On Wednesday, June 9, 2010, Mango Elementary School received a special visit from California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O'Connell.  Mr. O'Connell stopped by to congratulate students, staff, parents, and community members for their hard work in earning the 2010 California Distinguished School Award. 

During his visit, Principal Sara Najarro, gave Mr. O'Connell a tour of the school and they visited a few classrooms, accompanied by Superintendent Cali Olsen-Binks, Oscar Duenas - Associate Superintendent of Instructional Services, and Jason Angle - Director of Elementary Curriculum.  "In each room, Mr. O'Connell thanked the teacher for their hard work and jokingly said that they in Sacramento get the privilege of taking the credit for it," said Mrs. Najarro.  "He even gave 'high fives' to the students and was able to hear each classroom's college cheer."

Mrs. Najarro said that they also discussed Mango's two signature practices that she wrote about in Mango's California Distinguished School application.  "Ours were Goal Work and No Excuses University Culture of Universal Achievement.  He congratulated us for closing the achievement gap by using these signature practices to change the climate and culture of what we do at the school site."

Mr. O'Connell joked that he really just wanted to see if they had hung up their Distinguished School plaque yet.  Mrs. Najarro said they had - "right next to our 2006 California Distinguished School Award plaque!"