End of school year means retirement for dozens of Downey Unified employees

On May 8, the Downey Education Association (DEA) and Downey Unified held a celebration honoring the 97 Certificated (teaching) staff members who will be moving on to retirement. Seen in this photo are all of the teaching staff at the elementary level who said their official goodbyes to students on the last day of school.

DOWNEY – The closing of the 2022-23 school year marked the end of an era for many Downey Unified employees as the district said farewell to 148 staff members made up of both classified (non-teaching) and certificated (teaching) positions.

In early May, the Downey Education Association (DEA) and Downey Unified held a celebration honoring the 97 certificated staff members who will be moving into retirement.

Students and fellow staff members gave their best wishes on the last day of school as the following staff members said goodbye to their school campuses for the very last time:

Alameda Elementary School: Carol Echeveste, Janet Hilton, Tina Platt and David Tanaka

Gallatin Elementary School: Ann Amy, Cortny Kutzke and Dianna Smith

Gauldin Elementary School: Pamela Morris

Lewis Elementary School: Karin Beaver, Deena Eichen, Cheryl McCollough and Eileen Mullen

Old River Elementary School: Lucy Atlas and Linda Zarate

Price Elementary School: Steven Toay and Marie Valdes

Rio Hondo Elementary School: Theresa Petit

Rio San Gabriel Elementary School: Sandra Aguirre, Lorie Ann Gibson, Deborah Hoetker, Kimberley Mrkonic, Wendy Mucho and Mary Walker

Unsworth Elementary School: Wanda Peterson and Principal Kelley Rush-Becker

Williams Elementary School: Susan Breit, Carol Carter, Barbara Stapp and Rubina Toriz

Doty Middle School: Robert J. Becker, James Bugaren, Robert Mallory, Principal Brent Shubin and Christine Sparangis

Griffiths Middle School: Jon Cockrill, Deanne Davis, Mark Nolen, Mark Roberts, Lori Santillana and Laura Taylor

Stauffer Middle School: Judy Diulio, Valerie Herz, Karen Korduner and Odette Perreault

Sussman Middle School: James Gillespie, Michael Holden, Lorraine Neal, Tamara Olcomendy, John Stendahl and Dawn Weldon

Columbus High School: Matthew Simpson

Downey High School: Melanie Adams, Kevin Bishop, Andrew Craig, Russell Cramm, Mary Falcon, Bernard Glasser, Debra Kasner, Hans Kruip, Pamela Mullen, Bonnie Roybal, Amany Saad, Larry Shelton, Oriane Shiroma and David Speakman

Virtual Academy: Russell Arnold, Lorraine Currier, Deborah Gee, Debora Sanders and Chris Velasco

Warren High School: William Austin, Gerald Timothy Brogden, Debra Harr, Kevin Hobbensiefken, Gisele Kinne, Margaret Kroon-Strong, Daniel Latham, Kerry Marie Martin, Jeffrey Orlinsky, Scott Pearson, Timothy Robinson, Monica Schulman, Michael Vance, Jeffrey Welch, Teresa Wheeler and Cyndi White

Downey Unified District office or assigned to various schools: Leigh Ann Alexander, Janice Eagle, Teresa Guerrero, John Harris, Clotilde Ibarra-Alvarez, Laura Mc Kee, Leslie Neill, Kathi Thompson, Jennifer Toledo, Lori Zaremski and Julie Zuniga

Four Downey Unified district office Classified staff will be moving on to retirement at the end of June. Seen in the photo holding their coveted Retirement Clock is Andrea Iacovitti, Assistant director of Budget and Finance with 17 years of service; Darren Purselglove, Director of Purchasing with 24 years of service; BethAnn Arko, Director of Classified Human Resources with 7 years of service and Christina Aragon, Associate Superintendent of Business services with 5 years of service.

NON-TEACHING RETIREMENTS

Alameda Elementary School: Rebecca Bell

Gauldin Elementary School: Adriana Navarro

Imperial Elementary School: Olvina Herrera

Lewis Elementary School: Ritamarie Anthony-Hester

Price Elementary School: Estela Pedroza and Dania Wilder

Rio San Gabriel Elementary School: Debbie Macintosh

Williams Elementary School: Patricia Schlittenhart

Griffiths Middle School: Joyce Barnett, Cecilia Henritze and Pamela Langford

Sussman Middle School: Lisa Lang and Lubia Sanchez

Columbus High School: Dede Hunt, Nora Ortiz (Food Services), Donald Valdez (Grounds), Martha Valdez, Keith Walton (Grounds) and Deborah Woodcock

Downey High School: Martha Pat Amezaga, Virginia Contreras, Maria M. Lopez (Food Services), Sonia Lopez and Debra Mercurio

Warren High School: Karen Schaffer and Catherine Waites

Downey Unified District Office: Christina Aragon (Business Services); BethAnn Arko and Linda Ratzlaff (Classified HR); Ana Thorne (Certificated HR); Lydia Barraza (Communications Center); Devon France (Elementary Education); Milenka Bobic-Torres, Andrea Iacovitti and Karen Quick (Financial Services); Gregory Edge and Craig Karli (Maintenance); Miriam Baker, Efren Garcia, Jose Leal, Mike Telles and Maria Torres (Operations); Darren Purseglove (Purchasing); Judith Duprey and Mary Walsh (Special Education); Erik Hoffman (Technology); Kimberly Abney, Lorena Barrera and Susana Gandara (Transportation)

In all, the employees recognized above represent exactly 3,892 total years of service to Downey Unified students.

“On behalf of the Board of Education, we want to thank each and every one of you for the years of dedicated service you’ve provided to our students,” stated Board President, Giggy Perez-Saab. “Each of you has had a positive effect on the lives of countless children and you are the reason why Downey Unified is such an amazing district. We wish you nothing but the best in this amazing next adventure of life but know you will be missed!”