Board of Supervisors honors Melo

The Oct. 13 proclamations of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors included one for 2008 Fallbrook High School graduate Jose Melo.

Melo's current education affiliation is Valley Center Middle School, and he was chosen as a 2020-21 San Diego County Teacher of the Year. The five teachers who were San Diego County Teacher of the Year recipients were honored by the Board of Supervisors.

"It was a real honor receiving this proclamation," Melo said.

"It's good to know that the public is appreciating the hard work of educators," Melo said. "It's good to know our hard work is being commended."

The 40 district nominees for San Diego County Teacher of the Year are from approximately 26,000 public school teachers in San Diego County. "They're working harder than ever to ready those students during these challenging times," Melo said.

"Students are the reason we teach," Melo said.

Melo grew up in Fallbrook and still lives here. His Fallbrook High School teachers inspired Melo to pursue a career in education. The passion of two of his Spanish teachers made them his role models.

Melo teaches dual language social studies to seventh grade students and also teaches English language development. The social studies instruction is in both English and Spanish, and the goal is to have the students completely bilingual in the subject matter.

In addition to his classroom teaching activity Melo is a mentor and tutor to students on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation. He also mentors new teachers, serves on the school site council, and organizes parent workshops. He coordinates a Saturday school program which focuses on community collaboration, positive behavioral intervention and support for students.

Melo noted that he also received an email from a parent that day complimenting his performance as a teacher. "It's words like that that give you the energy to keep on going," he said.