Family, friends and city and San Jose Unified School District officials bestowed flowers, plaques and kudos on Cressio, who began working at Williams 10 years ago as a parent volunteer before joining the faculty. Among her achievements, they cited Noon League, a program Cressio developed to encourage cooperative play and teamwork among students.

Noon League's roster of organized activities includes "Whale Walks" for students and their parents to stretch their legs before school each morning. At Friday's ceremony, Cressio presented awards to students who'd logged the most miles by taking laps around Williams' playing field.

Cressio said after the ceremony she doesn't mind waking up early to supervise the students' exercise regimen.

"To get up in the morning and come work with the kids is wonderful," she added. "There are challenges and opportunities, and every day you learn something new."

Cressio started Noon League in 1988 at Graystone Elementary School. The program has been in place at Williams since 1996, when Cressio's daughter SamiJo was a kindergartner there. Now an eighth-grader at Castillero Middle School, SamiJo, 14, is the youngest of Cressio's four children; Cressio also has three grandchildren.

At the ceremony, parents and teachers embraced SamiJo as warmly as they did her mother.

"She has lots of moms, not just me," Cressio said. "I've got to trust them to do a good job, and I hope other parents trust me to do a good job with their kids."

Cressio said the Williams community has done a good job of supporting her programs over the years. She recruits and trains Williams' yard-duty supervisors, many of whom are parents. She also recruits student assistants from Leland High School, many of them former Williams students.

Cressio credits Williams' staff for allowing her to develop her programs.

"If you share an idea, they give you the wings to fly with it," she said.

The idea of Noon League has taken wing beyond the Almaden Valley since six schools in three districts have adopted the program.