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2009 > Visual and Performing Arts Award
William Alejandro Virchis
Sweetwater Union High SD
William Virchis is a renowned artistic director who for over 25 years brings decades of
success as an artistic director for both professional and amateur theater at the Old Globe
Theater and Southwestern College. He received the Shiley Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater
Award and the Critics Award for his direction of Luis Valdez’ “Zoot Suit.” Mr. Virchis is the unique combination
of teacher and visionary. All those who have seen the plays and musicals that he has directed know that
he is passionate about the arts and creates that same passion in his students and pushes them to apply that
enthusiasm to their academics as well as to their craft. He has earned the respect of his teaching and theater
peers. In addition, he has received the California Center for the Arts Foundation Achievement Award as well
as the Outstanding Professional Leadership Award given by the Governing Board and faculty of Southwestern
College. Mr. Virchis directed the world college premiere of the musical “Mariachi Quixote,” which was the first
American musical to feature a mariachi band. He also oversees more than 60 major visual and performing arts
programs and administrates over a dozen smaller programs at the Sweetwater Union High School District.
2009 > Leadership and Advocacy Award
Denise Moreno Ducheny
California State Senator
Denise Moreno Ducheny was elected to the California State Senate on November 5,
2002, to represent the 40th District and re-elected in 2006. She represents a district
which incorporates portions of San Diego and Riverside Counties and all of Imperial County. Prior to her
election to the California State Senate, Senator Ducheny served in the California State Assembly from 1994
to 2000. While in the Assembly, Senator Ducheny served as Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee between
1997 and 2000, and as Vice-Chair in 1996. As an Assemblywoman, she was the first San Diegan,
first woman, and first Latino ever to be appointed to this powerful position overseeing the state’s $100 billion
spending plan. During her career in the Senate, Senator Ducheny has continued to be a strong advocate for
jobs, education and housing. Senator Ducheny has been recognized for her legislative achievements by many
organizations. As a legislator in both houses, Senator Ducheny has worked diligently to improve California’s
bi-national relationship with the Mexico by coordinating various agriculture, water and business tours with
U.S. and Mexican officials. She has conducted several bi-national meetings to discuss cross-border business;
transportation, education and health issues, and working with federal elected and administrative officials to
further enhance our cooperative relationships. Ms. Ducheny holds a BA in History from Pomona College and
a Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law.
2009 > Vision Award
Jorge A. Ramirez
Chula Vista Elementary SD
Dr. Ramirez was appointed Director of the Chula Vista Learning Community Charter
School (CABE Seal of Excellence School) in 1998. He has spent over 17 years in
private and public education, serving in a variety of capacities as a bilingual teacher, consultant, and adjunct
professor for San Diego State and National Universities. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2002 to
the Administrator Program in Argentina. Dr. Ramirez has a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from
the University of San Diego and a doctorate in International Multicultural Education from the University of San
Francisco. In his leadership role at his school he has worked with staff “To enhance student achievement by
demonstrating the effectiveness of the school’s core beliefs and serve as a model for the district, state, nation,
and international institutions, through the development of standards based curriculum, dual language acquisition,
connections to real life experiences, and strong parent/community participation. The schools’ Core Beliefs
include having a community of learners committed to academic, social, civic, and character development; 2) Integration
of world class curriculum standards with the highest achievement goals; 3) Celebrating diversity and
challenge learning opportunities utilizing critical thinking for all students; 4) Establishing a learning community
where: learning needs are met, resources are provided, questions are answered, and every learner’s potential
are unlocked; 5) Valuing the acquisition of other languages to be competitive in world markets; 6) Children
demonstrating confidence, empowerment, self-discipline, ethical responsibility, and resiliency by committing to
academic excellence; and 7) Children involving themselves in the community and establishing awareness of
global perspectives.
2010 > District of the Year
San Francisco Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
The mission of the San Francisco Unified School District is to provide each student with
an equal opportunity to succeed by promoting intellectual growth, creativity, self-discipline,
cultural and linguistic sensitivity, democratic responsibility, economic competence,
and physical and mental health so that each student can achieve his or her maximum
potential.
