MORENO VALLEY >> On April 4, 1968, the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered in Memphis, Tenn., Martinrex Kedziora was a third-grader at Memphis’s Gardenview Elementary, and one of the few white children at his school with a black teacher. The next day, as riots and demonstrations swept the country, Martinrex asked his principal why his teacher, Ms. Ralston, was not at school and was told it was not safe for her to be there. Kedziora, accepting the Education Award from the Riverside NAACP at its recent Freedom Fund Celebration, told the audience that the memory remains fresh, and still guides his commitment to the students he serves today as Chief Academic Officer for Moreno Valley Unified School District. “For me, school was just about the safest place in the world,” he said. “The idea that it might not be a safe place for Ms. Ralston came as a shock and made me very sad. So when I became a teacher, making sure all my students and colleagues could feel safe and accepted in a caring environment at school was my first priority, and it still is today.” Kedziora was honored with the Education Award in recognition of his work helping all students strive to reach their potential, regardless of ethnicity or social status. Data recently released by the California Department of Education shows that MVUSD’s graduation rate has soared more than 20 percent in the past five years, and that the district has effectively closed the so-called achievement gap when it comes to graduation. Latino students’ graduation rate now exceeds the overall district average, and African-American students graduate just shy of the district mark. “I credit our School Board and Superintendent Dr. Judy D. White for their vision and expectation,” Kedziora said, “and our principals, counselors and teachers for their refusal to give up on any student.”

MVUSD Chief Academic Officer honored by Riverside NAACP