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November 28, 2005

Cleveland High Principal Selcted for National Award
Milken Family Foundation selects two in Washington state for the honor

OLYMPIA – Two Washington educators–including one principal–were named as Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award winners for 2005, a distinction that includes a $25,000 cash prize.

Donna Marshall, principal at Seattle’s Cleveland High School and Monica Garcia, a teacher at Cedar Heights Junior High in the South Kitsap School District,  received the awards in surprise announcements at their respective schools on Monday, Nov. 28.

"It’s such a great honor to be able to award two of our state’s outstanding educators for making such a positive impact in their schools each and every day,” said Bergeson. “Monica Garcia and Donna Marshall, and other educators like them, put their hearts and souls into their profession – giving students a powerful gift of knowledge and caring."

Dubbed the "Oscars of Teaching" by Teacher Magazine, the award program was created in 1985 by the Milken Family Foundation to attract, retain and reward outstanding K-12 teachers, principals and other education professionals who make important contributions to excellence in education.

Cleveland High School principal, Donna Marshall, is regarded as an extraordinarily effective leader. Using her 16 years of experience in education, Marshall helped spark significant academic changes in her former school, Rainier Beach High. She was recently assigned by her district to help guide Cleveland High School down a similar path of improvement.

Colleagues call Marshall an intelligent and hard-working leader. As a people person, she knows staff morale and inclusion in the decision-making process is a successful way to affect change. She’s currently working to increase the number of students who attempt the WASL each spring, as well as improve the educational outcome for all students.

Garcia teaches English and science at Cedar Heights Junior High in Port Orchard. A six-year classroom veteran, she also serves as the science coordinator for the entire South Kitsap School District. In this capacity, she facilitated the alignment of science courses at the secondary level with the state’s academic standards in science.

Garcia is a leader in other respects, too: the Gates Foundation selected her as a Teacher Leadership Project recipient after her second year of teaching and she has also trained as a mentor at the Washington State Mentor Academy. Always looking to improve herself, she’s also recently completed her portfolio requirements in preparation for National Board Certification.

Recipients are presented with their $25,000 awards at the annual Milken Family Foundation National Education Conference, an all-expenses-paid professional development conference held in Washington, D.C. They also join the Milken Educator Network, a coalition of more than 2,100 top educators who serve both as expert resources and collaborators to network members as they help cultivate and expand innovative programs in their classrooms, schools and districts. 

A total of 40 Washington teachers have received the Milken educator award since the program began in our state.

For more information, please contact the Milken Family Foundation at 310.570.4773 or visit www.mff.org.

Last updated 11/28/05