Ballico-Cressey schools leader earns statewide award

Bryan Ballenger, Ballico-Cressey School District superintendent, has been named the top superintendent of a small school district in California for 2015.

Ballenger, 39, received the honor during the annual conference of the Small School Districts Association in Sacramento on March 11-13. He was nominated for the honor by the staff of the rural district, which serves about 350 kindergarten through eighth-grade students at two campuses in northern Merced County.

“I am humbled and very overwhelmed,” Ballenger said. “The support staff all signed the nomination letter. It means a lot to me.”

The superintendent came to Ballico-Cressey more than four years ago. He oversaw Ballico School’s shift to take-home computers for every seventh- and eighth-grader in the fall of 2012. Cressey School’s younger students also got devices, and the district is entering its third year without paper textbooks, using all digital materials.

Before taking the Ballico-Cressey post, Ballenger was principal of Bellevue Elementary School in Atwater for two years. He earned a special-education instruction credential in 2000.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Ballico-Cressey schools leader earns statewide award."