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La Rosa receives state level honor
La Rosa Elementary
La Rosa Elementary employees brought home a banner from the California School Recognition Award Ceremony, staged on Feb. 10, in Anaheim. Pictured left to right: Ilaen Marron, Arti Narayan, Lori Mariani, Rosio Valenzuela, Norm Honberger, Bob Elms, Ruth Ramsey, Rebeca Ottersbach and Alice Schemmel.

La Rosa Elementary has earned a prestigious honor.

The Ceres school has been named a 2020 California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education.

Superintendent Scott Siegel, Principal Lori Mariani, and La Rosa employees Arti Narayan, Norm Honberger, Alice Schemmel, Ruth Ramsey, Bob Elms, Rosio Valenzuela and Rebeca Ottersbach attended the California School Recognition Award Ceremony on Feb. 10 at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.

“The award belongs to everyone at the school,” said Mariani. “It’s a great place to work with great people. We’re one big family. We’re not afraid of hard work. We get the job done.”

The award honors some of California’s most exemplary and inspiring public schools.

La Rosa was one of only three Stanislaus County schools to receive the honor. The other two were Hickman Elementary (Hickman Community Charter) and Sonora Elementary (Modesto City Elementary).

California used a multiple measures accountability system to identify eligible schools based on their performance and progress on the state indicators as specified on the California School Dashboard.

“The criteria is complicated,” Mariani said. “They looked at different factors over the last two years. We have a history of strong test scores.”

“The La Rosa staff has been committed to providing excellent educational opportunities for students,” Ceres Unified Assistant Superintendent Jay Simmonds said. “It’s nice the California Department of Education recognized their efforts. We’re very proud of them.”

 “These outstanding schools don’t just educate students; they also provide the young people of California the tools they need to be successful after graduation,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said. “Thanks go to all the staff at these schools – teachers, administrators, classified employees – and parents, who are working together to provide high-quality educational experiences for all of their students.”