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The Irvine Unified School District lost an educational giant over the winter break. A. Stanley Corey, the district’s founding superintendent and the man generally regarded as the most influential figure in the history of IUSD, died at his Arroyo Grande home on Dec. 30. He was 89. To say Corey left his mark on Irvine Unified is to say Steve Jobs left his mark on Apple. Corey’s vision for what a school district could be was innovative, bordering on prescient, and always student-centered. That vision was thoughtfully executed beginning in 1972 with a set of 37 founding principles that still hold great relevance in Irvine. Most wouldn’t seem out of place at a Silicon Valley tech firm. Organizations must strive for momentum not stability. ... Outrageous expectations should be standard. ... Institutions must be dynamic and changing if they are to survive in a radically changing world. ... Somewhere in the district we have the talent to lead us in the solution of any particular problem. And of course, this one: Students must be the focus of all efforts. These declarations of staff empowerment and collaboration helped guide the district through its embryonic stages in the early 1970s to its emergence as a nationally recognized leader in education, and they continue to be leveraged as the building blocks of IUSD’s Strategic Initiatives.