The Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation along with the superintendents from Castaic USD, Newhall SD, Saugus USD, Sulphur Springs USD and the Wm. S Hart District, invite the community to help honor the 2020/2021 Teachers of the Year. The 37th Annual Teacher Tribute, MASK-ERADE, will take place on Friday, April 30, 2021.

“The theme of the event was selected because behind every mask is a person and behind every person is a story. We felt that after spending a year wearing a mask and teaching in a virtual world, we needed to emphasize the faces and stories of these outstanding teachers”, says Executive Director Jackie Hartmann. “We can’t wait to share their stories. They deserve to be recognized, now more than ever.”

Teacher Tribute will be a hybrid event. Honorees will be provided with a socially-distanced red-carpet experience prior to the virtual ceremony. They can be joined by anyone sharing their household, walk a red carpet, be photographed by “paparazzi” and receive a catered meal from Marston’s, along with a swag bag filled with wine, dessert, a personalized award, printed program, tote and more.

The virtual ceremony will premiere at 6 p.m. PST on the SCVEF Facebook page, SCVTV’s Facebook page. on the SCVEF and SCVTV websites, on local cable channels Spectrum 20 and AT&T 99, and on SCVTV’s Apple TV & Roku apps. Honorees can invite their family and friends from anywhere in the world to join them “at” a virtual viewing party!

“Last year one of the honorees invited their family from India to watch. What a unique advantage it was to hold the event virtually”, said Hartmann.

There is no cost for guests to join in the celebration. Premier Partners of the SCV Education Foundation are helping to fund the cost of the tribute.

“Our year-round education partners make such a difference to our organization,” Hartmann said. “I have to say thank you to JSB Development, the California Credit Union, Harley Davidson of Santa Clarita, Pocock Brewing Company, FivePoint, Foster Construction, Claremont Homes and SoCaGas for their on-going support of public schools in Santa Clarita”.

The SCV Education Foundation is looking for gift basket sponsors and donations for swag bag items. Those interested in supporting Teacher Tribute are asked to visit their website at www.scveduactionfoundaiton.org or text “MASKERADE” to 44-321.
Teacher Tribute honors one teacher from each of the 54 public schools who are selected by their peers and school administrators.

The 2020/2021 Teachers of the Year are:

Castaic Union School District:

Castaic Elementary
Alyson Baron

Castaic Middle
Jeannetta Thomas

Live Oak Elementary
Brian Malette

Northlake Hills
Taylor Schubert

Newhall School District:

McGrath Elementary
Karla Valenzuela

Meadows Elementary
Amy Dobry

Newhall Elementary
Barbara Patten

Oak Hills Elementary
Tera Stulbaum

Old Orchard Elementary
Christine Worby

Peachland Elementary
Sinna Severini

Stevenson Ranch Elementary
Kelly Miyake

Valencia Valley Elementary
Amy Pierson

Wiley Canyon Elementary
Michele Hunt

Saugus Union School District:

Bridgeport Elementary
Cathy Demidow

Cedarcreek Elementary
Allison Smith-Fullarton

Emblem Academy
Emily Wargo-Williams

Charles Helmers
Kristin McCardy

Highlands Elementary
Laura Yanez

James Foster Elementary
Shauna Booth

Mountainview Elementary
Rob Ayres

North Park Elementary
Tina Suwarno

Plum Canyon Elementary
Michelle Mularky

Rio Vista Elementary
Mary Beth Lewison

Rosedell Elementary
Kristen Luna

Santa Clarita Elementary
Kelly Pugsley

Skyblue Mesa Elementary
Beth Perdisatt

Tesoro del Valle Elementary
Lori Turner

Westcreek Academy
Emily Norman

Sulphur Springs School District:

Canyon Springs Community
Jeri Potter

Fair Oaks Ranch Community
Nicole Tzanetatos

Golden Oak Community
Holly Linam

Leona Cox Community
Melanie Elder

Mint Canyon Community
Whitney Salerno

Mitchell Community
Trina Mitchell

Pinetree Community
Jennifer Guzman

Sulphur Springs Community
Renee Perez

Valley View Community
Selma Asmatey

Wm S Hart School District:

Academy of the Canyons
Dustin Funk

Arroyo Seco Jr. High
Lisa Simmons

Bowman High School
Shonna August

Canyon High School
Dan Davis

Castaic High School
Heather Kennedy

Golden Valley High School
Courtney Straka

Hart High School
Cynthia Ross

La Mesa Jr. High
Jennifer Frias

Placerita Jr. High
Lauren Sperber

Rancho Pico Jr. High
Devon Hensley

Rio Norte Jr. High
Leanne Bonilla

Saugus High
Jim Klipfel

Sequoia Charter
Fidel Garcia

Sierra Vista Jr. High
Mary Sirchia

Valencia High
Christine Mocha

West Ranch High
Alison Hunsaker

The Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation was founded in 1995 to foster relationships between businesses, schools, the community, educators and youth to enrich public school education and to promote appreciation for public school education in the Santa Clarita Valley. In support of these goals, the Education Foundation sponsors several annual events and programs to foster and support excellence in education for students of Santa Clarita Valley. The programs include Teacher Tribute, Principal for a Day, Page Turners, Teacher Innovation Grants, Scholarships, Bag of Books and Read with Me!

Ballroom photo courtesy of Aleks G, licensed through Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
, Wikimedia Commons

Music courtesy of Youtube Audio Library.