Project Description
Pearl Arredondo, Fellow
San Fernando Institute for Applied Media
Los Angeles, CA
Pearl Arredondo was part of a teacher-led team that founded the San Fernando Institute for Applied Media (SFiAM), the first pilot middle school established in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She taught for 10 years and became National Board Certified before becoming the Instructional Specialist and now Principal of SFiAM. She has led in many situations of ambiguity and complexity for the last 8 years. Pearl is passionate about increasing student access to quality education in the neediest of areas. She was featured on TED Talks Education and is a frequent speaker and panelist related to those key issues. She was also featured in People Magazine’s My American Dream: Great Success Against All Odds campaign sponsored by Milk Life. As a Teach Plus Policy Fellow, she met with President Obama’s senior advisors to discuss teacher tenure and elevating the teaching profession. As part of Educators for Excellence, she helped write a series of recommendations entitled Reimaging Tenure: Protecting Our Students and Our Profession. In 2014, she received the “Inspirational Teacher Award” from United Way of Greater Los Angeles and was named California Woman of the Year from California Assembly District 39. Pearl is a tireless advocate for public education and STEAM-based curriculum. She is also a role model for young Latinas seeking to make a difference in their communities. Her goal is to make SFiAM a model of educational reform by preparing all students to be effective communicators in the 21st century.
Erin Fitzgerald-Haddad, Ally
Teacher
San Fernando Institute for Applied Media
Los Angeles, CA
Erin Fitzgerald-Haddad began her teaching career in 2016. She co-founded the San Fernando Institute for Applied Media (SFIAM) in 2010, a middle school, where she teaches mathematics. Erin is dedicated to promoting learning that empowers her students. Guiding students to discover patterns and order in the world of mathematics is her driving force. In addition to teaching she has served in many leadership roles at SFIAM including math department chair, grade-level lead, governing council president, instructional leadership committee, and STEAM certification team lead. She has represented her teachers as United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) Chapter Chair and was elected to the UTLA House of Representatives. Erin was a 2017 recipient of the UTLA Platinum Apple award for excellence in teaching and in 2019 was awarded Educator of the Year by Educators for Excellence with the Rebel Award. She served on the LAUSD Teacher Advisory Cabinet, which focused on making policy recommendations to the Los Angeles Unified School Board, for hybrid leadership roles for teachers. Erin has also worked on education policy with Educators for Excellence, co-authoring a policy paper, Reimagining Tenure, which led to state legislative campaign work for the Teacher and Student Success Act in 2017. In 2019 she was awarded a Teach Plus Education Policy Fellowship where her work focused on school funding, again leading to state legislative campaign work. Erin is committed to working on multiple levels to better the educational opportunities for all students, but especially for the underserved students in the San Fernando community.