13, IUSD named him one of its five 2025 Classified Employees of the Year, honoring his decades of service and steady contributions behind the scenes.
“I love the challenge of trying to solve the problems that come up,” he said. “You are always trying to do things better and meet the needs of the people in the district. At this time, I enjoy the challenge, so I’m just continuing on.”
Read the full story on the IUSD website.