South Whittier School District administrators, principals, and school board members spent the day shadowing the district’s classified workers on Tuesday, May 22, to get a first-hand look at the contributions of the district’s support staff to education.
This event was put together by the ACE program and received participation from all of South Whittier’s leadership team at every school site in the district.
Superintendent, Dr. Gonzales, worked with Loma Vista and Carmela’s food services workers, and worked hard preparing meals and serving students. Associate Superintendent of business, Mark Keriakous, shadowed pre-school instructional aides, Associate Superintendent of Education, Martha Rojas, shadowed PE instructional assistants and McKibben’s library clerk. School board president, Jan Baird, shadowed Monte Vista and Los Altos’ licensed vocational nurse. There were many other participants that shadowed the district’s custodian, secretary, grounds keeper, receptionist, cafeteria tech, and many others.
After the job shadowing all classified employees were invited to the district for a luncheon to show the district’s gratitude for all their hard work.
“Thank you all for working so hard and being committed because the number one thing is it’s about our kids,” Superintendent, Dr. Gonzales stated at the luncheon. “So thank you.”
South Whittier School District was one of 10 districts statewide to be selected by the California School Employees Association to participate in this year’s Appreciating Classified Employees, or better known as ACE, program. This year South Whittier was chosen as the greater Los Angeles area’s representative of the program. The goal of the event was to foster positive relations between the district’s leaders and its classified employees.
This event took place during Classified School Employee Week. The week was designated by the state of California as the time to honor the contributions of classified employees to education.