School Principal Gets Nice Surprise: $25,000

Pio Pico Elementary School Principal Judith Magsaysay was quietly arranging chairs and calming students for what she thought would be a motivational seminar early Wednesday.

But minutes later, Magsaysay learned that the gathering was in her honor as she received a surprise $25,000 award from the Milken Family Foundation for her work as “one of the nation’s most outstanding educators.”

Magsaysay broke into tears and received a standing ovation from the third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in the multipurpose room.

“Boys and girls,” Magsaysay said, “you’re very, very special to me and all your teachers. That’s why we work so hard.”

Magsaysay is one of four California educators--and the only one from Orange County--to receive the award this year. In the award’s 10-year history, five other Orange County educators have been honored. Magsaysay is the first from the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Magsaysay, the principal at Pio Pico since it opened six years ago, has garnered headlines for her school’s pioneering uniform policy--in evidence Wednesday among the neatly dressed students in navy blue and white.

The Milken Foundation highlighted Magsaysay’s community outreach efforts, which included going door to door and introducing herself to parents and neighbors in the working-class neighborhood. Also, Magsaysay helped found a Parent Safety Committee, which evolved into the Pio Pico Neighborhood Assn.

Magsaysay said she would like to use the award money for an inner-city forum where children from Santa Ana can interact with others from throughout Orange County.

But she did not rule out using some of the money for a family vacation, possibly in Hawaii.

“I’m not going to say I won’t take a chunk of it,” she said. “I have to be really thankful to my family; maybe some special vacation.”

The Santa Monica-based Milken Family Foundation was founded in 1982 by former junk-bond king Michael Milken and his younger brother Lowell, who made Wednesday’s presentation.

The teacher was picked by a state Department of Education committee that the foundation relies upon for recommendations.

The Milken brothers made a fortune investing in junk bonds, and in 1982, they pooled their personal resources to form the foundation.