San Bernardino County Office of Education honors teachers, classified staff and future educators at Stars in Education ceremony

The San Bernardino County Office of Education honored teachers, classified staff and aspiring educators at its Stars in Education ceremony, recognizing four county Teachers of the Year, two Classified School Employees of the Year, 10 'Teachers for Tomorrow' participants and two teacher residency grant recipients.

The event highlighted the role of educators and support staff across the county’s public schools, which serve nearly 400,000 students. County organizers said the ceremony celebrates classroom impact, innovative practices and efforts to recruit and train new teachers.

At the ceremony, an awardee identified only as "Teacher (unnamed)" said, "My teaching philosophy in 1 word is connection because I believe that if I can connect with my students that they're gonna be more open to what I am trying to teach them, and we can make progress progress on the job that we have to do every day." The same speaker added, "They teach me every day that I'm there. I just help them grow, help them love learning. I just love what I do." Another brief remark from the same speaker emphasized, "I have so much passion. I love it. Absolutely."

A speaker working with special needs students, identified in the transcript as "Special education staff (unnamed)," said special-education classrooms present a different array of daily challenges and that "it definitely takes a team working every day to maximize what we get out of each and every student." A speech-language pathologist, who spoke later, said, "As a speech and language pathologist, my mission is to enhance the speech and language and communication skills of my students. Help them communicate not only to me, but to other students, to their peers, to their teachers, and to have that connection, not only at school, but also in the community that they live in."

Organizer remarks noted the county recognized two Classified School Employees of the Year and highlighted workforce-development efforts: 10 'Teachers for Tomorrow' participants and two recipients of teacher residency grants who are pursuing preliminary teaching credentials. The presenter said the four Teachers of the Year represent Redlands Unified School District, Fontana Unified School District, Rialto Unified School District and Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District and were selected from among more than 19,000 county teachers.

While the ceremony focused on recognition rather than policy decisions, it underscored the county office’s stated priorities of supporting classroom instruction, elevating classified roles in schools, and developing pathways for new teachers. The event closed with a thank-you to educators for their efforts in transforming students’ lives through education.