Celebrating National School Principals Day and Educator Appreciation Month

Today begins the final month of the school year. May 1 is also National School Principals Day, when we celebrate the amazing work of our site leaders. May is also Educator Appreciation Month, the time we celebrate everyone who teaches and supports our students.

As we've shared recently, none of the progress we've made as a district over the last several years has happened in isolation. It happened because our incredible educators, school leaders, and dedicated staff continually choose Oakland and choose to put students first. When we unite around the needs of our students and dedicate ourselves to ensuring they thrive, we as a district and community cannot be defeated.

Since today is National School Principals Day, we want to highlight some of our amazing site leaders. As one Network Superintendent said, "Principals are firefighters, figuratively and sometimes literally! They are solution creators, even for impossible problems. And they are influencers for their communities, setting examples for students, staff, and even families."

"I work really hard to create the conditions for students to thrive, to find joy and excitement in learning, and to reach their academic goals,” said Tierre Mesa, who is in her 19th year at Urban Promise Academy, and 25th year in the District. “I'm inspired every day by the stories of my students, by seeing all of the adults who work here come together to support our students to thrive. I really truly feel that it's an honor. I currently have staff that used to be my students. And to see how we are collectively working to be part of community transformation, I feel honored. I often walk away from this work feeling like there is nothing else I would rather do."

"My job is to support kids, students, teachers, staff, and parents through whatever issues they have. On a daily basis, it can change," said Martel Price, a graduate of Skyline High School, who has now been at Oakland Technical High School for 16 years, 26 years total in the District. "I became a teacher because I wanted to impact kids in my classroom and how they learn. And then as I grew into that, it became how can I impact and learn beyond my classroom. One of the things that I tell the staff, they talk about 'we need more Black male teachers,' and here I was a Black male teacher, and I was supporting my students. But I realized that I needed more help, and I couldn't do that from my classroom. And I figured I could do that more effectively as a principal, and bring folks together to realize that we have to work together, across the aisle, across our beliefs, whatever, around supporting our students' academic progress."

"Greenleaf kids are my kids. So, I just feel like I have a deep sense of responsibility to these kids and their families, making sure all their needs are met," said Lorilei Aguinaldo, who has been at Greenleaf K-8 School for her entire 18 year career. "We're trying to build the diversity of our community, so that’s another thing that's important to me where I want to make sure that everybody feels included, and that everybody feels like they're a part of this community. So, outreach is huge. A lot of families might feel their voice doesn't matter, and it very much does."

And we should note, when we talk about the role of principal, we are not just referring to school leaders at the traditional elementary, middle and high school levels. We also have incredible site leaders in Early Childhood Education, our Young Adult Program and leading our Oakland Adult and Career Education work. We celebrate these dedicated staff as well for leading by example and with their whole hearts. Here are a few:

Theresa Lozac'h Director of Early Childhood Special Education AND Site Administrator for Burbank Preschool

Michelle Deiro Principal of Oakland Adult and Career Education (OACE)

David Cammarata SPED Director, Young Adult Program

There are also numerous important opportunities to honor and celebrate our dedicated teachers, nutrition staff, interpreters, school nurses and classified school employees this month. Please take a moment to thank these amazing staff members for enriching the lives of our students and making our school communities better, safer, and more joyful.

Please join us in thanking the dedicated and supportive educators in your life or the lives of your students. We know it means a lot to our staff to hear directly from students and their families.

Here's to our educators!