BIO | Oracio Rodriguez
2019 Madera County Administrator of the Year
By Oracio Rodriguez, Area Assistant Superintendent
My parents immigrated from a rural area in Jalisco, Mexico with my two sisters.
I’m the 6th youngest of a family of seven children. In the 1970s my parents bought a house in Parkwood and eventually had seven children. We went to Eastin-Arcola and every summer, winter break and spring break we worked in the fields picking crops, pruning vines, and even selling sodas to make ends meet.
The work was grueling and humbling and proved to be the example of what we didn’t want to do when we grew up. Every time we grumbled and protested, my parents’ response was the same, “We do this now because we need to, but you have a choice for your future, this or an education. You choose.”
I attended UC Irvine, where I studied sociology. I earned a Single Subject Credential in Social Science from California State University, Fresno (CSUF), after which I taught history, civics and economics at Madera High School (MHS) and Madera South High School (MSHS). Also from CSUF, I earned an Administrative Credential and a Master’s in Education Leadership. I eventually served as a vice principal at MSHS for four years and as principal for four years at MSHS.
I’ve been married to Heather Rodriguez, a history teacher at MHS, for eleven years and we have three boys together.
In 2016, I was awarded the FFA Regional Star Administrator and was a finalist for the FFA California Star Administrator. In 2019, I was selected for the Excellence in Education Award for Madera Unified School District and Madera County Superintendent of Schools.
