Working to expand a migrant education program and increasing
parent involvement has earned Jose Zepeda Administrator of the Year
honors in his region by the Association of California School
Administrators.
Working to expand a migrant education program and increasing parent involvement has earned Jose Zepeda Administrator of the Year honors in his region by the Association of California School Administrators.
“He has an enormous amount of responsibility,” said Peter Gutierrez, assistant superintendent of the Hollister School District, who nominated Zepeda for the award.
Zepeda, who has been coordinator of migrant education for the HSD for four years, said the award surprised him partly because he’s so new to the district.
“I was real surprised. I wasn’t expecting it at all,” he said. “I was pretty flattered to be nominated and selected by my peers. … I was surprised, since I’m new to the district compared to a lot of the administrators who’ve been here for years.”
As coordinator, Zepeda oversees five preschools in the county for migrant education students, works on parent education and involvement and targets student achievement. Since he’s been with the HSD, migrant education service and parent involvement has doubled, Zepeda said. The number of migrant education students being served has increased by 40 percent and the number of migrant education students graduating from high school has increased, Gutierrez said.
“There couldn’t be anyone more deserving,” Gutierrez said.
Zepeda was honored at a ceremony May 1 at the former Fort Ord military base. The award is for best school administrator in the central office, or district office, in Region 10, which includes San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
Gutierrez has been with the HSD for 12 years and has seen improvement in migrant education in the four years Zepeda has headed it, he said.
“He sees that the earlier on students get in the education system, the more successful they will be,” Gutierrez said.
Another reason for his nomination is Zepeda’s work at securing grants, which has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for migrant education, Gutierrez said.
Zepeda “found monetary resources to build up the program and bring more staff in,” he said.
