Last month’s San Joaquin A+ special event at Wine & Roses in Lodi honored 18 individuals and organizations from San Joaquin County.
Included were second-grade teacher Kathy Woodson of Park View Elementary School (Ripon Unified) and School Readiness Program coordinator Eva Mauch (Manteca Unified).
They were recipients of the Spirit of Literacy Awards sponsored by Kaiser Permanente at the 16th annual event.
Woodson was honored in the area of Teacher in Literacy K-8. She created “The Morning Reading Club,” serving as volunteer to the club open to third- to fifth- grade students and designed to further build literacy and fluency.
The Ripon Unified school board also honored her for “promoting literacy outside of her classroom” at last Monday’s meeting.
She was presented to the board by her principal Mona Ogden.
Meanwhile, Mauch received the award for literacy a top priority, in particular, for children and their families. She works in MUSD’s School Readiness Department, devoting most of her time sharing the gift of reading.
Other winners were: Carol Ornelas (Champion of Literacy), Rebecca Conner / Lodi Unified (After School Program), El Concilio for Migrant Headstart (Outstanding Efforts at a Preschool), Tracy Branch of San Joaquin Public Library (Outstanding Program at a Library), Chantelle Sloan / Lodi Unified (Extraordinary Reading Lab), Shannon Robertson / Linden Unified (Educator of the Year), Child Abuse Prevention Council (Nonprofit Organization in Literacy).
Dr. Maggie Park / Children’s Services Medical Director for SJC (Health Care), Robert Botto / University of the Pacific professor (Extraordinary Tutoring), Gloria Allen / Stockton Unified school board president (Leadership at a School District), David Mangnuson & Diana Scott / Escalon Unified (Innovative Program), First Baptist Church (Faith Organization), RTD (Public / Government Organization), Jamie Baiocchi / San Joaquin County Office of Education (School Administration), Tom O’Hara / Tracy Unified (Teacher in Literacy 9-12), and Jeff Gamboni / landscape architect (Business Leadership).