Pleasanton Teacher Named 2021 Alameda County Teacher Of The Year

PLEASANTON, CA — A Pleasanton Unified School District teacher was one of three educators named Alameda County Teachers of the Year.

Josh Hill has taught at Foothill High School for 13 years and serves as a career technical education chair and biomedical teacher, according to the Alameda County Office of Education. He has pushed for grants and sought to secure funding to expand career technical programs and facilities, and expand Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit that provides hands-on science and engineering programming to grade school students.

Hill was selected by the school district last year but the county education office said it did not select any honorees at the time, due to the pandemic.

He was honored alongside Oakland teacher Jessica Jung and San Leandro teacher Erica Viray Santos.

"On behalf of everyone who works within the Alameda County educational system, I am thrilled that we had two state finalists and am honored to present our three County award winners. We are humbled by all of the district honorees who rose to the occasion in the past year," said Alameda County Superintendent of Schools L.K. Monroe in a statement. "More than 10,000 teachers in the county were able to pivot in these unique circumstances and quickly figure out the best ways to keep students engaged and learning in new ways. They exceeded in doing so beyond our expectations."

Fifteen other teachers were recognized last week at the education office's 32nd annual Alameda County Teacher of the Year Awards Ceremony, including Village High School teacher Russell Sato.