[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 70 (Friday, May 9, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E726-E727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE RETIREMENT OF SIERRA SANDS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 
                      SUPERINTENDENT JOANNA RUMMER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KEVIN McCARTHY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 9, 2014

  Mr. McCARTHY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
the retirement of my good friend Joanna (Jody) Rummer, who has served 
the Sierra Sands Unified School District for 26 years.
   Joining the school district as a science teacher in 1988, Jody went 
on to serve as assistant principal at Murray Middle School and 
Burroughs High School before eventually becoming Burroughs' co-
Principal. In 2001, she joined the district administrative staff as the 
coordinator of special projects before becoming the assistant 
superintendent of curriculum and instruction. In 2004, Jody became the 
school district's superintendent and embarked on a journey that would 
ultimately transform the Sierra Sands Unified School District.
   When Jody took the wheel, her vision was to enhance and grow Sierra 
Sands. Today, Jody's vision is rooted in the foundation of all eleven 
district schools, which have been recognized statewide as institutions 
of academic excellence, earned the California Distinguished School 
award, and designated as a California Blue Ribbon school. Within the 
halls of those schools, you'll find students excelling in California's 
finest programs for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 
(STEM) education, mastering the art of music, visual arts, and drama, 
and setting athletic milestones as state champions in multiple

[[Page E727]]

sports. Additionally, in the face of the most challenging of fiscal 
environments since the Great Depression, Sierra Sands Unified School 
District has maintained fiscal solvency throughout the entirety of her 
superintendency.
   A relentless advocate for her students, I was honored to work 
recently with her to secure almost $60 million in Federal defense funds 
to replace Murray Middle School and modernize Burroughs High School. 
Many of the parents of Sierra Sands students work at Naval Air Weapons 
Station China Lake in state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories 
while their children attend class in 1940s and 1950s era buildings. 
Jody was instrumental in securing these funds and worked tirelessly 
with the Department of Defense through a competitive process to ensure 
her students can learn in modern buildings in today's digital society. 
Jody also was key to Sierra Sands securing $7 million to build a state-
of-the-art new Career Technical Education Building.
   I have known Jody for years, and always sought her advice when I 
served in the California Assembly and now in the U.S. House of 
Representatives. Whether it is working to provide resources under the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so schools can better serve 
their disabled students, to critical reforms to the Impact Aid program 
to help ensure military-serving districts, like Sierra Sands, can 
continue to provide a world-class education to its students by cutting 
through bureaucratic red tape, to working on commonsense reforms to the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act that focus on students, Jody has 
tirelessly represented her students, school district, and our 
Ridgecrest community's interest while providing sound, objective, and 
to-the-point advice. When I visit Jody in Ridgecrest and speak to 
students, she is always quick to laud her staff, teachers and students' 
achievements and hard work that have made Sierra Sands one of the best 
school districts in Kern County and the State of California. Those are 
some of the reasons why she has been twice recognized by the 
Association of California School Administrators as Administrator of the 
Year and named this year as California's Superintendent of the Year.
   Mr. Speaker, on behalf of our community, I would like to wish a 
happy retirement to Jody Rummer, who has devoted so much of her life to 
the success of the students and community she holds so close to her 
heart. I will miss working with Jody, but I know she will still be 
involved in education and our Ridgecrest community and I look forward 
to still be able to call on her for advice to strengthen the 
educational needs not only of Ridgecrest, our county, or our state, but 
of our country.

                          ____________________