[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9286-9287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             RECOGNIZING THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF MARC JOHNSON

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JIM COSTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 14, 2013

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Marcus Johnson as 
he prepares to retire from his position as Superintendent of the Sanger 
Unified School District. Marc will be leaving after more than 35 years 
in public education in the Central Valley.
  As Superintendent of Sanger Unified, Marc transformed some of 
California's lowest performing schools into some of our best. The 
education reforms that he spearheaded are now considered a model for 
schools across the country. Marc's dedication and commitment to 
improving education standards in the Central Valley have been 
nationally recognized including by the American Association of Student 
Administrators who named him the 2011 National Superintendent of the 
Year.
  A California native, Marc lives in the small community of Reedley, 
where at age four he moved with his parents and where his wife of 37 
years, Penni, taught at Thomas Law Reed Elementary, before retiring 
last year. He is a graduate of Reedley Community College, California 
State University, Fresno and Fresno Pacific University, where he 
received his Masters in Education. Marc began his career in education 
at American Union Elementary, where he taught for 16 years and later 
served as the district's superintendent and principal. In 1999, Marc 
was named the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the 
Sanger Unified School District, before assuming the role of 
Superintendent of the district in the fall of 2003.
  When Marc took over as Superintendent, Sanger Unified was struggling. 
A year into his tenure, the district was designated for program 
improvement by the State of California. Under Marc's leadership and 
guidance, Sanger Unified implemented education reforms including 
adopting the professional learning community model focused on student 
learning, high quality instruction, and teacher collaboration. Within 
two years Sanger Unified exited program

[[Page 9287]]

improvement status and its schools have since gone on to win many 
accolades and awards. Recently, Sanger Unified became only the second 
school district in the country to have every one of its middle schools 
named to the Department of Education's prestigious ``Schools to Watch'' 
list.
  Although Marc is retiring as Superintendent of Sanger Unified, he 
will continue the fight to improve education standards in the Central 
Valley as the interim co-director of the John D. Welty Center for 
Educational Policy and Leadership. In addition, Marc is retiring to 
spend much needed time with his wife, his three children, and his four 
grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the 
distinguished educational leadership of Mr. Marc Johnson. The work he 
has done for the Sanger Unified School District will have a lasting 
impact on our children in Fresno County and in the entire State of 
California.

                          ____________________