Two Sunnyvale School District schools received Hoffmann Awards from the Santa Clara County School Boards Association: Bishop Elementary and Vargas Elementary.
Bishop was recognized for its Leader in Me program and Vargas was recognized for Student Success through Science.
The Hoffmann Awards honor Glenn W. Hoffmann, who served as the superintendent of Santa Clara County schools from 1967 to 1984, and believed that leadership was a key factor in educational reform.
The Hoffmann Awards are a 36-year tradition that celebrates school and school district programs that significantly impact student success in our region.
A committee of school administrators and school board members scored entries from Santa Clara County school programs. Awards were given to only those programs that received the highest scores.
The Santa Clara County School Boards Association awards an additional honor to one program each year. The program receiving the highest marks out of the entire field of applicants receives the Kristi Porter Outstanding Program Award. This year, Vargas Elementary was given the Kristi Porter Award.
Kristi Porter served on the Oak Grove School District Board for ten years, was also very active with the SCCSBA, serving as President 2002-03, and other community ventures. It was Kristi’s vision and energy, as Hoffmann Chair, that revitalized the Glenn W. Hoffmann Awards to honor our county’s outstanding programs. The SCCSBA honors her memory by dedicating this annual award to Kristi Porter.
Vargas is home to Student Success through Science, in which all learning is viewed through a scientific lens. Using science as a foundation, the school fosters students’ natural curiosity and encourages them to question, interpret data, base decisions on evidence, and develop a growth mindset. To learn more about the program visit www.sesd.org/vargas.
At Bishop, everyone can be a leader and everyone has genius. The school applies the leadership concepts of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People within an inclusive and celebratory school culture. Academics are aligned across the school through Wildly Important Goals and monitored in our Leadership Notebooks. Bishop’s motto is “lead together and inspire change.” To learn more about the Leader in Me, visit www.sesd.org/bishop.
Previous Hoffmann Award winners in the Sunnyvale School District include San Miguel’s Community School Model in 2017, Fairwood Explorer’s Parent Participation and Cumberland’s project-based learning programs in 2016, Columbia Middle School’s FLEX program in 2014, and Cherry Chase’s Stretchers Art program in 1997.
