The San Joaquin County Office of Education last week announced the top classified employees and school counselor for 2024.

Jordan Blevins of Stockton Unified’s Pacific Law Academy earned SJC School Counselor of the Year.

Miriam Soto of Ripon Unified and Michael Lehr of Manteca Unified were among the SJC Classified Employees of the Year.

Soto, who’s been the Library Media Clerk at Weston Elementary School for the last eight years, was recognized for the SJCOE award in Clerical & Administrative Services.

Lehr earned the SJC Classified honor in Skilled Trades. For five years, he’s been the Construction / Energy Technician at MUSD.

The other top classified employees for this year were assistant Jeffrey Irving (Franklin High, SUSD)  in Food & Nutrition Services; Jason Cheeseman (North Elementary, Tracy Unified) in Custodial & Maintenance Services; student services technician Renee Villarreal (SJCOE) in Health & Student Services; Sherry Hurd (Jefferson School, Jefferson Elementary) in Paraprofessional; Bus driver Tricia Johnston (Linden Unified) in Transportation; campus security assistant Lorena Castillas (McKinley Elementary, SUSD) is Security Services; and Hardware Support Technician Favian Moreno (SJCOE) in Technical Services.

This was part of the SJC Teacher of the Year event, with Maria Ravelo of MUSD’s Mossdale Elementary School being announced as the 2024 winner – she’ll be considered for California Teacher of the Year.