Riverside’s City Spirit Award goes to longtime teacher

Beth Schwandt, a 30-year teaching veteran, has won Riverside's 2023 City Spirit Award.

Schwandt has specialized in music instruction in the Corona-based Alvord Unified School District, which has schools in Riverside's western end.

She was honored at the Tuesday, Sept. 17, Riverside City Council meeting for "extraordinary deeds and community spirit, good citizenship and dedication to enhancing the quality of life in the city," a Riverside news release states.

Schwandt is currently an instructional coach in Alvord's expanded learning program. As part of the post, she is a board member for the Riverside Arts Academy.

"Beth Schwandt has spent decades enriching the lives of young people in the Alvord Unified School District," Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said in the release. "Her work with the Riverside Arts Academy expanded her influence citywide, bringing arts education to countless students across Riverside."

In 2022, Schwandt was named one of four Teachers of the Year by the Riverside County Office of Education. Her husband, longtime Alvord school board member Robert Schwandt, died in June .

Schwandt takes students on field trips and recently worked with the city on a program to give Alvord students the chance to perform at The Fox Performing Arts Center in downtown Riverside.

"Beth Schwandt is a bright light in the Alvord district, and in our educational system in western Riverside County," Councilmember Jim Perry said in the release.

Riverside's mayor and city council have given the award annually since 1995. The past three have been Francisca Beltran, Lynn Heatley and Ofelia Valdez-Yeager, who died earlier this year .