Orange County Department of Education announced its 2027 Teachers of the Year on April 29, and if you're keeping score: North OC went five for six. One honoree came from San Juan Capistrano. Everyone else teaches up here.
County Superintendent Dr. Stefan Bean made surprise campus visits to deliver the news to each recipient. The six honorees will be celebrated at a gala on November 13, 2026, at the Disneyland Hotel, where each receives a $25,000 award from the OC Teachers of the Year Award Foundation. Five of the six K-12 honorees are eligible to advance to the California Teachers of the Year program.
Here's who North OC produced.
Brittany Walters — Magnolia School District, Anaheim
Walters teaches kindergarten at Dr. Peter Marshall Elementary School, a dual-language program campus in Anaheim, and has been doing it for 17 years. The school partners with Disney Musicals in Schools. Principal Alma Guzman put it plainly: "What ultimately sets Mrs. Walters apart is her consistency and passion. The enthusiasm she brings in August remains in June."
Consistency from August to June is a harder thing to sustain than most people outside a classroom understand.
Dr. Katherine Green — Coast Community College District, Huntington Beach
Green is a chemistry professor at Golden West College with 19 years in the classroom. After she shifted to student-centered teaching practices, her class success rates climbed from around 78 percent to 93 percent. Dean Dr. Justin Moore credited her with modeling "the balance of rigor and humanity that defines truly exceptional teaching." Former student Matt Villa said she was "one of the most influential professors I have had the pleasure of learning under."
A 15-point jump in student success rates is not a soft metric. That's a result.
Kathryn Cerasuolo — Anaheim Union High School District, Buena Park
Known as "Coach K," Cerasuolo teaches adapted physical education at Hope School, working with students who have extensive support needs across grades 7 through adult transition. Principal Louie LeMonnier said she "has dismantled long-standing social barriers and redefined the meaning of community on our campus."
The work Cerasuolo does is the kind that rarely gets headlines. This one is deserved.
Megan Avalos — Los Alamitos Unified, Los Alamitos
Avalos has spent 14 years in Los Alamitos USD and teaches 5th grade at Rossmoor Elementary. She runs a classroom "Houses" program modeled on the Knights of the Round Table. She described her job in terms that go well past the school day: "Teaching is never bell-to-bell. I cheer from the sidelines at Friday night lights, celebrate milestones like bar and bat mitzvahs, and proudly watch them graduate."
Wendy Saldivar — Anaheim Elementary School District, Anaheim
Saldivar teaches 5th grade in a Spanish Dual Language Immersion program at Loara Elementary School in Anaheim. Before she entered the classroom, she worked as a public safety dispatcher. Twelve years in, she described the work simply: "Watching my students leave my classroom empowered as learners, leaders and contributors to their community is the most inspirational part of my work."
The One Who Isn't From Here
Ryan Healy teaches English Language Development and theater in San Juan Capistrano through Capistrano USD. South OC gets one. We'll allow it.
What This Actually Says
Five of six is not luck. North OC has a genuine concentration of strong teachers across multiple districts, grade levels, and program types: dual-language immersion, adapted PE, community college chemistry, elementary literacy. The award is run by the Orange County Department of Education and sponsored by SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union.
The California Teachers of the Year selection process will advance from here. Worth watching which of these five moves forward.