By Joanie Harmon | Ampersand
PLI alumnus among 22 of the district’s top educators.
Felix Quiñónez, an alumnus of the UCLA Principal Leadership Institute (‘06, M. Ed., Cohort 6) has been chosen as a Teacher of the Year by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“I thank my professors at PLI – Dr. Robert Cooper, Joann Isken, Dr. Bruce Newlin and so many others for their guidance and leadership. I am also grateful for Nataly Birch, Dr. Nancy Parachini, Frankie Gelbwachs, Dr. Luis Valentino, Dr. Theresa Montaño, Dr. Raissa White, for their professionalism and their caring disposition throughout my career. If I list all of the wonderful people who positively impacted me this will be a very long interview.”
Quiñónez is a physical education itinerant elementary teacher for LAUSD teaching K – 6th grade students general physical education at multiple elementary schools. He simultaneously mentors elementary teachers on how to teach standards-based physical education instruction to develop students’ physical literacy. He was honored with 21 other Los Angeles teachers with a virtual recognition ceremony on Oct. 8. In addition, Quiñónez finished as a semi-finalist in the L.A. County Teacher of the Year competition.