Pillar Awards honors outstanding staff
Congratulations to our 2022 Pillar Award winners – Employee of the year Misty Cruz, Department Automation Specialist in Migrant Education; Administrator of the Year Di Leonardo, Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction; and Teacher of the Year Karen Heinrichs, Special Day Class Teacher in Special Education. The honorees were celebrated at FCSS by an overflowing room full of colleagues and guests on Monday, April 4. Nominees received a special certificate, engraved clock, $500 check and will advance to consideration for the 2022 Educator of the Year awards. Thank you to the Human Resources department team for creating a wonderful event to celebrate staff excellence with special recognition to Lexi Carlon, Executive Assistant, for creatively coordinating the celebration, and David Tsvirinko, HR Solutions Developer, for producing the outstanding Pillar Award video.
Misty Cruz – Employee of the Year
Misty Cruz has been with the FCSS for over 11 years. In her role she assists with large data projects that are submitted each year. Misty contributes to the upbeat morale of the office, schedules family events, coordinates outreach events and is a Goodwill Representative. Although she has a busy work schedule, Misty still finds time to help others, such as teaching horse riding lessons to children ages 2-6 and donating items to local charities.
Di Leonardo – Administrator of the Year
Di Leonardo has been with the FCSS for over 17 years and has provided quality educational support to schools, districts, and most importantly, the children of Fresno County. She is a leader that emanates the ability to listen, inspire and direct, all the qualities of a great coach. From Principals at sites to Teachers in the classroom, to Superintendents over coffee, Di is the master of reaching out and helping her team improve.
Karen Heinrichs – Teacher of the Year
Karen has been a Special Day Class Teacher with the FCSS for over 16 years. She understands that supporting a student is multi-pronged and dives into each area to build skills and bridges of development for each student. She is attentive, creative and focused on providing the best opportunities for her students to increase their independence, social interactions, accessing the community and adaptive/self-care skills.
