Fight continues for preschool teacher in Huntington Beach, on leave with cancer
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All that Kori Stephenson ever wanted to be was a mom and a teacher.
She has two kids at home, and the oldest just became a teenager last weekend. As a teacher in the Huntington Beach City School District Preschool Academy, she’s also had an important job for the last 15 years.
“It’s where learning begins,” Stephenson said of preschool. “The kids are so honest and they’re curious and they’re happy, and there’s just watching them, you know, try new things and learning things. You can see it on their face when they get something for the first time, and there’s nothing better than that.”
The beloved teacher is now in the fight of her life as she battles cancer but recently got some good news last week, when the district’s Board of Trustees voted to extend her unpaid leave until the end of the school year.
The extension was a victory, after colleagues, friends and parents rallied on Stephenson’s behalf when her time off work, medical leave and donated hours from fellow employees ran out on April 17.
Stephenson, 40, has been on leave since last June, the nightmare beginning as the previous school year was about to end. A lingering cough turned into a diagnosis of lung cancer, which doctors later determined had originated in her colon.
“I ended up having fluid on my lungs,” she said. “And so they placed a drain in there, and once they got it drained out, I mean, I was a million times better. That was really probably the worst part of the whole journey. I couldn’t even lay down. When I would lay down, it was like I was drowning, and I didn’t know why. And so after that, things got much better.”
This is the kind of relentless optimism with which Stephenson tells her story, as if 12 rounds of chemotherapy, a February surgery to remove her colon and an eventual colostomy bag could ever be considered “better.” But the doctors reported that out of 29 lymph nodes removed, only seven came back for cancer, which was good news indeed.
Stephenson said she is now waiting for a thoracotomy surgery, hopefully sometime in May. She wants to be back in the classroom by late August, when the 2026-27 school year begins.
Local mom Brandi Denos hopes that is the case. She has already had two daughters come through the classroom of “Ms. Kori” and is hopeful her third daughter will do the same next school year. Denos showed up to the board meeting on April 23 to speak in support of extending Stephenson’s leave, along with a few fellow teachers.
Denos, who works in human resources for the United States Army, said it is Stephenson who has shown a whole lot of grit.
“She’s a community member, a friend, a wife, a mother,” Denos told the board. “I mean, she’s beloved in this community. Anyone who’s had her as a teacher for their children, you’ll never hear one bad thing said about her. She remembers everything. She remembers birthdays, she remembers something you said to her last week. And, she’ll follow up on things.”
Stephenson was not at the board meeting, but fellow HBCSD preschool teacher Molly Kiefer read a statement prepared by her.
“I believe everything happens for a reason, even when I don’t understand it yet,” the statement read. “I trust that in time, I will end up exactly where I am meant to be. Honestly, I feel like I have already won. I have won because I know how deeply this community cares. I have won because of the friendships, loyalty and compassion you have shown me. And I have won, because no matter what happens, I know the work I did with the children and the families matter. Thank you for standing with me, for believing in me and for reminding me that kindness always wins. I will never forget, Ms. Kori.”
The board voted 3-1 to extend Stephenson’s leave, with Trustees Paul Morrow, Brian Burley and Vice President Meghan Willis in favor and President Ann Sullivan opposed. Trustee Diana Marks was absent.
Sullivan became emotional learning of the vote after the trustees discussed the matter in closed session.
“In closed session, the board carefully considered requests for unpaid leave from two classified employees,” read a statement from the district. “While we are unable to discuss individual circumstances, we want to acknowledge that these decisions were made with thoughtful consideration and genuine compassion.
“We recognize that our employees may face complex and deeply personal situations, and we remain committed to supporting them in every way we can. At the same time, the board has a responsibility to ensure that our schools are consistently staffed with qualified, permanent employees so that we can effectively support student learning and success. This requires us to apply Education Code, board policy and collective bargaining agreements fairly and consistently, while balancing the needs of individual employees with the operational needs of the district.”
Stephenson, a local who was born at Hoag Hospital and graduated from Edison High School, had already used up her vacation days and sick days and taken 100 work days of extended illness leave at half pay. She‘d also received some catastrophic leave time through the donations of colleagues.
She said received an email from the district stating all of her leave had expired as of April 17. If the board had denied her request for unpaid leave, she would have effectively ended her tenure with the district and been placed on a reemployment list for up to 39 months.
Instead, the light at the end of a long tunnel — returning to the classroom — remains a possibility. Stephenson said she emailed the board members the day after the meeting, thanking them for their decision.
“What this has shown me is I have so many people [who care],” Stephenson said. “People at work, Molly and Tammy [Tang] specifically, and a few others, they check on me almost every day. They’ll send me a text, and they’ll tell me funny stories of what’s going on. And you know, that means a lot when you can’t be somewhere.
“The parents, I know a lot of them didn’t go there and speak, but I do know that a lot of them sent in emails. The fact that they would take time out of their day to do that, it just means a lot.”
Returning to the preschool next fall — the academy is located at the former Perry Elementary site — would mean just as much. Stephenson doesn’t know what her next surgery or the recovery will be like, but that remains her goal.
It would be a first day of school that “Ms. Kori” would not soon forget.
“The first thing you have to do every school year is build a relationship with each child and kind of get to know them,” Stephenson said. “If they don’t feel like you like them, or if they don’t feel safe with you, they’re not going to want to listen to what you have to say.”
