“A legacy of good”: Los Al Unified sets theme

Los Alamitos Unified School District Superintendent Andrew Pulver addresses the annual State of the District event.

The sheer volume of good in the world that has been produced by the unification of the Los Alamitos Unified School District nearly five decades ago is now being recognized in the district’s new theme.

So said Supt. Dr. Andrew Pulver at the State of the District breakfast this week, proclaiming that the enormity of the collective good produced by every single person connected to the District, both inside the system and out since 1979, is precisely why the District’s theme for 25 – 2026 will be “For Good.” 

“Los Alamitos Unified has shaped a culture, a place where students thrive, where families stay rooted and community grows stronger each and every single year,” he said to an overflow audience. 

“It’s changed lives for good,” Pulver noted during his address at the annual breakfast sponsored by the Los Alamitos Educational Foundation (LAEF). 

Each year, parents, businesses, and District officials crowd into the clubhouse of the U.S. Navy Golf Course to hear a firsthand report on the system’s progress and theme for the year.

“This community always wraps their arms around its youth to try and uplift and make unlimited possibilities happen,” said Pulver, “and so we thought about this year, really thinking about what the concept of good looks like,” he said. 

Before introducing Pulver, Carrie Logue, the Executive Director of the Los Alamitos Educational Foundation, explained that “it is our pleasure to enhance the educational experience, and our mission is to prepare every child in our district for college and beyond.”

She said the foundation provides additional fundraising for the district, providing after school classes and a summer enrichment institute to foster year-round learning. 

Logue said LAEF now offers 247 classes to more than 1500 students, scholarships for families in need and support for students with special needs in the summer. 

 “The LAEF Summer Enrichment Institute enrolls a record 787 students this summer, and we love partnering with Los Al High School coaches and directors to provide a myriad of camps for our community,” she said.

Moreover, she said LAEF, in recent years, has provided student wellness centers at all nine campuses, along with $69,000 to provide stipends to interns. Logue presented the District with a check for $154,000 for Innovation grants to teachers and staff, representing approximately 70 individual grants. 

Pulver thanked Logue and LAEF for their support.  “We are really so fortunate to be part of a district that has a foundation that really supports all kids because we truly believe in the future of our youth,” he said.

In addition, he said LAEF’s support was especially valuable in view of the fact that Los Al Unified is one of the least funded districts.

Pulver went on to explain that while the district remains among the lowest funded in the county, the dedicated teamwork of the community working with the system’s educators and administrators always academically places their results in the county’s top three districts. 

 “We are the lowest funded school district,” the Superintendent said, “and yet we are always among the top three in how we perform.” 

Most of the district’s $140 million annual budget, or 87 percent, said Pulver, is spent on personnel costs to fuel the district. “That only leaves 13 percent for transportation, supplies, electricity, books, materials, professional development, etc., he said.

While the district is an “exceptional steward” of public funds, he said it is at its core the generosity and unity of this community that fuels its continued success. He said parents and citizens have donated more than $3 million to the system.

“This community had a dream to unify, and it really brings us together,” said Pulver.

“Los Alamitos means Little Cottonwood, and the flower of the Cottonwood tree is the shape of a heart,” he said, noting that each of the three green hearts on the district’s logo represents one of the unified communities served by the one high school, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and Rossmoor. 

Pulver marveled at the dedication of those who were committed to unifying the district, who, after several failed attempts, succeeded in creating the Los Alamitos Unified School District.  “Now,” he said, “our kids can follow the same path all the way through.”

“In June, 1979, the voters got state approval to put it on the ballot and spent a year trying to unify,” said Pulver. Incidentally, they chose a Griffin as a mascot, the mythical union of an eagle and a lion, which he said has become synonymous with the district’s outstanding success. 

 “What would compel a district or a community to come up with a dream, to unify, to have our neighborhood schools, elementary and middle, come together at one high school. A one high school town,” Pulver wondered?

Since then, however, he said the results of the unified district have produced an enormous amount of good in the world. 

“Unification offers a number of meaningful benefits, and one of them is a really strong sense of identity, a strong sense of belonging, and there’s something quite magical when we all share the same colors, when we all share the same graduation stage. It brings individuals together,” he said. 

“And when I think about this shared sense of belonging, I can’t imagine that those who came up with this dream 45 years ago ever thought about how this would be enhanced over time,” he added.

 “So, if you’ve been part of our family for several years, we’re crazy about themes, and this year our theme is all about for good,” said Pulver. “And what this means is, the relationships and the connections we all have with one another are bigger than any one year,” said Pulver. 

“It’s really about how, over time, we’ve been changed by the interactions and the people that have made us for good,” he said. “I think that our students, our families in this community, have made Los Alamitos Unified better along this journey, so we are weaving that into our theme.”

 Since unification, Pulver said 29,181 Griffin graduates have crossed that stage.

“Each one of those Griffin graduates represents someone, a student who was cared for, who was nurtured, who was pushed in many positive ways by loving and caring teachers, by supportive counselors, by coaches, by classified staff, administrators, and really by families and all of you who make all of this possible,” the superintendent said. 

“They go out into the world and they’re creating a legacy of good in so many ways,” he added. Hundreds of Griffin graduates have since been recognized for outstanding achievements in medicine, law, entertainment, construction and other fields.

“It takes all of us to raise kids, and as educators, we’re the secondary educators. Parents are always the primary educators for our students and then go forward by strategically managing and allocating our financial resources,” he said.

He recognized many of the outstanding educators in the room, cited the District’s academic achievements, its unprecedented graduation rate, and the excellent stewardship of public funds, even noting that they have found an additional $12 million to upgrade the Los Al High School campus’s Performing Arts Center. 

To frame the size of the district’s overall operation, Pulver said more than one million meals were served last year alone by the district’s food service professionals.

“We have exceptional staff, exceptional students, parents, and community members who come together to create a force for good,” said Pulver.

“Our board is truly strategic and they are very thoughtful and they really do resonate with this overall concept of being for good,” said Pulver, “and what it really takes to really create a community that rallies behind its youth,” he said.

“Unification hasn’t just made a difference,” the superintendent concluded, “it’s changed lives for the good.”