PHOTOS: Drive-by birthday party a surprise for Northwood principal Leslie Roach

A cyclist drives by at the end of the celebration Wednesday for Northwood Principal Leslie Roach. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Northwood High principal Leslie Roach thought she was going out to see a newly constructed area for students in front of the school Wednesday afternoon.

Little did she know that a procession of more than 80 cars which included teachers, administrators, coaches, students and Roach’s family members was about to pass by in their vehicles for a drive-by birthday celebration.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

“I’m really surprised and really overwhelmed, these guys were very sneaky,” Roach said in an interview after the procession had ended. “It’s really nice to see a lot of the faces that I’ve only seen on Zoom meetings for the last couple of weeks. It’s really nice to see people in person and I feel incredibly honored that people came out and took time out from their day to drive through and decorate their cars. It’s incredibly humbling.”

Although Irvine Unified School District has gone to on-line courses because of the coronavirus crisis, Roach and others were on campus for meetings.

The event started with firemen from Station 55 in Irvine coming by in their truck and sounding the horn and waving.

Then the cars, filled with enthusiastic supporters of Roach, along with their pets, came by on cue. Cars honked horns on their cars and waved.

“The cars just kept coming, it was a little overwhelming,” said Roach, in her 13th year as Northwood principal. “I saw my family, my parents, my nieces and nephews and some of my old friends.”

Some people came as far away as Pasadena and Tarzana.

Because of social distancing guidelines, people remained in their cars, some presented Roach with balloons and many gave her birthday wishes. Many who were in the cars came out later for a group picture, but maintained their distances.

Planning began on Sunday when Ernie Medina, plant supervisor at Northwood, got a call from math teacher Melanie Hanley proposing the surprise.

“I found out what Leslie’s schedule was and then I coordinated with my guys at Northwood to help me out and try to not make it too obvious with Jerry (Oregel), Anthony (Aguilar) and Pedro (Sanchez) to help me out,” Medina said.

Hanley and Medina then sent out some Emails and texts, and made sure Roach wasn’t on them.

“We made a phone call to Eric Keith (assistant principal) to make sure Leslie was going to be on site and we got the ball rolling,” Medina said.

“We’ve been working at the front of the school working on some pavers that Leslie had requested so it was a perfect way to get her out there and we knew she was going to be on site doing the principal’s meeting from 9 a.m. to noon so it worked out perfectly.

“Today was the last day to finish it up, so it was a perfect excuse to get her out there. Everybody kept their distance and it was great to see everybody. Even though we’re six feet away, it was awesome for Leslie, she’s extremely humble for what we did for her. I don’t think she expected this and I think she was extremely surprised that we pulled it off. She’s our commander in chief, we answer to her.”

Hanley said she was excited to be part of the planning and to take part in the event.

“Everybody wants to do things for Leslie, she is an incredible leader and she has always put her staff, but more importantly, the students, first. She leadswith grace and confidence,” Hanley said. “We’re really proud of her.”

Roach also had a message for students and faculty at Northwood during challenging and uncertain times.

“Our community has been incredible through this transition,” she said after the event. “They’ve been incredibly flexible and supportive and they’ve been really kind to us. As a staff, we can’t wait to get these kids back in school. I think we value their time and relationships and our time with them ….this has been an incredibly difficult time and we’re just super happy to have them back as soon as we can, but in the meantime, we hope they stay strong and healthy.”

Roach said no decision has been made on graduation.

“We’re holding out that will be able to have some sort of graduation, even if it’s later in the summer,” she said. “But we are starting to talk about plans for what we might do otherwise. We know we need to do something special for these kids. It’s an important milestone in their life, and we certainly want to celebrate it with them. We’re hopeful. We really want to do something.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com

Editor’s note: All reporting and photography for this story was done practicing social distancing guidelines and the use of a facemask.