Last night the RUSD Employee & Community Recognition Dinner was held at the Diamond Bar Golf Course. The event was sponsored by Chaffey Federal Credit Union and guests enjoyed entertainment by the Nogales High School Jazz Band and students from Yorbita Elementary performing baile folklorico and their winning speech contest winner. Congratulations to all of our Employees of the Year from sites across the District and our Golden Apple Award Winners that were recognized. **There will be a link with all the photos available soon** –
DISTRICT EMPLOYEES OF THE YEAR FOR 2015-16
RUSD Teacher of the Year: Maria Jimenez from Rorimer Elementary
RUSD Administrator of the Year: Carlos Ochoa from Giano Intermediate
RUSD Classified Employee of the Year: Kevin Ellis from Telesis Academy
Maria Jimenez – Elementary School Teacher, Rorimer Elementary School
Maria’s contributions to the students and staff of Rorimer Elementary School are significant in improving staff climate and school-wide involvement. Her creativity and ability to think “outside the box” have allowed Rorimer students’ moral and teacher participation in school wide events to increase. She facilitated a Mc’Teacher’s Night, which was highly successful. Students, teachers, and parents enjoyed the experience of interacting with one another in a different setting while raising money for the school. She also single handedly came up with the idea of a T-Shirt design contest for Rorimer students to participate in. Students were invited to create a design with our school motto “Royals are Readers” to promote school spirit as well as increase participation in the school’s Read-a-thon. As a special education teacher, Maria’s responsibilities include meeting the individualized educational plans for each of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students within her classroom setting. In working with these students to meet the demanding Common Core standards, she uses the current district resources as well as a variety of outside resources to teach the multi-level students. Her classroom is focused, with all students on task. Anchor charts and engaging lesson are consistently created in order to assist students in reaching their full potential. Additionally, Maria’s positive outlook and willingness to learn have allowed her to incorporate balanced literacy and hands-on science lessons within her teaching. Recently, Maria was awarded a donation from Mattel to provide students with resources necessary to meet 4th grade simple projects standard. Students were given toy parts and encouraged to collaborate with each other in order to create a small race car as the finished product. It is Maria’s creative activities like these that add to the enriching educational experience her students receive.
Kevin Ellis – Librarian, Telesis Academy of Science & Math
Kevin Ellis is our school librarian and is such an asset to our school. Mr. Ellis always has a positive attitude and is willing to pitch in and help out wherever and whenever needed. He politely services all of our 820 students and takes his job very seriously. Mr. Ellis greets every one of our students with a smile and friendly demeanor. He has worked very hard to develop the library and its resources. Mr. Ellis has extended the Telesis Library hours to open in the morning before school so that our eager students can check back in books and check out new books so they can continue to read and pass Accelerated Reader tests. Mr. Ellis also encourages the students to come in the mornings if they just want a nice quiet place to work on homework or read their books. When the library has to close for one reason or another, he does not just cancel library time for the students, instead he compiles several of the most checked out books, puts them onto a cart and visits the classrooms. The students and the teachers greatly appreciate him going above and beyond. Mr. Ellis works to build the library by taking book suggestions from both teachers and students. Kevin has a performance background and will often work with classes and teachers in developing their college cheers. The students really get excited when Mr. Ellis works with their classrooms and developing those cheers.
Carlos Ochoa – Intermediate School Principal, Giano Intermediate School
Carlos Ochoa, Principal at Giano Intermediate, was nominated for the 2015 ACSA Administrator of the Year Award (Secondary Administrator of the Year). Through his 16 years at Rowland Unified, Carlos has continued to demonstrate what it is to be an exceptional teacher and instructional leader. He has the innate ability to teach and lead. He has taken on various roles on a site level such as grade level lead, sports coach, a “go-to” person to help in any situation or committee and is a leader in the School Instructional Leadership team. At the District level, he has held several leadership roles such as his involvement on the ELD curriculum adoption committee, designing of the new ELD Portfolios, a committee member of the District’s Strategic Planning Committee, Technology Committee and headed the District’s Community Mapping Committee. He has been an integral part in connecting the community and the District through his involvement with Community Mapping and has shared his experience and expertise at several conferences sponsored by ACSA, the Cultural Proficiency Institute, CSBA and Association of Latino Administrator and Superintendents Summit on Hispanic Education. He has served as a Program Specialist at Giano, Assistant Principal at Ybarra Academy and is now the Principal at Giano Intermediate.