SFUSD, San Francisco’s 140 pre-K through 12th grade public schools, prepares students
for success in college and careers by assuring that they have the confidence, competence
and information needed for full participation in the economic, political, cultural, and intellectual life of our nation
and global society. Public schools are the foundation of a healthy democracy - they expand the future of our city and our
nation. With a focus on access, achievement and accountability, SFUSD aims to make social justice a reality; engage high
achieving and joyful learners and keep our promises to students and families.
In May, 2008, the San Francisco School Board voted to adopt a new five-year strategic plan that places equity, student
achievement and accountability at the forefront for San Francisco’s public schools. Titled “Beyond the Talk: Taking Action
to Educate Every Child Now,” the plan is a roadmap for how SFUSD will bridge the gap between high achieving students
and low achieving students. The plan features a Balanced Scorecard, a tool that was developed for use in business environments
and has been successfully adapted by other school districts across the country.
San Francisco’ Unified School District is the top performing large urban school district in the state of California and one
of the top performing urban districts in the country.
2010 > Vision Award
Carlos Garcia, Superintendent
San Francisco USD
Carlos Garcia is the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District since 2007. He
grew up in the barrio of Los Angeles Harbor. Garcia fashioned himself to be a pretty tough kid,
too cool to give up hanging with his buddies to take a real interest in any formal education and
believes that he no doubt would not be where he is today if it had not been for an outstanding
junior high teacher who told him that he had the potential to be a real leader.. Her support totally changed his views
on academics and parlayed it into a career of academic achievement, successfully advancing through the Los Angles
public school system despite his beginnings as a student who spoke only Spanish. He received plenty of help from his
parents, two working-class immigrants from Mexico, who encouraged his educational interests despite having little
formal training themselves. Determined to correct some of the shortfalls that plagued Los Angeles’ public schools,
Garcia thrust himself into an array of urban educational systems, first as a teacher, then as a superintendent in
communities such as Fresno, Las Vegas — where he presided over one of the largest school districts in the country,
with 300,000 students.
The challenges that push many educators away from urban environments — achievement gaps between minority
students, particularly blacks and Latinos, and the rest of the student body, high poverty rates among families in the
district, and inadequate resources compared with private institutions — actually drew Garcia to San Francisco. He likes
the real hard, tough issues and states. “I keep thinking there is a bunch of Carlos Garcias out there in urban schools.
My job is to make the schools exciting, vibrant places, where kids want to go.”
Superintendent Garcia believes that everyone needs to take personal responsibility for the student achievement gap
and that we have to work hard at making everything we teach relevant to the students. Right now, a lot of students
don’t see the connection between what they’re learning and how it to applies to their lives. He believes that we need
to fix that and the real solution is to make every school better, and in San Francisco USD they are working on it under
his vision and leadership.
2010 > Leadership and Advocacy Award
Christina Mei-Yue Wong
San Francisco USD
Christina Mei-Yue Wong has devoted her professional career serving the Asian and Pacific
American (APA) community within the broader immigrant rights movement. Her commitment
to educational equity and social justice stems from her personal journey as an Asian and Pacific
American, a community advocate, and now a parent. Christina, a native of San Francisco’s
Chinatown, returned to the neighborhood where she lived with her immigrant family to join the staff at Chinese for
Affirmative Action (CAA), a civil rights organization based in San Francisco. For over 10 years, she was the lead CAA
staff for policy work on K-12 education including language access, multilingual programs, school integration, violence
prevention, and other issues related to educational equity. In addition to developing new education policies on behalf
of disenfranchised communities, she also helped establish the Visitacion Valley Parents Association (VVPA), a parent
leadership group which includes monolingual Chinese immigrant parents. Through leadership development training
and participation in a number of grassroots campaigns, VVPA members are now directing advocacy efforts to increase
language access and meaningful engagement for all immigrant parents. During her time at CAA, Christina chaired the
Asian and Pacific American Education Coalition, a network of APA organizations representing the needs of APA youth
and their families in San Francisco. She also authored a number of policy reports which have led to successful local
and statewide campaigns to increase funding for language access and parent engagement in education. Christina now
serves the students of the San Francisco USD as a Special Assistant to Superintendent Carlos Garcia. She facilitates the
implementation of the Master Plan for English Learners which provides a powerful vision to effectively serve English
Learners in SFUSD and prepare them to succeed in the 21st century.
