130+ Teachers From San Diego Unified to be Honored During May 6th Ceremony

Elementary, Middle & High School Teachers of the Year to be Honored During Teacher Appreciation Week

San Diego Unified has 96% year-over-year retention rate of its educators

San Diego Unified School District employs nearly 6,900 educators across 176 schools, and during National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 5-9), more than 130 of its educators will be honored for their outstanding commitment to students, including six "Teacher of the Year" winners and runners-up.

"Education is a labor of love and I am thankful we have teachers that are so dedicated to the children of San Diego," said Dr. Fabi Bagula, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent (Interim). "It's not an easy profession, but it's one of the most rewarding careers that exists. Year-after-year our district does everything possible to do right by all of our educators, and I am excited to celebrate them during Teacher Appreciation Week."

On May 6 the Day of the Teacher Celebration will be held starting at 4:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the Eugene Brucker Education Center to honor the winners, runners-up, and site teachers, they are:

• Three District Teachers of the Year Winners - Elementary School Teacher of the Year: Meera Ramanathan, Visual Arts teacher from Zamorano Elementary School; Middle School Teacher of the Year: Kevin White, a Gateway to Technology teacher from De Portola Middle School; and High School Teacher of the Year: Cindy Page, an AVID and Psychology teacher from Crawford High School.
• Three Runners-Up for District Teachers of the Year - Runner-up for Elementary School Teacher of the Year: Adrielle Ayers of Sherman Elementary; Runner-Up for Middle School Teacher of the Year: Rebecca Zauderer of Wilson Middle; and Runner-up for High School Teacher of the Year: Jennifer Oakes of San Diego High.
• Individual School Site Teachers of the Year: 130 Teachers linked here.

Teachers Stay at San Diego Unified School District

Going back to at least 2006, San Diego Unified boasts a 96% year-over-year retention rate of its educators. In a recent survey of 1,300 San Diego Education Association members who work at San Diego Unified, 79% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that "I plan to be working in my organization one year from now."

San Diego Unified is a Leader in Educator Salaries, Benefits, and Environment

San Diego Unified has a very generous financial and benefits package for its educators. For example:

• Provided wage increases to help keep up with the cost of living and local inflation.
• Cover the full cost of medical, dental and vision benefit premiums for the educator, spouse/registered domestic partner and all eligible dependent children. No other district in San Diego County offers that level of benefit coverage.
• Committed to the development of affordable housing for 10% of its workforce over the next decade.

San Diego Unified is also continuously seeking opportunities to support its educators, and improve the school environment which has included:

• Lowering caseload ratios for School Psychologists and Speech-Language Pathologists.
• Doubling the amount of elementary teacher preparation time from 90 minutes bi-weekly to 180 minutes bi-weekly.
• Lowering individual class size for kindergarten through 3rd grade - limiting class sizes to just 29 students per class, when they used to be up to 35 students per class.

To learn more about how San Diego Unified School District supports its educators, click here.

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