{"id":519839,"date":"2026-11-05T21:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/519839\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T21:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:40:09","slug":"los-al-unified-goes-with-defying-expectations-as-a-theme-for-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/519839\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Al Unified goes with \u201cDefying Expectations\u201d as a theme for 2026-27"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Andrew Pulver, Supt. of the Los Alamitos Unified School District, makes his traditional “State of the District” speech at the clubhouse of the U.S. Navy Golf Course on Oct. 27.
\nPhoto by David N. Young<\/p>\n

The superintendent of the Los Alamitos Unified School District announced Thursday that the district has chosen \u201cDefying Expectations\u201d as its 2027 theme, saying the phrase, rather than breaking new ground, puts an exclamation point on its past themes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a new initiative,\u201d announced Supt. Dr. Andrew Pulver at LAEF\u2019s annual \u2018State of the District\u2019 breakfast inside the clubhouse of the U.S. Navy Golf Course on Oct. 24, just something \u201cwoven into the district\u2019s identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulver\u2019s comments came at the annual event sponsored by the Los Alamitos Education Foundation (LAEF), the first under the nonprofit\u2019s new Executive Director, Dr. Tanya Adolph.<\/p>\n

Adolph thanked Dr. Pulver and the LAEF board for selecting her to replace long-time administrator Carrie Logue, who recently moved on after raising nearly $5 million during her tenure.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Tanya Adolph, the new Executive Director of LAEF, welcomes supporters and educators to the event.
Photo by David N. Young<\/p>\n

\u201cStrong schools are an investment in our future,\u201d said Dr. Adolph, thanking Logue and the LAEF board for its continuing commitment to Los Al Unified. She said LAEF had awarded $650,000 in innovation grants and more than $4 million to the district for a variety of purposes in recent years.<\/p>\n

Los Al Unified Board President Diana Hill said, \u201cIt has been my honor to serve the district for the past 16 years,\u201d adding that she won a new term without opposition.<\/p>\n

Hill honored the service of other board members and longtime Board member and former President Marlys Davidson, who recently announced her retirement and will not be returning to the board. The district announced it will honor her on November 17.<\/p>\n

Pulver thanked the board for its agility and for allowing the district\u2019s administration to be responsive to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefying expectations is choosing not to allow what has always been done,\u201d said Pulver, pacing alone with only a handheld microphone throughout a room filled with financial supporters of the system and other educators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is doing what is difficult today or what appears to be impossible to define what comes next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefy the ordinary, the not yet, and even the impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

By invoking the theme, Pulver said students and educators should believe \u201cin something bigger, challenging the norm and taking action together to make possibilities real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Five elements artist Michelle Boos-Stone with one of her imaginative and graphic documentations of Dr. Pulver\u2019s address.
Photo by David N. Young<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means believing in students even when they may not see their own potential,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope students and adults will be bold, take risks, and persevere, even when they don\u2019t succeed the first time,\u201d he said, \u201ckeeping moving through winning and losing seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adults and teachers play a role, he said, \u201cby stepping forward and solving problems, parents engaging with schools, volunteering and donating, and students taking risks, discovering strengths and recovering from setbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called the district\u2019s staff, families, students, and community partners essential to that work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not something new,\u201d he explained, tying together all of the district\u2019s recent themes like \u201cexcellence never rests,\u201d \u201cOne Team, One Vision,\u201d \u201cForward Focus,\u201d \u201cBe Extraordinary,\u201d \u201cIgniting Unlimited Possibilities,\u201d and last year\u2019s theme, \u201cBe Good,\u201d as precursors to \u201cDefying Expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are values of innovation and continuous improvement,\u201d said Pulver, which remain the central focus of the outstanding district. \u201cNo dream is too big or too small; it\u2019s really about honoring each individual student\u2019s journey,\u201d the superintendent said.<\/p>\n

The district even produced a video showing how its themes have impacted the lives and careers of administrators, parents, and students.<\/p>\n

The film highlights impactful moments from the journeys of former students and administrators, including former student Jacob Pellicer, whose dream was to become a custodian and who defied expectations to make that dream a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a student, Los Alamitos changed me for good,\u201d says Jacob in the film, who is now a full-time custodian in the system. \u201cThe job I do here gives more back to me than I could ever give to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pulver praised the district\u2019s award-winning staff, calling out key teachers and administrators who have also been recognized by county, state, and even national organizations.<\/p>\n

The superintendent said the Los Al Unified District is the 13th lowest-funded district of the state\u2019s 345 districts, comparing the district\u2019s spending of $16k per student to Laguna Beach\u2019s $37k per student.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Andrew Pulver, photo by David N. Young<\/p>\n

Yet he said the district spends 83 percent of its approximately $150 million budget on salaries and personnel costs.
\u201cThe strength of the district is not in the buildings,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s in the people that fill them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 165 students out of 166 pass the Advanced Placement exam for precalculus, which is nearly 100 percent. Over 50 percent of those students got a five, the highest score you can get on an AP exam, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefying expectations does not mean asking every student to take the same path,\u201d said Pulver, announcing a new district initiative to explore a virtual independent study academy for middle and high school students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an effort to create more flexible ways for students to succeed while staying connected to school activities,\u201d said Pulver, without going into specific details of the new initiative.<\/p>\n

Finally, he announced more architectural changes at Los Alamitos High School, including a new Performing Arts Center designed by architectural partners West Group Designs, which features a \u201cGriffin wing\u201d look in a modern lobby that will soon adorn the school\u2019s updated campus.<\/p>\n

Pulver\u2019s overarching point was that what teachers, parents, and administrators achieve together today can and will have a lasting impact on the students within the Los Alamitos Unified School District.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we defy expectations today,\u201d said Pulver, we create the kind of impact that changes lives for good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Andrew Pulver, Supt. of the Los Alamitos Unified School District, makes his traditional “State of the District”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-519839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}