Elementary School Instructor Named a Teacher of the Year

To her students she is known as a teacher with a dramatic flare that makes learning fun.

To local theater-goers she is better known as vampire slayer Bubu Padoop in “Dracula: The Musical?”

Now to the rest of California, Ingrid Boydston will be known as a Teacher of the Year.

Boydston is the only teacher in Los Angeles County selected for the annual award--given by the state Department of Education--and only one of five in California. She has taught at Santa Clarita Elementary School in the Saugus Unified School District since 1987.

“She was very theatrical and it really was impressive,” said Salvador Arriaga, coordinator of the award program. “Her students seemed to be very excited and her teaching style was very, very effective.”

Boydston is a graduate of Mesa College in Colorado, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in theater. She moved to Santa Clarita in 1986 to become an actress but became a substitute teacher to make ends meet.

By 1987, Boydston had her teaching credential and her own classroom--Room 15, where she has taught for 11 years.

Boydston was chosen from 54 statewide nominees for Teacher of the Year by Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.