As students walk late into class, their teachers mark them down as tardy and this is immediately noticed by the attendance office. For Attendance Coordinator, Chemistry teacher and Restorative Specialist, Antonio Gutierrez balances all three of these positions at Bonita Vista High (BVH). Gutierrez has been working at BVH by constantly working with students that may be truant–for whatever reason–to help them and ensure that they get their absences excused. 

After working at BVH for four years, he has recently been hired to become the program manager for career technical education at the district level. He will be overseeing all the different career technical education paths for the entire district.

“I’ve had a very interesting career path and I’ve been in education for 22 years. For most of my career, I was over at Sweetwater High School teaching biology, chemistry and doing intervention work,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez wants to help students beyond the classroom and make an impact on students, staff and the whole community. Teachers are limited to only a few students, but as Gutierrez transitioned into a leadership role, he was able to reach more students, rather than those he would usually see everyday in the classroom.

“[. . .] you’re limited to 180 students, but if you have the skills and the leadership capacity to do more, you have to get out of the classroom. You can mentor and support more teachers, students and staff,” Gutierrez said.

One of his primary motivations to be a teacher and advisor was to be able to assist as many students as possible.

“The reason I went into education is to support as many students as I can into their college or career path. That has always been my goal and my mission,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez has taken advantage of the opportunities he has been given along the way and has been able to positively influence students’ lives. For example, he had many unique experiences while guiding the students which had a huge impact on his students’ lives. Above all, Gutierrez has gained experience while helping students with their hardships.

“I remember a student who I later found out was in-and-out of homes. She struggled because she had a troubled home. When you give the students support and when you listen to their struggles along with the tools they need, they will be able to accomplish what they want to. She went to UCLA [University of California, Los Angeles] and was homeless while attending college. She eventually became an educator after I was able to hire her, and she is now one of the district leaders,” Gutierrez said.

On top of just being an educator, Gutierrez’s job has helped him make many great memories that go beyond just teaching. Some jobs he specializes in even include his unique cooking habit in which he shares his carefully prepared meals with his coworkers.

“Gutierrez is an amazing cook. I’ve only had his food a few times, but I get to listen and share techniques with him,” AVID teacher Jessica Vargas said.

According to Assistant Principal Dr. Jason Josafat, Gutierrez has the potential to work in the top restaurants as a chef. Gutierrez constantly uses food to bring teachers together by sitting down and all enjoying the same food while getting to connect with one another. He always motivates his coworkers to get together and spend time together outside of work so they can bond and get to know one another in a different environment.

“He’s a really good chef. Like if he wasn’t a teacher, he could be a chef in top restaurants. Most people don’t know that because they just assume he only works for the school as an educator,” Josafat said.

While working as an Attendance Coordinator and being a Chemistry teacher, keeping track of students is difficult since there is a big student body. Regardless of this, Josafat thinks that Gutierrez is a special staff member to have because he really cares about his students individually and knows how to stay professional while working in his environment. 

“He’s always been collaborative and professional. He really cares about students, and he cares a lot about our kids at Bonita and other schools in general,” Josafat said.

With Gutierrez’s positive mindset, his departure from BVH at the end of the first semester will leave his fellow educators and students dismayed. However, his positive and successful mark on BVH will forever remain. 

“It’s a big loss. It’s a huge loss. One of the great things about BVH is that we’re able to find new members that fit into what we need here at BVH, yet it will be sad for us to see Gutierrez go,” Josafat said.

Even with this loss taken into account, Gutierrez expresses how this opportunity to get a job that’s more suitable for himself at the district level will allow him to help more students and make an even bigger impact. Vargas emphasizes how this may be a loss for BVH, but will be a new beginning for Gutierrez.

“He takes your feelings into account. He really does a good job of bringing lots of groups of people together,” Vargas said. “He’s very bright, very good with data and has some wonderful ideas so I know he will do good in his next job. He’s the type of person that when he has an idea, he doesn’t delegate it or give it to somebody else, but he wants to be part of seeing that idea come to life.”