Sulphur Springs Union School District board members saluted their teacher tribute honorees and discussed their upcoming young authors day and a new district foundation during their Wednesday night board meeting.
Teacher Tributes
During the beginning portion of their meeting, the SSUSD board and district office administrators honored the nine teachers at their schools who had been named recipients of their individual sites’ 2019 Teacher Tribute award.
Although the official Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation award ceremony was held April 30 — which featured all the local districts — SSUSD Superintendent Catherine Kawaguchi thought it important for the teachers to still be recognized for the work they’ve done through the year.
“We know that we have all amazing teachers in our district, but these are teachers that have been recognized by their peers for going above and beyond… they’re just team players who are amazing people,” said Kawaguchi. “So, we take a moment in our district to pause to congratulate and thank them for their dedication to our community and our children.”
The 2018/2019 SSUSD Teacher Tribute honorees are: Wendy Shaner (Canyon Springs Community), Bonnie Russon (Fair Oaks Ranch Community), Geneen Caskey (Golden Oak Community), Shannon Gerdano (Leona Cox Community), Claudia Lopez-Gallagher (Mint Canyon Community), Katie Palacios (Mitchell Community), Marina Hubbard (Pinetree Community), Sophia Leao (Sulphur Springs Community) and Erica Klahs-Camara (Valley View Community).
Foundation
The new foundation, Creative Learning for All in Sulphur Springs (CLASS), is set to begin doing its work starting in the fall of the 2019-20 school year.
The foundation, according to Joshua Randall, assistant superintendent of personnel services, will be looking at three pillars to support financially within the district: wellness, innovation/STEM activities and then looking at creativity, which incorporates the arts.
“Right now, there’s seven on the board,” said Randall. “Princess Cruises, UCLA Health, Coca-Cola, Los Angeles County Fire (Department), and district representatives so far (are) on the board.”
“We want to see more exciting things happening in the classroom. There’s so many things happening in there now but they’re in little pockets in terms of funding,” said Shelley Weinstein, SSUSD Trustee for Area No. 1. “We need to get together to get the funding and take those programs and spread them out throughout the district.”
For more information about foundation board positions or on how to donate to the foundation, contact Randall at [email protected].
