More than 20 Orange County educational leaders and a local nonprofit were celebrated this week by the Association of California School Administrators, or better known as ACSA.
Established in 1971, ACSA serves more than 17,000 California educators and annually spotlights top administrators at the regional and state levels.
In a pre-pandemic world, honorees are celebrated during an annual awards ceremony held in person in front of their peers. But, this year, ACSA honored recipients virtually with a custom plaque, certificate, special lawn sign and a gift card for dinner.
Here’s the full list of the 2021 Administrators of the Year and Friends of Education for Region 17:
- Anne Silavs, Superintendent, Cypress School District
- Danny Morris, Secondary Principal, Huntington Beach Union High School District
- Heidi DeBritton, Middle Grades Principal, Westminster School District
- Debra von Sprecken, Ph.D, Elementary Principal, Magnolia Elementary School District
- Sylvia Kaufman, Ed.D., Central Office Administrator, Fullerton Joint School District
- Ryon Tanara, Secondary Co-Administrator, Tustin Unified School District
- Soo Goda, Elementary Co- Administrator, Saddleback Unified School District
- Teresa Lennox, Classified Leader of the Year, Cypress School District
- Carolee Ogata, Ed.D., Personnel/HR Administrator, Huntington Beach Union High School District
- Heather Bojorquez, Career Technical Education Administrator, Tustin Unified School District
- Chileen Spaulding, Special Education Administrator, Ocean View School District
- Leslie Roach, Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence, Irvine Unified School District
- Robert Craven, Business Services Administrator, Saddleback Unified School District
- Stacy Chang, Student Services Administrator, Centralia School District
- Kristine Cvar, Ed.D., Curriculum and Instruction Administrator, Centralia School District
- Erick Fineberg, Continuation/Educational Option Administrator, Tustin Unified School District
- Kathie Nielsen, Professor of Education, Tustin Unified School District
- Carol Hansen, Ed.D., Tracey Gaffey Award, Ocean View School District
- Randy Kolset, Technology Administrator, Orange Unified School District
- Latino Health Access, Partners for Educational Excellence, Anaheim Union High School District
And here are some other top stories we are following this week.
- Anaheim Union High School District leaders this week announced that students will continue with distance learning through the remainder of the school year.
- And, the Santa Ana Unified school board will decide later this month to potentially re-open Orange County’s second-biggest school district before the end of the school year. District officials have until April 1 to apply for new state funding aimed at helping schools re-open.
- High schools across Orange County are adjusting their busing strategies as they prepare to transport sports teams to competitions for the first time during the pandemic.
- The Santa Ana Unified School District this week announced that high schools will not be permitted to have spectators, bands or cheerleaders at their athletic events.
- The Anaheim Elementary School District is one of four organizations in OC that recently transformed blemished guitars, cellos and violins into works of art through The Yamaha Cares Upcycle Program.
- Two eighth-grade classmates from the Pegasus School in Huntington Beach were named co-champions at the 2021 virtual Orange County Spelling Bee.
- Middle and high schools throughout Los Angeles County could be eligible to open for in-person classes within days, with L.A. Unified aiming for a late April reopening of its secondary campuses.
- In related news, Los Angeles students are one step closer to a return to campus beginning in mid-April under a tentative agreement reached this week between the teachers union and the L.A. Unified School District.
- In his State of the State speech, Governor Gavin Newsom said he wouldn’t be satisfied “until everybody is back in school” and pledged to invest record amounts in education this year.
- Due to a production set back that has tightened up supplies of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, OCDE will not receive any new allocations of the vaccine for the week of March 15.
- OCDE’s Communications and Media Services unit recently produced a new short film that follows one class of Adult Transition students at Harbor Learning Center.
- And finally, OCDE’s Media Services team has also produced a visual update on the new Harbor Learning Center North campus that will serve students enrolled in the department’s alternative education program.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.