Ceremony Photos | December 2007
Innovation
Successful programs do not appear overnight. They take time, effort and creativity to develop.
Together, Heidi Staples and Jane Hipsher devoted more than 100 hours to develop curriculum for a new class at Driscoll Middle School designed to meet new health and physical education requirements. To assist their fellow teachers, Heidi and Jane developed 36 weeks worth of Power Point presentations.
These educators clearly understand the importance of providing a quality curriculum to meet the needs of our students.
Leadership
Pioneering new programs and opportunities lays the foundation for this district. The following individuals were recognized for their leadership efforts: Alberto Trujillo, Amanda Mayhall, Brian Sparks, Cindy Glenn, Daryn Polanco, Debbie Stewart-Elizondo, Dorothy Holman, Heather Miller, Jennifer Brooks, Leo Contreras, Lesa Schorr, Pamela Walters, Ulrika Delaunay, Vera Perez and William Proctor.
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These educators come from various elementary schools: Olmos, Castle Hills, Serna, Steubing Ranch, Larkspur, Huebner and Stone Oak. They all have something in common; they all volunteered to lead an after-school Robotics club at their respective schools.
This new club provides fourth- and fifth-grade students opportunities to solve problems using math, science and engineering skills.
Contribution
Outside contributions to a school often ignite student pride. When students see how others care about their school, they are motivated to also care.
Ileana Robles, with the support of her family, contributes to the Camelot Elementary School community as a whole. Along with her parents, Ileana donated four bicycles to be prizes for a perfect attendance drawing each nine weeks. This incentive helps motivate students to arrive at school on time each day.
Ileana also worked with her aunt to donate two custom signs for Red Ribbon Week. These banners promoted drug awareness and will be used for many years to come.
With her extra time, Ileana volunteers as the PTA Membership Committee Chair. Ileana organizes the annual membership drive and participates in various PTA events.
Dedication
In any organization, dedicated employees create a successful work environment. Dedication shows the passion and pride you have for your tasks and projects. The following individuals were recognized: Jeanette Guerrero, Sylvia Hoyer, Kelly Miksch, Patricia Peyton, Carole McBee and Leticia Rios.
Does the work of educators and mentors stop at dismissal? Often, to truly meet the needs of students, educators find themselves working well into the evening and on weekends. As the Family Specialist for Colonial Hills Elementary School, Jeanette tirelessly works with students, teachers and families.
Sylvia has been spotted "burning the midnight oil" to successfully complete her tasks as Assistant Principal at Colonial Hills. Staff at the school recognize Sylvia's excellent leadership skills.
All students deserve the opportunity to participate in classroom lessons and activities. Kelly is dedicated to making this possible for her students at Longs Creek Elementary. An ALE (Alternative Learning Environment) student visits Kelly's class during inclusion time. Kelly treats this student as a true member of the class—he even has his own nametag for his desk. The other students follow their teacher's example by fully accepting this student as a member of the class.
While she has taught for 26 years, longevity is not Carole's only example of dedication. During her entire teaching career, Carole has loved, taught and nurtured every student that walked into her classroom. At Northwood Elementary School, Carole works hard to meet the needs of her students. In fact, to help some of her students get to school on time, she bought them alarm clocks. Carole clearly invests her time and interest into every student.
Also at Northwood, Patricia exhibits a positive attitude and strong will to accomplish whatever is asked of her. Patricia works long hours and strives to help teachers and students achieve success. Her dedication inspires others to become more involved in the school and in education.
As a new custodial employee at Wood Middle School, Leticia works diligently to keep the main office area clean. Leticia eagerly tackles each task—small or large—with a positive attitude. Staff view Leticia as a true asset to the school and feel fortunate she is a part of their family.
Risk Management
North East ISD works meticulously to reduce risk in the workplace. At times, however, accidents occur and the workers' compensation staff take action. The following individuals were recognized: Carol Scheffler, Cindy Maroun, Diana Murray, Holly Guthrie, Loni Carlson and Rosemarie Ritchie.
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The workers' compensation staff efficiently administers claims so that employees can receive proper care to enable them to return to work at the earliest opportunity.
The Division of Workers' Compensation for the Texas Department of Insurance completed a performance assessment of North East ISD this past summer. Assessments were based on performance in the following categories during the 2006 calendar year. The categories are:
- Timely medical bill processing;
- Timely payment of initial temporary income benefits; and
- Prevailing ration at contested case hearings.
Another independent study by Midwest Employers Casualty Company benchmarked North East's workers' compensation losses against 2,000 self-insured plans. North East's average claim cost was 83 percent less and its ultimate incurred losses were 55 percent less than the composite averages. Over a four-year period, North East is expected to incur $6,154,627 less total direct losses than the composite average.
Volunteers
The following volunteers from throughout the district were recognized: Beverly Davis, Jane Huffstickler, Lynelle Moore, Jennifer Strauch, Jill Gill, Laura Houston, Lynn Badrak and Richard Hall.
Beverly joined the Wood Middle School PTA this school year to serve as the Volunteer Coordinator. For the past three years, Wood struggled with maintaining parental support and PTA board positions. As Volunteer Coordinator, Beverly managed to secure more parents to fill all board positions.
Jane planned and organized Garner Middle School's Campus Beautification Saturday. Jane worked with a landscape architect to create a blueprint for a garden area in front of the campus. On October 13, 2007, close to 100 parents, staff, and students attended the beautification event. They worked for more than six hours to clean the campus, dig holes and spread mulch to develop the school's new garden area.
Lynelle is another volunteer who likes to get her hands dirty. To complement the school's new Yearling sculpture, Lynelle spent many hours over the summer planting a garden area in Garner's courtyard. The gardening gloves were quickly back on to help prepare for the fall Campus Beautification Saturday.
Jennifer currently serves as Historian for the Coker Elementary School PTA. She also supported and helped plan the Coker Fair. Since 2005, Jennifer has volunteered her time and talents—dedicating many days and nights to the school.
Jill, also a volunteer from Coker, is involved with Accelerated Reader and PTA. Additionally, Jill serves as a room representative and works with the campus Family Specialist to assist families in need.
Laura, another Coker volunteer, spends her time preparing Art Smart lessons and serving as the Environmental Chair. Laura spearheaded a recycling program at Coker as well as organized a fall tree planting.
At Roosevelt High School, Lynn helps ensure that Rough Rider Pride never dies. To improve school pride at football games, Lynn donated the materials and time to create a spirit flag. This five foot by seven foot flag is run up and down the track throughout the game.
While volunteering his time to chaperone a Northwood Elementary School field trip, Richard Hall became a hero to one student. During a recent field trip to Sea World, one student fell and lacerated his forehead. Richard, a nurse and EMT, immediately went into action to stop the bleeding and examine the student for any further injuries.