El Toro Principal Honored

The principal of El Toro High School has been named Principal of the Year by a statewide organization of educators.

Jack Clement was given the honor last month in the secondary school category by the Assn. of California School Administrators.

“It’s always good when colleagues in the field recognize the efforts that someone makes,” the principal of the Lake Forest school said. “It’s good to have someone recognize the district . . . in this case, at the state level.”

For nearly 30 years, the 16,000-member school administrators’ group has been honoring those in the management level of school administration, including superintendents, principals and curriculum, business and human resources managers.

Clement has been principal at El Toro since 1993. His campus, one of four high schools in the Saddleback Unified School District, has more than 2,500 students.

Among other accomplishments, Clement obtained an $800,000 state grant during the last school year to fund technology improvements at the campus. The money will pay for computers and access to the Internet for all classrooms.

Clement also was praised for increasing the popularity of boys’ and girls’ athletic programs.

“He’s a builder,” said Susan Wilson, spokeswoman for Saddleback Valley Unified.

District superintendent Peter Hartman agreed: “It is an honor for him, as well as our school district, to receive this prestigious award.”

Clement’s previous posts include director of fiscal and administration services from 1992 to 1993 for the South Bay Union High School District, which reorganized into the Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach unified school districts. He also served as principal at Redondo Union High School from 1989 to 1992 and at Monrovia High School from 1986 to 1989.