Schools

Mesa Verde Middle School's Posteraro Named District Teacher of the Year

Jay Posteraro was among three teachers in the Poway Unified School District to be surprised Wednesday morning with the award.

Music teacher Jay Posteraro, who works at Mesa Verde Middle School in Rancho Penasquitos, was surprised by Poway Unified School District Superintendent John Collins Wednesday morning in his classroom, who let him know he was one of three District Teachers of the Year.

Collins was joined by board members Andy Patapow and Marc Davis, as well as Poway Federation of Teachers President Candy Smiley and last year's Teachers of the Year: Anthony Bayro, Megan Power and Martin Reisert.

Posteraro has taught at Mesa Verde Middle School for his entire 19-year career,  mentoring close to “3,500 young musicians” in his tenure.

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Back in 2011, the Mesa Verde band was invited to participate in the Heritage Festival of Gold, a prestigious national band competition, as the only middle school. The students received the highest overall score in this competition and were invited to play at the encore concert at Chicago Symphony Hall, where they received a standing ovation. The city of San Diego had a day named in their honor.

“It was the crowning moment of my teaching career,” Posteraro said in a press release.

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Posteraro also performs in numerous musical groups throughout San Diego and is the Pep Band Director for the University of San Diego.

Posteraro shares the honor of being a District Teacher of the Year with Heather Smith, who teaches Pre-Kindergarten at Willow Grove Elementary in Del Sur and Kerry Araiza, a second-grade teacher at Pomerado Elementary School in Poway.

Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to note that Kerry Araiza teaches at Pomerado Elementary School.


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