Dear community member,
Do you know there are more than 6,000 amazing people working across public K-12 education in Santa Cruz County? They are your teachers, bus drivers, principals, custodians, food service workers, nurses, administrative professionals, and so many more.
One of the joys of my job is finding opportunities to recognize these exemplary educators. On May 18, the Santa Cruz County Board of Education will be presenting the Educator of the Year Awards, which recognize excellence across the following categories: Teacher of the Year, Classified Employee of the Year, Counselor of the Year, Administrator of the Year, and Community Partner of the Year. We’ll soon be publicly announcing this incredible cohort of award-winners nominated by their colleagues from across the county.
The celebrations don’t end there. This past week we commemorated Administrative Professionals Day here at the COE, recognizing the countless contributions of our administrative assistants, receptionists and other administrative support professionals. If you haven’t already, be sure to tell the administrative professionals at your school or workplace how much you value their work.
And in advance of Teacher Appreciation Week, the COE has created a form to generate personalized certificates that will be sent to teachers and other educators nominated by families the week of May 8th. Please take a moment to complete the form and recognize a teacher who has made a difference this past year.
These recognitions are a small gesture of our deep appreciation for all who work in our school community.
Yours in education and equity,
Dr. Faris Sabbah
County Superintendent of Schools