Dr. Marc Winger is certainly leaving his mark when he retires Jan. 31 after nearly 20 years as superintendent of the Newhall School District. Tonight, the district’s governing board will sign off on a resolution to rename the district’s office building the Dr. Marc Winger Administration Building. The building, erected in the late 1980s, is located at the corner of Orchard Village and Wiley Canyon roads and houses the district’s offices and board room.

“Dr. Winger has done so much to push the Newhall School District forward, particularly in terms of its curriculum and fiscal solvency,” said Michael Shapiro, president of the district’s governing board. “What better place to name for him, than the district offices?”

Winger announced his retirement last fall, wrapping up 17 years as superintendent of the Newhall district and an overall education career spanning more than 40 years.

During Winger’s tenure, three district schools received national Blue Ribbon School recognition, and all 10 district schools received State Distinguished School status. Four schools received Title I Academic Achievement Award recognition under the federal No Child Left Behind act, nine were named to the California Business for Education Excellence Foundation’s “honor roll” and the district’s state Academic Performance Index scores have been the highest in the Santa Clarita Valley eight years in a row.

Winger pointed to the hard work of the district’s staff as evidence for those successes.

“Leading the Newhall School District has been an incredible and rewarding experience,” Winger said. “Our district achieved what it achieved because of dedicated staff. Knowing that they will walk into a building that has been dedicated to my service is the highest honor I can imagine.”

While the district was under Winger’s leadership, its voters approved a $35.5 million school construction and modernization bond in 1999, and in November 2011 authorized a $60 million bond focused on expansion of technology, energy-efficient projects, replacement of portable buildings with permanent construction and renovation of the historic Newhall Auditorium.

Winger began his education career as an elementary school teacher in the Newhall district in 1974. He spent several years with the Burbank Unified School District and Sulphur Springs School District before returning to the Newhall district as superintendent in 1997.