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Friday, May 8 - School Administrator Day
Milagros Bravo, Forest School - Millie Bravo has had a strong influence on the staff, parents, and most of all, the students of South School and District 62. During the last two years, Ms. Bravo was the administrative liaison and the ELL liaison for South. In addition to fulfilling her role as Director of ELL Services for D62, she made South her home-away-from-home. Ms. Bravo is child-centered in every way, in every decision, every problem solved, every suggestion; she takes children as a group or children as individuals into consideration from the very start. Her knowledge and understanding of ELL students’ and all children’s needs is deep and compassionate. She has led and attended team meetings, helped with student crises, and has always made time for South.
 Julie Fogarty, Forest School - Julie Fogarty sets a standard of professionalism that we admire and strive to emulate. Her ability to connect with staff and the community with reasonable, informed guidance and support is a quality that is rare. She is welcoming and encouraging to the staff and understands the demands of teaching.
Julie takes time to get to know each student and teacher and responds to their challenges and joys with a caring and respectful attitude. Her standards for expected behavior are quite simply stated as being respectful, responsible, and safe. These are taught and learned by all. She is always approachable, open to suggestions, and a good listener. She continues to make our community and school relationship very strong. She has worked closely with our PTC in order to provide our students and staff with great learning and professional opportunities.
Dr. Janice Rashid, Central School - Anyone who has spent any time in education understands the significant impact that a principal has on students, parents, and staff. Dr. Janice Rashid, Central Elementary School principal, is a great leader and communicator.
Dr. Rashid’s communication style is based on her experiences as a parent, former literacy teacher, and community stakeholder. When faced with the tragic death of one of her fifth grade students, Dr. Rashid was quick to communicate the facts with staff, parents and the public. She employed the traditional forms of communication such as letters, newsletters, and the school’s website, but more importantly she prepared her staff to communicate with and support students and parents. Since this crisis occurred at the end of the school year, support centers were established for student and staff counseling throughout the summer. At the beginning of this school year, Dr. Rashid worked with the parents of the deceased student to bring this event to a closure featuring clips from home videos, poetry readings, and a memorial bench and tree placed in the park across the street from the school.
Thursday, May 7 - School Board/Community Member Day
Stephanie Duckmann, Board of Education - Stephanie Duckmann, School Board Vice President and former collegiate basketball player, personifies the Board’s role in supporting and improving communication in School District 62, much the same way a member of a sporting team contributes to the team’s performance. She is a parent figure, psychologist, counselor, communications expert, and a role model for the Des Plaines community.
Wednesday, May 6 - Educational Support Personnel
Wendy DeVitto, Forest Elementary School - Wendy DeVitto is a model of excellence in her role as a teacher assistant at Forest School. She is dependable, flexible, collaborative, respectful and goes above and beyond expectations.
One of Wendy’s greatest strengths is her ability to connect with the students she is serving. She has a natural talent in being able to make them feel wonderful about themselves. She encourages them to take pride in their strengths and talents they have. She helps them find ways to view their weaknesses not as a problem, but rather as a goal in which they have the capacity for success.
Maria Pat Hanley, Algonquin Middle School - There are not enough words to truly describe Maria Pat Hanley. Maria is an amazing person who consistently goes above and beyond the expectations of both her students and colleagues. Her dedication to her students is evident in the classroom, and her concern for her colleagues is exhibited by her continuous support and advice. Her willingness to negotiate on behalf of the district’s teachers’ assistants has won her the admiration and respect of all her peers.
Eileen Malony, Iroquois Community School - Eileen has been an influence for excellence in many areas at ICS. The office is the central nervous system of a school. Eileen is efficient and professional. She has created an atmosphere in the office in which students, parents, and staff are welcome. People know they can count on Eileen for accurate answers to questions.
Tuesday, May 5 - Classroom Teacher Day
Mary Fink, Central Elementary School - Mrs. Fink is truly a model of excellence for Central School and all of District 62. She is dedicated to the children and teachers in this district, and demonstrates this by going above and beyond to ensure quality instruction in her classroom, by improving literacy instruction and learning at Central School in her role as Language Arts Facilitator (LAF), and by improving teacher quality for all District 62 teachers in her role as Director of the New Teacher Mentor Program, and as a mentor teacher herself.
Eileen Finnander, Forest Elementary School - Eileen Finnander exemplifies excellence in education in our community. She is a master teacher. She is one of the most outstanding reading teachers that we have had the good fortune to work with and learn from. Her enthusiasm is infectious and she has the unique ability to convince even the most struggling learners that they can accomplish their goals.
Kathy Giambeluca, Forest Elementary School - Kathy provides creative leadership in her interactions with grade level teams. Kathy works extensively with the third grade team at Forest to assist with the problem solving process of identifying struggling students, writing goals, and determining interventions. What one notices first when observing Kathy’s interactions with her peers is the utmost respect she has for the work they do with children. The second thing you notice is her insistence that they stay on-task and accomplish their goals.
 Betty Giannasi-Walsten, Forest Elementary School - Betty is an influence for excellence in the school and the community. She serves as the ELL Facilitator and the DPEA representative at Forest School. She shares information and works with staff, keeping the needs of students at the forefront of her message. Betty also exemplifies service in the community too. When her home flooded in the fall, Betty used that opportunity to seek out information regarding flood relief and shared it with other District 62 employees so that they also could gain assistance.
 Laura Kubiak, Iroquois Community School - Laura has been an influence for excellence in many ways at ICS. Laura is an active member of the Illinois Reading Council. She regularly attends meetings, workshops, conferences and classes. Laura routinely shares her knowledge and skills with fellow teachers. The parents also benefit from Laura’s experiences. She serves with parents on an Academic Enrichment Committee. Laura has been an inspiration for parents to become actively involved in their children’s education.
 Cindi Proffitt, Forest Elementary School - Cindi Proffitt is a model for excellence in the school and community as demonstrated by her dedication to the pursuit of life-long learning. In the two years she has been at Forest School, Cindi has begun and almost completed (will finish 6/09) her ESL endorsement, participated in three U62 courses, completed four university courses on integrating technology into the curriculum and one university course on gender learning styles, participated in the Interactive Teaching and Learning Communities Math Project, and attended three different conferences regarding differentiation.
Monday, May 4 - Student Support Personnel Day
Leigh Radnitzer, Central Elementary School - While only in her second year in District 62, Mrs. Radnitzer quickly made Central School her home and she is amazing in her ability to successfully fulfill the three roles of LMC Specialist: librarian, technology teacher, and CHIPS gifted teacher. Additionally, Mrs. Radnitzer serves in the new role of Technology Liaison for Central School. Managing these several roles can definitely prove challenging, but I believe Leigh thrives on challenge and enjoys integrating her roles so that they are aligned and supportive to the school.
 Laura Gonzalez-Colloccia, Orchard Place Elementary School - It is written that “people who have good friends do not need psychologists”. One really needs both – friends and psychologists – especially in a school environment. Laura is not only a school psychologist, she is also an incredible friend, mentor and advisor. She is the one who listens to us when we share specific information about the kids and then helps us make the right decision. Always kind and patient, Laura is leading us to attend to both the “big picture” and the small details. Many times when we wonder how to group or regroup the students the conversations end with “talk to Laura about it” and so we do.
 Dana Yala, Forest Elementary School - As Department Chairperson for the Speech Department of District 62, Dana encourages each member to seek excellence in our field. At our meetings, she shares current trends and professional concerns addressing our roles as school speech-language pathologists. She also identifies conferences, assists us with required district paperwork, and provides the opportunity to share what we’ve learned.
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