Striving Toward Equitable Communities - Employee Recognitions
Striving Toward Equitable Communities
At East Side, perhaps now more than ever, we need to strive toward Equitable Communities as we pivot toward distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what does this mean? It means that we are continuing to strengthen our understanding, actions, and policies in order to continue building capacity among all staff members to ensure that equity and inclusion are essential principles of our school system.

It is incumbent on each and every one of us as employees of East Side to be committed to these principles, from myself as superintendent, to our teachers, PCIS, attendance clerks, directors, maintenance and operation, and so forth. It takes all of us to achieve success for our students! As coined by philosopher Aristotle, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which aptly describes us as a team joined together in this monumental effort.

Every month, we will be recognizing our employees in order to showcase the people behind our student success! Below are examples of our employees creating Equitable Communities at East Side Union High School District.

Thank you for all that you do!

With gratitude,
Chris D. Funk
Superintendent
W.C. Overfelt High School
Counselors

People Behind ESUHSD's Success:

Coleen Montesano, Head Counselor
  • How many years have you worked at Overfelt? 33 years.   
  • What do you like most about your job? What I like the most about my job is being able to help students along their path to college and beyond. It is an honor to help a student and to see them be successful in college and later in their careers.  
  • How do you know you have made a difference? I know that I have made a difference when I see the college acceptance letters from my students!
  • What is something that people may not know about you? I married my high school sweetheart - Tony Montesano who became a teacher and works at Independence. We just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on August 10th! 
Gabriela Chairez
  • How many years have you worked at Overfelt? 4 years. 
  • What do you like most about your job? I love my job!  What I like best is that I am making a difference in my community. I am helping students from my neighborhood succeed in the same way that my teachers helped me when I was a student at Overfelt.
  • How do you know you have made a difference? I know that I have made a difference when my students feel safe sharing with me and reaching out to me for any support that they need.
  • What is something that people may not know about you? I traveled abroad two times in college, I completed one semester term in Mexico and one summer term in England.  
Alicia Cortez
  • How many years have you worked at Overfelt? 3 years.  
  • What do you like most about your job? A few of the things I enjoy most about my job are working with youth in an environment that feels welcoming and safe. Staff at Overfelt work as a team to provide students with what they need and I am happy to be part of that. 
  • How do you know you have made a difference? Oftentimes in the midst of the everyday work load I tend to forget that I help students daily. It's always nice when a student from the past years reminds me that I made a difference by reaching out and letting me know how they are doing. 
  • What is something that people may not know about you? I grew up in Compton Ca., and I was raised by my grandparents as a foster youth. This is one of the major reasons I wanted to become a high school counselor so that I can give back to students that find themselves having to make difficult choices when life creates barriers for them.
Rosario Cruz
  • How many years have you worked at Overfelt? 5 years.
  • What do you like most about your job? I love it when my office is filled with students that may not necessarily need anything from me but just want to be in the space because they feel safe and know they can be themselves without judgement.
  • How do you know you have made a difference? I don't always know if I have made a difference until years later when former students come back to share their success or send me an email or message thanking me or telling me how I made a difference. 
  • What is something that people may not know about you? I love plants, animals and nature in general.

Kudos from the Principal:
"Our team of counselors creates amazing connections with their students. They collaborate frequently to innovate solutions that honor our students and their families and help them to identify their path to the future. Each of them is tenacious in their advocacy and are committed to guiding students as they overcome the obstacles they encounter. The Overfelt counselors are valued by our school and community." - Principal Vito Chiala

From left to right: Coleen Montesano, Gabriela Chairez, Alicia Cortez, Rosario Cruz
Piedmont Hills High School
Professional Development Committee

People Behind ESUHSD's Success:

  • Professional Development Committee:
  • Michelle Flores: English Teacher, 6 years at PHHS/7 years ESUHSD
  • Melissa Gonzales: Spanish Teacher, 4 years at PHHS/ESUHSD
  • Katherine Lighty: Social Studies Teacher, 5 years at PHHS/ESUHSD
  • Kayla Navarro: English Teacher, 3 years at PHHS/ESUHSD
  • Regina Sevilla: Math Teacher, 6 years at PHHS/15 years ESUHSD
  • Danielle Shank: Science Teacher, 2 years at PHHS/6 years ESUHSD
  • What do you like most about being a part of PDC?
  • Danielle: Being able to have a voice in the school community and contributing to an amazing team of teachers helping teachers.
  • Katherine: Working with the PDC team full of women who are enthused, organized, and creative helps keep me on track when I have my moments of feeling anxious, scattered, and stumped when it comes to distance learning.
  • How do you know you have made a difference?
  • Regina: I feel that I have made a difference with PDC whenever teachers pause and think about their classes during our sessions and develop a willingness to try something different or new.
  • Kayla: I know I have made a difference when a colleague excitedly shares that some new activity or strategy that they tried helped them to connect with their students. I love hearing about the laughs, the "aha!" moments, and the crazy and wonderful things the kids have to say.
  • What is something that people may not know about you?
  • Michelle: I graduated from PHHS!
  • Melissa: I was in a famous salsa music video as a professional dancer and actress when I was 18. The video is still on YouTube and has had more than 1 million views.

