• Gorge Santiago

    Meet Gorge Santiago, Executive Director of Secondary Schools

    At the June 7, 2017 meeting of the FUSD Board of Education, the Board approved the promotion of Gorge Santiago as the new Executive Director of Secondary Schools.

    Mr. Santiago is a proud product of the ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ. He attended Redwood Elementary, Sequoia Middle, and Fontana High Schools. After graduation from Fohi, he attended Cal State San Bernardino where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.

    For two years, he worked as a Marketing Coordinator, and was once a manager for JC Penney. “During that time, I had the pleasure of coaching baseball and was often told I would make a good teacher,” he said. “Knowing I didn’t want to work at JC Penney for my profession, I pursued my Masters of Education in Cross-Cultural Education and began my teaching career at Redwood Elementary, which was a dream come true.”

    “While at Redwood, I was encouraged to pursue my Administrative Credential and graduated from Azusa Pacific in 2003,” he continued. “I left Redwood to become the Assistant Principal at Juniper Elementary. Three years later, I was named Principal of Oleander Elementary. By working together with the students, parents, teachers and staff members, Oleander became a California Distinguished School and one of the best schools in Fontana. One of my highest honors was being named Elementary Principal of the Year for ACSA’s Region 12.”

    Most recently, Mr. Santiago served as Principal of Sequoia Middle School. He is very proud of the success the school has experienced during his time as principal, including being named an AVID Schoolwide Site of Distinction this year.

    “I cannot tell you how honored I am and how excited I am about this opportunity,” he said. “When I started in Fontana as a kindergarten student, the eighth of nine children, I never would have imagined that someday I would stand here as Executive Director of Secondary Education. A big part of that is the education I received here in Fontana. There were challenges but this district really gave me the foundation to be successful. That is my hope and my dream, to have all of our students be successful in their future endeavors.”