PUSD honors Russell Sato as 2021 Teacher of the Year

A Village High School educator “beloved for the connections he makes in the classroom” is celebrating the end of a long academic year by being named Pleasanton Unified School District’s 2021-22 Teacher of the Year.

“I’m really honored and feel a lot of responsibility to be deserving of this award, and just to represent and speak for all the teachers that are doing such good work and deserve equal, if not more, recognition for what they’re doing silently in their classrooms,” Russell Sato told the Weekly.

For the past eight years, Sato has been a fixture at the continuing education school, teaching English along with college and career readiness courses. Called a “leader among campus peers” by PUSD officials in a statement, Sato is also involved in school site and district committees, and at one time led the school’s Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) team.

When the school suddenly switched to remote learning during the onset of sheltering in place last spring, Sato helped students more easily access academic resources

“I feel like we’ve been through lots of different phases of transition since March of 2020,” Sato said. “In the very beginning when we got shut down for in-person (learning), we were scrambling to figure out how do we replicate what was happening in the classroom at home and on Zoom.”

Sato added, “Through that search to find out what’s the best solution, I think we’re starting to realize we can’t replicate it exactly the way it was. We have to figure out how it’s going to meet the needs of our students.”

Last year was “so hard for so many people,” Sato said. “Especially parents, and that’s something I definitely want to acknowledge. Any parent out there that’s involved with their child’s life and education this year knows it’s so hard.”

On campus, where students call Sato by his last name, senior Brian Glasco said Sato is “the embodiment of the spirit of Village.”

“The support that he’s given and shown let me know he does care and that there are people that want me to succeed,” Glasco said. “He makes sure to let everybody know that they matter, that he’s here to help.”

PUSD’s director of educational options Heather Pereira said it’s “hard to capture” all of Sato’s “amazing qualities.”

“I can only say that as a lifelong educator, Russell is exactly the kind of teacher that I only hope that every child is able to work with every school year,” Pereira said. “The combination of high expectations with a warm demeanor produces tremendous gains with our students. They emerge from Russell’s class a more confident and competent person.”

Sato is one of many other teachers throughout Alameda County whose name will be submitted for consideration for the countywide Teacher of the Year program, which takes place in October.

“I do plan on proceeding with being considered for that award and look into representing Pleasanton the best I can with that group of teachers,” Sato said.