Devoted educators honored at Day of the Teacher celebration

Brenda Mueller, Ronald Lancia, Michelle Yepiz, Shirley Miranda, Mary Lou Baranowski, Supt. Marten and Simone Kincaid

San Diego Unified School District's 2015 Teachers of the Year, Michelle Yepiz from Zamorano Fine Arts Academy, Brenda Mueller from De Portola Middle School and Ronald Lancia from Mission Bay High School, were honored at the Day of the Teacher celebration on May 5.

“Teaching will always be a part of my heart, and as a former teacher, I know the commitment to your craft and the love of your students is what led you here today – and I thank you for that,” Superintendent Cindy Marten said. “Today’s recognition allows us an extraordinary opportunity to celebrate and recognize all of our teachers and dedication to their students, families, schools and each other.”

During the celebration, more than 140 Teachers of the Year from individual school sites along with district Teacher of the Year runners-up were honored.

In a message to all teachers, Board President Marne Foster expressed her appreciation for the district's educators.

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“I want to thank you for the work you do – day in, day out – to touch the minds, hearts and lives of our students and their families.” Foster said. “You have dedicated yourselves to making our students successful, caring, literate, contributing members of our community. With you, we are creating improved and broader measures of student achievement and ensuring that all students will graduate with the skills and motivation needed to succeed academically and socially.”

Yepiz, Mueller and Lancia, along with the three runners-up, will go on to compete in the county-wide competition for the San Diego county Teacher of the Year, part of the process leading to the national Teacher of the Year. This year’s runners-up are Mary Lou Baranowski from Lindbergh Schweitzer Elementary School, Simone Kincaid from Creative Performing and Media Arts Middle School and Shirley Miranda from Morse High School. The county Teacher of the Year ceremony will be held this fall and is organized by the San Diego County Office of Education.

The Day of the Teacher celebration is a traditional event on the Board of Education calendar in which all Board members and senior district staff are scheduled to attend. A pre-event reception was catered by culinary students from Scripps Ranch, Morse and Madison high schools, and music was provided by the Madison High School String Orchestra. New to this year’s event was a dance performance by students from Creative, Performing and Media Arts Middle School.

Sponsors of the event were San Diego Gas and Electric Co., AXA Advisors, California Coast Credit Union, California Schools VEBA, eLiveLife.com, Mission Federal Credit Union, NTA Life, the San Diego Education Association, the San Diego Education Fund, The Standard, the San Diego Padres and College, Career and Technical Education.