During a prestigious event in Washington, D.C. on October 12th, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) honored Lucy Salazar of Alvarado Elementary School as a 2018 National Distinguished Principal.
Nominated by her peers and chosen by the state of California’s NAESP, Lucy began her career in Long Beach Unified School District at Bobbi Smith Elementary School in 2006, and moved to Alvarado in 2013.
Alvarado currently has a teaching staff of 17 classroom teachers, one Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA), and one Reading Recovery Teacher. For the last four years, Lucy has organized and supported a program of peer coaching in ELA and CGI for five classroom teachers. These last two years, Alvarado has focused heavily on Reading and Writing Workshop implementation.
“This award really honors the work our teachers are doing here at Alvarado,” Lucy said. “It shows that I have the right team and am surrounded by teachers who share the same vision as I do. At Alvarado, we seek to do what is right for students, to provide for and support them in every capacity.”
“There have been years when we’ve had close to 300 people visit our classrooms,” Lucy added. “What it does is make our teaching public and keeps us growing. Even when some of our teachers aren’t being visited, those teachers still plan and work alongside the teachers that are being frequently visited. This builds a sense of accountability among our staff.”
Salazar holds a B.A. from California State University-San Diego, a M.A. from California State University-Long Beach, and just completed her Ed.D. at the University of Southern California.
The Cotsen Foundation recognizes and appreciates the pivotal role that site administrators play in promoting and sustaining excellence in teaching and learning in a school. As a result, we salute Lucy, and congratulate her and the entire Alvarado School Community on this great honor.