Paloma Plant Supervisor Perez Wins Top County Award

From left: Steve Hovey, chief personnel officer of the Riverside County Office of Education; Dr. Jonathan Greenberg, superintendent, Perris Union High School District; Jeff Perez, plant supervisor, Paloma Valley High School; Don Williamson, Paloma Valley principal; Art Fritz, director of facilities services, PUHSD.

It's been quite a week on the regional stage for the Perris Union High School District and Menifee schools.

Jeff Perez, plant supervisor for Paloma Valley High School, was honored today as Classified Administrator of the Year in Riverside County. Perez was presented the award by Steve Hovey, County associate superintendent, during a brief ceremony in front of school staff members on campus.

Perez is the third employee of the Perris Union High School District to receive such an award this week. On Monday, Heritage High principal Julie Zierold and Heritage Secretary II Audrey Smith received similar county recognition.

Also on Monday, Ridgemoor Elementary School principal Kristina Lyman of the Menifee Union High School District received a Principal of the Year award, sharing that honor with Zierold. Only eight county awards were presented, and four of them came from Menifee schools.

"Here are some of the things that were said about Jeff," said Hovey in making the announcement today. "Hard work, terrific people skills, team player, best example of customer service, strong work ethic, dedication to training including safety, ability to motivate staff ... all for the purpose of providing a clean and safe school campus that promotes pride and increased student success."

Perez supervises a staff of 18 supervisors and custodians who care for the Paloma Valley High campus. He and his staff are in charge of all maintenance, cleaning, security, teachers' needs and anything else dealing with the physical condition of the school.

Hovey joked about how the arrival of Perez six years ago "started with gum" -- a reference to the unsightly presence of chewing gum and trash scattered around campus. In the last six years, with hard work and inspiring students to do the same, Perez and his staff have literally cleaned up the campus.

"This is the cleanest high school campus in America," said Dr. Jonathan Greenberg, PUHSD superintendent. "Walk this campus and you won't see one piece of gum. There's 2,800 kids that go to school here. After lunch, there's not a piece of paper on the ground. Not just because the custodians are picking up, the kids are picking up too because Jeff models it, and so does his team.

"I first met Jeff 12 years ago in Hemet when he was the lead custodian at West Valley High School. When we had an opening here, I said, 'We've got to get Jeff over here.' It's probably one of the best HR moves we ever made."

Perez said he learned his work ethic and love for working with students as the child of two school custodians.

"I really encourage my staff to interact with the kids," Perez said. "We're human as much as they are. Let's have fun and enjoy our work.

"When I first got here, the gum on campus ... you could play dot to dot, it was that bad. Almost every day, I have a custodian power washing. We clean the stadium bleachers with power washing. We clean everything inside, too. And the kids buy into what we're doing. They start seeing administrators walking around picking up trash and they say, 'I can do that.' "

Paloma Valley principal Don Williamson can't say enough about the dedication and work ethic of Perez.

"He will come in extra hours on his own time, work on weekends ... he does all this without asking for any recognition," Williamson said. "He's someone who really takes pride in his work. He makes this 20-year-old campus look like new."