Fire rating to lower Buda insurance rates

by JIM CULLEN

Hays CISD has long participated in the Teacher of the Year program, with each campus annually choosing its honoree and a district committee selecting two from that pool to advance to regional competition. One of those two teachers advances as the district’s “Elementary Teacher of the Year,” the other as the district’s “Secondary Teacher of the Year.” Suffice it to say, the pool of teachers from across the district—there were 21 this year—is a cross section of recognized excellence.

All of those educators, as well as an assistant principal of the year, were honored with a May luncheon by the Hays CISD Education Foundation. And the two advancing selections, Hemphill Elementary School’s Michelle Reid and Barton Middle School’s Sara Salvitti Levin, enjoyed appreciative rounds of applause from their peers as their move to the next round of competition was announced.

A parade of district administrators and Education Foundation board members brought the big news to their classrooms the day before the Teacher of the Year luncheon. As students in Levin’s room realized what it was all about, reactions were positive and unanimous. One approving student was heard to say, “She’s like a mom to me.”  The positive reaction was the same at Hemphill as Reid’s principal, Paige Collier, sprung the surprise visit on the teacher and the joy of the moment was clearly shared by both with wide eyes, beaming smiles and a warm embrace.

Surely, the district’s record of sending strong representation to the Region 13 Teacher of the Year competition remains intact with its offering of Reid and Levin, both of whom are now required to write essays addressing a number of issues. Their responses will be considered by a Central Texas committee this summer that will determine the two regional advancers to the state Teacher of the Year competition. Ultimately, each state advances candidates for national honors.

In the meantime, both local honorees have had time to absorb the news of their district selection and search their minds and hearts for responses to the contest questions. Their responses reveal a pair of committed educators who, as a local administrator once said, “exemplify the kind of teachers we have all across this district.”

Michelle Reid – HCISD Elementary Teacher of the Year

A ten-year teacher, Michelle Reid serves as a reading interventionist at Hemphill Elementary, a position she’s held for the past two years. She came to Hemphill in 2000 after a year at Kyle Elementary. Held in high regard by her fellow teachers, she’s been recognized over the years for being  “The Teacher Who Makes a Difference” and for “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.”

In comments Reid made for the professional biography portion of her regional application essay, she says that her promise to her students is for “a good conversation, a good book, and conversation about a good book.” Describing her philosophy of learning, she writes of how she perceives students:

“Each and every kid we encounter is worthy of our time. They possess all the potential in the world and need a teacher to treat them as the treasure they are by listening, and getting to know them as a learner and a person.”

Her assessment of today’s education issues and trends is that schools “can research, restructure and plan trainings” to address the issues of low-performing schools, testing and bilingual education. “The government…can bring in new people, new ideas and make new plans,” she says, but adds, “What doesn’t change in education, or in a nation, is the population they serve.” Changes start with families, she asserts.

One of Reid’s most emphatic beliefs is that language and vocabulary development starts at home “and this foundation is critical to learning.” She describes a former student who came to her only knowing five of the pictures on the alphabet chart.

“Before I could teach her to read, I taught her words for the pictures, then the letters and sounds…the following year she never stopped talking! I LOVE that!”

Sara Salvitti Levin – HCISD Secondary Teacher of the Year

Sara Salvitti Levin just completed her eighth year of teaching, seven of those at Barton Middle School. For the past three years she’s taught sixth grade language arts, including extended classes this past year. She’s served in a number of leadership roles on her campus, including sharing department chair duties this past year. She has been a UIL sponsor for the past three years, was National Junior Honor Society sponsor last year, and is an active member of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.

The opening statement of Levin’s professional biography reveals her strong career motivation:

“There is this moment. You look across the room and it’s present. Like a strike of lightning, quick and bright and gone. It is a connection, a surge of understanding bringing light, excitement, and power into the room for the briefest of moments. It is why I do this job. For the lightning storm.” Levin writes. She goes on to describe other reasons she does what she does, but she comes back to that lightning, saying it’s one of the reasons she considers herself “lucky.”

“I am present when that happens. When students learn, when lightning strikes. I am front and center watching the beautiful show. They are all bright and shiny bolts of lightning, all of them.”

Levin’s outlook on the state of American education is amply spelled out in her essays, but her closing thoughts on a call to the general public especially bear heeding: “To the general public, I would ask them to join us on the front lines. Despite the frustrations that surround education, I would want to instill trust in those who work hard to educate our youth, and try to rebuild their faith back into the education system. That way we could rebuild this system together, making it better, with the most important interests at heart, our students.”