2010 > Communications and Media Award
Juan Gonzales
Founder/Editor of El Tecolote
Juan Gonzales is the Founder/Editor of El Tecolote, a monthly, bilingual newspaper published
since 1970 in San Francisco’s Mission District, he has continued his goal to provide relevant
coverage on the real issues that affect the neighborhood. Through El Tecolote, Gonzales has
attempted to highlight the popular culture that exists in the Latino community, which often
time is neglected by the local dailies. El Tecolote is celebrating its 40th anniversary. For those years of service Gonzales
was honored by the Society of Professional Journalists with its “Distinguished Service Award.” Similarly, he was
received a “Heroes of Excellence” award by KGO-TV. Currently, Gonzales is also President of Accion Latina, a non-profit
Mission District organization that provides educational and cultural services to Latinos. Through his association with
Accion Latina, he founded in 1980 Encuentro del Canto Popular, a yearly Latin American folk music festival held in the
Mission District. Gonzales is the sole full-time instructor in the Department of Journalism where he teaches five classes
per semester and serves as adviser to the campus newspaper, The Guardsman , and the campus magazine, etc . At one
time, Gonzales served as Department Chair of journalism for 10 years. He is a member of the Journalism Association
of Community Colleges, the San Francisco Newspaper Association, the Community Press Consortium, and the New
California Media Association.
2010 > Courage to Act Award
Liliana Valenzuela
Richmond High School
CABE 2010 Courage to Act Award
Valenzuela v O’Connell, the lawsuit brought by Richmond High School senior Liliana Valenzuela
and hundreds of other students and their parents and supported by attorneys at Morrison
& Foerster, forced the court to consider questions about inadequate funding, unequal
opportunities to learn, and inequity for the vast majority of students in urban school districts.
The Valenzuela case challenged the exit exam requirement on behalf of California students in
the Class of 2006 who had met all graduation requirements except for passing the exam. Liliana
Valenzuela had the courage to act and was pleased that the settlement provided help for the
many students across the state who are finished with high school but are still working hard to pass the exit exam.
Judge Robert B. Freedman agreed with the plaintiffs saying that students who have failed the test—especially Englishlanguage
learners—have not had a fair chance to learn the material because they were more likely than others to
attend overcrowded schools and have unqualified teachers. The ruling affected more than 46,000 seniors who had not
passed both the mathematics and English language arts portions of the exam.
“There is evidence in the record that shows that students in economically challenged communities have not had an
equal opportunity to learn the materials tested on the [California High School Exit Exam], that some schools have yet
to fully align their curriculums to the state’s content standards, and that demonstrates that the negative effects of
scarcity of resources continue to fall disproportionately on English-language learners,” the judge wrote in his decision.
2010 > Bilingual Teacher Preparation Award
Nadeen Ruiz, Serna Center Director
CSU Sacramento
Nadeen Ruiz is currently a professor in the Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at
Sacramento State University where she previously served as Department Chair and Director
of Teacher Preparation and Credentials. Dr. Ruiz also directs the California Bi-National Teacher
Education Project (Bi-TEP), a project that provides stipends to U.S. students studying in Mexico
for their bilingual teaching credential, and conducts professional development with local
schools committed to improving services to English Learners. Formerly, Dr. Ruiz was Director of Elementary Education
at Stanford University. A recipient of two outstanding teaching awards at Stanford, and one at Sacramento State, Dr.
Ruiz has over 30 years of experience as a bilingual teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and educational advocate.
She is co-founder and co-director of the Optimal Learning Environment (OLE) Project, a research and professional
development program that focuses on effective literacy instruction for bilingual students in both general and special
education classrooms, and in Migrant Education. Dr. Ruiz received her undergraduate degree and teaching credentials
from U.C. Davis, and Master’s and Ph.D. from Stanford University. She is author of numerous books and articles in
the area of effective education for Latino students, and is regularly invited to speak on this topic at both national and
international venues.
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