Valerie Ramos is the principal of Success Academy, a community day school in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Originally, Success Academy served students in elementary grades, but later it was expanded to include middle grade students as well, who had previously been served in a separate community day school, bringing it to its current K-8 format.
Val is a firmly compassionate leader—with her students and her staff. Her high expectations are clear - and so is the path for how to reach those expectations - always with Val's full support. Finally, the word "community" is central for Val. She built tremendous support from the community surrounding her previous school site, continuing some of that support even after her school was re-located.