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The Pleasanton Unified School District recently named longtime Hearst Elementary School teacher Paige Saunders as the 2024-25 teacher of the year.
Saunders, a fifth grade teacher at Hearst, told the Weekly that receiving the recognition the same year she is celebrating being at the school for 10 years was a special moment for her.
“It means a lot for people to notice and to feel that recognition and not just feel like you’re doing all of this work and you’re here until 5 p.m. doing crazy things and not being appreciated,” Saunders said.
Saunders originally had no intention of becoming a teacher, despite coming from a long line of educators where three out of her four grandparents were in education.
Instead, she had a love for science and history and was planning on getting into pre-med and physical therapy.
But after taking some classes on the history of science, she said she wondered if there was a way to incorporate the two subjects into one passion, which is when she thought about teaching the two subjects, began taking teaching classes and realized she should teach kids.
That’s when she decided to get into general education, specifically fifth grade, because she enjoys teaching various subjects and topics, which is perfect for fifth graders who are at an age where they can absorb not just a wide range of topics, but also material that is fairly complex.
“I always have kids every year who amaze me with what they know … and what they bring into the class,” Saunders said.
Now that she has been at Hearst for 10 years, Saunders said she has mastered her curriculum and is able to branch out to do fun activities with her students like teaching them how to make butter, which not only teaches them the chemical components of how butter is made but it also goes into the history of how it was made in the past.
She said when she heard about getting nominated for the teacher of the year award, she was surprised to find out that multiple of her peers had nominated her, which made receiving the recognition even more special.
“This whole thing came out of the blue and was a shock to me,” Saunders said. “It took a couple of weeks to actually accept it and not just brush it off when people would say congratulations.”
According to a district announcement, the recognition shouldn’t come as a surprise because of how much work Saunders puts toward developing unique lesson plans and activities all while creating a safe and welcoming environment in her classroom.
“Saunders is an amazing teacher who develops hands-on, engaging lessons that get students excited about learning,” Hearst Principal Carla Henderson said in the district announcement. “She has created a classroom that is welcoming and safe for students who can sometimes feel alienated and misunderstood in the school system.”
Saunders said creating that type of environment and especially getting congratulated by former and current students and their families has meant the most to her because those relationships are why she continues to be a teacher.
“I come in for the morning meetings that we have where we sit together on the carpet every day and talk about our weekend and talk about our day,” Saunders said. “I come for that relationship.”
The district also recently recognized Foothill High School’s head custodian, Richard Leal, as this year’s classified employee of the year.
Leal has spent the last 30 years at Foothill and has managed a variety of facility requests, organized staff schedules, maintained inventory of supplies and has overseen the entire campus.
Leal told the Weekly the people on campus have all been the reason he has stayed at Foothill for so long because they are all supportive of the work he and his team do.
“Everybody always says thank you when you’re done,” he said.
Leal said when he first heard he had been recognized as the classified employee of the year he was shocked because he just comes in to do the best work he can do each day and always thought the daily praises from people at school were enough.
“You just do what you do every day no matter what,” Leal said.
Foothill Principal Sebastian Bull also told the Weekly that Leal is an integral member of the school community who knows how to take care of the day-to-day operations and can also jump in when there are emergencies.
“Richard is really like the lifeline that connects everybody and does a ton for everybody on this campus,” Bull said. “I’ve never seen somebody be so important to a campus as Richard is to Foothill so it was an easy choice to choose him as the employee of the year.”
Saunders will be considered for the Alameda County Teacher of the Year award, which will be announced in October and similarly Leal’s name has been submitted for consideration for the Alameda County Classified School Employee of the Year award.
