Honorees celebrated at Educator of the Year Awards

The Fresno County Office of Education, in partnership with the Educational Employees Credit Union, hosted the annual Educator of the Year Awards Ceremony on Friday, Nov. 20 at the William Saroyan Theatre. The winners of the School Employee and Teacher categories have the opportunity to apply for the California Department of Education awards in 2016.

The following winners were chosen in each category:

School Employee of the Year
• Linda Amparano, Clovis Unified School District – Amparano is a student relations liaison at Pinedale Elementary School. She has been in education for 17 years. “Being a positive role model for the children of Pinedale is something I take great pride in. Before school even begins, I spend long hours and weekends signing up students for bus passes so that our intermediate and high school students have the transportation they need to get to school on time,” she said.

Administrator of the Year
• Rodolfo Garcia, Edison Bethune Charter Academy – Garcia is the executive director/principal of Edison Bethune Charter Academy. He has been in education for 30 years. “As the leader of the school, I proudly walk around the school trying to acknowledge as many students as I can with a simple ‘good morning,’ smile, high five, knuckles or words of praise. There’s something special about EBCA that I haven’t experienced at other schools,” he said.

Teacher of the Year
• Renee Gomez, Washington Unified School District – Gomez is a second grade teacher at West Fresno Elementary School. She has been in education for 20 years. “Happy children soak up new experiences and retain them for life when they are filled with knowledge and confidence. My challenge is never keeping up with the curriculum, but rather keeping up with my students’ hunger for learning. My challenge is to keep them on the path of climbing toward their goals with their hunger of knowledge intact.”