Kudos from the Principal:
"PHHS is so lucky to have a Professional Development Committee that is made up of six amazingly talented and dedicated women who are passionate about teaching and student success.
The PDC worked tirelessly over the summer and in the first month of school to be an invaluable resource for our teachers. There is no way the school year would have started as smoothly as it did without the work of these six women. I am so grateful for them and thrilled to continue to work with them to create meaningful collaboration for our staff." - Principal Ginny Davis

Top row, left to right: Michelle, Melissa, Katherine
Bottom row, left to right: Kayla, Regina, Danielle
Rafa Flores
Evergreen Valley High School
Head Custodian

People Behind ESUHSD's Success:

  1. How many years have you worked at Evergreen Valley High School? 17 years (20 years total for ESUHSD).
  2. What do you like most about your job? I enjoy helping out students and working with the wonderful staff at EVHS to provide a safe environment on campus for students.
  3. How do you know you have made a difference? When I get a lot of good compliments about EVHS and my work.
  4. What is something that people may not know about you? I enjoy doing artwork for the school and the community.

Kudos from the Principal:
"Mr. Flores is hugely supportive to our community at EVHS. He goes out of his well to help students and staff, often providing surprises that inspire our campus community. During the pandemic, Rafa stepped up to support our food services staff, handing out lunches and ensuring our food services staff had everything they needed each day. Mr. Flores also has been hugely supportive of our students during COVID-19. Whether it's assembling the stage for drive-thru graduation in the parking lot, helping students pick up their textbooks, or greeting students on the way to senior portraits, he is always there for our students and staff. Our community was especially inspired to see Mr. Flores' artwork on the outside of our campus. He took the time to paint a special dedication to the senior class of 2020 for everyone in the community to see, letting seniors know we were proud of them and their achievements. We can't thank Rafa enough for everything he does for EVHS!" - Principal Kyle Kleckner  
Karin Inzunza
Oak Grove High School
Support Services Technician

People Behind ESUHSD's Success:

  1. How many years have you worked at Oak Grove High School? 6 years.
  2. What do you like most about your job? There are a variety of duties I get to be responsible for and that I am always learning something new each and every day.
  3. How do you know you have made a difference? When students, parents, teachers, or staff thank me for supporting them even in the smallest details. It can be from providing some much-needed boxes of tissue to resolving book fines.
  4. What about working at Oak Grove brings you the most joy? When I hear our leadership students give the morning announcements with a lot of enthusiasm and creativity, and I get to watch them currently via the Friday Video bulletins.
  5. What is something that people may not know about you? I was in the 6th grade when I won two regional spelling bee contests and made it to the national finals in my native country of El Salvador (written form and in Spanish).

Kudos from the Principal:
"After helping in the bookroom with textbook distribution, I was able to see how amazing Ms. Inzunza is at supporting our students, even at the craziest time of the year. In the midst of distributing thousands of textbooks prior to school starting, Ms. Inzunza was sure to greet students with a smile, ensure that they were able to check-out and log into chromebooks, and address all of their other concerns. Working with Ms. Inzunza is always a pleasure. Not only does she have excellent ideas to streamline procedures, but her attention to details helps to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Ms. Inzunza is a valuable member of the Oak Grove team and I am thrilled to recognize her for everything that she does for the entire school community." Principal Martha Brazil 
Maggie Rodriguez
Independence High School
Parent and Community Involvement Specialist

People Behind ESUHSD's Success:

  1. How many years have you worked at Independence High School? 7 years.
  2. What do you like most about your job? The personal connection with the students and the families and being the bridge between school and community.
  3. How do you know you have made a difference? When I receive a senior portrait with a thank you.
  4. What is something that people may not know about you? I can be shy.

Kudos from the Principal:
"Ms. Rodriguez is a crucial member of the Sixer family. She is resourceful, caring, and supportive of all our community. I am extremely grateful to have her on our Independence and East Side teams." - Principal Berg Bjorn
If you would like to recognize a colleague, please contact [email protected].
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If you have positive stories about teachers, staff, students and exciting events at your site, we'd like to know about it. Email Linda Ornelas at [email protected].