DOWNEY — Victoria (Vicki) Arosteguy, an educator at Doty Middle School, was honored Tuesday as the Downey Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year for her “exceptional work with students.” 

Arosteguy a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher, has been with Downey Unified for 20 years. 

Downey Unified selects a Teacher of the Year annually in Downey Unified who is honored every October with the Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year awards banquet.

“During this time of extraordinary challenges to our school communities, it is especially important that we pay tribute to our outstanding teachers who, in the face of a pandemic, are bringing care, compassion and ingenuity to their virtual classrooms,” Dr. Debra Duardo, the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s superintendent of schools, said during the county’s award ceremony a few days prior to the Downey Board of Education meeting. “I am truly impressed by their innovative practices and the partnerships they are building to keep students learning and thriving.”

Arosteguy was honored along with 47 other teachers in Los Angeles County during the Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year celebration, which was organized by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. During Downey Unified’s Board of Education meeting, Arosteguy was present to accept this award along with Doty Middle School Principal, Brent Shubin, and Vice Principal Kathy Nicassio. 

Arosteguy began her career in Downey Unified in 2001 at Rio San Gabriel Elementary and started at East Middle School (now Doty Middle School) the following year where she has been an RSP teacher now for 19 years. 

She has served as the Special Education Department Chair at Doty for 10 years and pioneered the first RSP/General Education co-teaching assignments on the Doty campus. 

In partnership with other teachers, Arosteguy has refined the co-teaching model and currently serves as a mentor to her colleagues. She is also the Honor Roll/Scholarship Club Advisor, a Femineers coach and a Master Teacher.

“The most important thing I can tell you about Mrs. Arosteguy is that she truly cares about kids,” shared Principal Shubin. “She advocates for the conditions and needs of her students for them to be able to learn and succeed.  She has, for years, voluntarily held RSP Homework Help after school to provide that extra support for kids who maybe don’t have it at home.  She experiments with new strategies, techniques, and technology to make certain curriculum more accessible to her learners.”