MISSION VIEJO : District Honors Top Schools, Teachers

Saddleback Valley Unified School District officials recently honored two of its schools that have earned top national honors. At the same time, the board recognized three teachers selected as nominees for Orange County “Teacher of the Year.”

Laguna Hills High School and La Paz Intermediate School were recently named as National Blue Ribbon Schools by the California and U.S. departments of education. They join the district’s previous blue ribbon winners: Mission Viejo High, Del Cerro Elementary and O’Neill Elementary schools.

“These things don’t happen without everybody working together as a team,” Laguna Hills High School Principal Wayne Mickaelian said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Mickaelian, La Paz Intermediate Principal Ruth Landers and other school employees will travel to Washington on Thursday and join other Blue Ribbon winners from across the nation for a White House recognition ceremony.

The district also extended congratulations to three teachers recently selected as nominees for Orange County Teacher of the Year: Betty Buck of Del Cerro Elementary, Kathy Yule of Los Alisos Intermediate and Barbara Osterkamp of Silverado High School.

The awards ceremony at the board meeting last week followed a presentation by Supt. Peter A. Hartman. He used the opportunity to defend the district against “partial truths and over generalizations” in the debate over the private school voucher initiative.

“I speak tonight to set the record straight about SVUSD, to share a factual depiction of our success story accomplished through the hard work and dedication of SVUSD students, parents, teachers, employees and community leaders,” he said. “Public education in Saddleback Valley Unified School District is not failing our children.”