Star treatment for award-winning school

The eyes of the Newport-Mesa education community were on Victoria Elementary School on Wednesday ? and KCAL-9 news, the Looney Tunes and a Hummer limousine came along for the ride.

This year, the Costa Mesa campus won both California Distinguished School recognition and a Title I Academic Achievement Award, which recognizes high-performing schools with low-income populations. Victoria is the first school in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to win both honors in the same year.

Wednesday marked the school’s annual Teachers Day celebration, in which students and administrators gather in the campus courtyard to pay tribute to faculty. At the same time, the event doubled as a ceremony for Newport-Mesa’s most decorated campus of the year.

“It was quite a year and quite a celebration,” said fifth-grade teacher Joe Norris, currently in his 12th year on the Victoria staff.

During the event, Principal Judy Laakso awarded each teacher a “doctorate of excellence” certificate along with a visor and an orange sash. Linda Jones, the daughter of Warner Bros. cartoon artist Chuck Jones, contributed prints of her father’s work. Orange County Supt. William Habermehl, Newport-Mesa Supt. Robert Barbot and television news reporter Michele Gile were among the others present.

“What this means, regarding your teachers, is that now you can refer to them as ‘Doctor,’ ” Laakso told the students before handing out certificates.

Students and teachers joined in badminton, tetherball and other sporting events on the grass. Afterward, a limousine took faculty members downtown for ice cream. The year before, the Costa Mesa Fire Department offered rides through the neighborhood in one of its trucks.

Last month, Victoria became one of four Newport-Mesa elementary campuses this year to receive California Distinguished School recognition, along with California, Lincoln and Mariners. The total matched the district’s personal record from 2000, when Victoria was also one of the four schools honored.

Earlier this spring, the state Department of Education named Victoria as one of 310 schools in the state to receive the Title I Academic Achievement Award. The school, which has a large low-income population, scored 813 out of 1,000 this year on the state’s Academic Performance Index, which is based on a number of standardized tests.

One of the teachers who crossed the podium Wednesday morning was Marilyn Wright, who has taught at Victoria since it reopened 13 years ago and is retiring this year. Afterward, Wright said the event left her with mixed emotions.

“I think it’s a bittersweet way to leave, but it’s a real high for me to go out this way,” she said.dpt.18-victoria-2-CPhotoInfo881R2H4720060518izfs8cncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Principal Judy Laasko, right, honors fifth-grade teacher Linda Tenno on Wednesday at Victoria Elementary. dpt.18-victoria-1-CPhotoInfo881R2FOL20060518izfs7oncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Music teacher Bridget Duffin bats a giant tether ball to student Valeria Campos, 9, during a celebration at Victoria Elementary.