FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE N.R. #224, 6/3/98

Date: June 3, 1998

Contact: Irene Cromer

703/791-8720

SCHOOL DIVISION EMPLOYEES RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE

Twelve individual Prince William County Public Schools employees and two teams of employees will be recognized by the School Board in the second annual Prince William County School Board Staff Recognition Awards. The purpose of the awards, which will be presented at a School Board reception on June 4, is to recognize and promote excellence in the school division. The awards will be presented in three categories: Courage, awarded to an individual who has performed well despite overcoming a major obstacle; Achievement, awarded to a staff member for a specific accomplishment; and Performance, awarded for outstanding staff performance over a period of time.

The award recipients, their position, and their work location are: Courage: Karen Dauer, educational diagnostician, Special Education; Achievement: Chuck Drake, science teacher and department head, C.D. Hylton High School, and Patrick Flanagan, teacher of the learning disabled, C.D. Hylton High School; Performance: Walter Bailey, social studies teacher, C.D. Hylton High School; Joseph Brown, day custodian, Godwin Middle School; Carmaleta Combs, English teacher, C.D. Hylton High School; Sharon Ford, fourth grade teacher, Leesylvania Elementary School; Suzanne Johnson, seventh grade language arts teacher, Beville Middle School; Alyson Lawyer, second grade teacher, Loch Lomond Elementary School; Ann Leazer, school psychologist, Bennett Elementary and Marsteller Middle schools; Bonnie Little, seventh grade language arts teacher, Beville Middle School; and Lillian Orlich, guidance counselor, Osbourn Park High School. Team/Department Performance Awards will be presented to Supply Services and the Bus Driver Training Team from the Transportation Department.

The Supply Services Department staff includes Donald Baker, mail room courier and coordinator; John Battle, warehouse clerk; Scott Brown and Faxie Burke, warehouse workers I; Ross Collins and Maurice Jordan, warehouse workers II; Marion Cox Jr., John Dodson, William Sprouse, Larry Stanley and Ricky Wharton, truck drivers; Betty Edenhart, secretary III; Jerry Hill and David Waller, warehouse specialists; Martin Johnson, Paul Phillips and Vick Thomas, mail couriers; Jacqueline Koziol, Vickie Short and Sandra Willt, material control specialists; Earl Langaas II, supply specialist; Ronald Phipps, property inventory chief; Phillip Porter, warehouse service chief; Ruby Savage, account clerk II; George Sisk, receiving/shipping/distribution clerk; and John Woodyard, supply services coordinator.

The Bus Driver Training Team includes Patricia Vance, safety and training technician; Cheryl Fisher and James Scrogum, bus drivers and classroom instructors; Faye Gianzanti, Doris King, and Carol Yoder, on-road trainers and Department of Motor Vehicles road test examiners; Robert Cavin, special needs bus driver and on-road trainer; and Wendy Kovack, Nancy Layton, Odessa O'Quin, Dorothy Profita, and Pattie True, bus drivers and on-road trainers.

Karen Dauer, Courage Award

Karen Dauer, educational diagnostician in the Special Education Department, is being recognized for courage. Three-and-a-half years ago, Dauer's husband Lorne underwent a double lung transplant at the University of North Carolina Medical Facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. To prepare for the operation, Lorne was required to relocate to Greensboro. This relocation, accomplished in September of 1993, was estimated by his transplant team to be approximately three to four months before surgery. In fact, it was almost an entire year before the correct match was found and the operation took place. Throughout that year, Karen remained in Northern Virginia, working at her job and fulfilling all her duties in a cheerful and professional manner while traveling back and forth to Greensboro each weekend. The operation was considered successful, despite a stroke that occurred during surgery which left Lorne's speech impaired and his left hand paralyzed. However, the lungs functioned well and the two remained in North Carolina until March of 1995 while he received follow-up care and therapy, with Karen assuming many of the nursing duties. Finally, six months after surgery, they were allowed to come home. Although there continued to be donated leave available for Karen's use, she almost immediately returned to work. Despite both physical and mental exhaustion, she fulfilled all of her job duties cheerfully, resisting any assistance from her colleagues. Since then, repeated hospitalizations and fear of rejection and complications have further increased the mental, physical and financial toll on Karen. Yet she continues to come to work each day, refusing to allow her colleagues to assume any of her duties.

Chuck Drake, Achievement Award

Chuck Drake, science teacher and science department chairman at C.D. Hylton High School, will receive the Achievement Award for his efforts to construct and implement a supercomputing center at Hylton with the help of SWAT (Students Working to Advance Technology). SWAT is an organization created by Drake to troubleshoot computer problems at the school, to work with area businesses to recycle computers, and to work to educate teachers and community members in technology. Drake, his Advanced Computer Studies students, and the SWAT designed, re-wired, and painted a multimedia computing center and installed twenty new or refurbished computers. The process took more than two months to accomplish during many hours of after-school work.

Patrick Flanagan, Achievement Award

Patrick Flanagan, teacher of the learning disabled at Hylton, will receive the Achievement Award for his creation of a golf tournament as a means of raising scholarship funds for learning disabled students. The first tournament was held in May, 1997 at Manassas Park Golf Course and raised more than $880 which was awarded in scholarships to two Hylton students. Flanagan was also responsible for designing the selection process for the scholarship recipients. These students were the first learning disabled students ever to attend Hylton's annual awards ceremony. The second annual tournament was held recently and raised $872 for this year's scholarships.

Walter Bailey, Performance Award

Walter Bailey, a teacher in the school division for more than thirty-two years, is being recognized with the Performance Award. Bailey, social studies teacher at Hylton, earlier taught at Rippon Middle and Gar-Field High schools. From 1966, when, as a first-year teacher, he was invited by the supervisor of middle schools to help develop a high school humanities curriculum, until the present, Bailey has been involved in developing and writing curriculum and designing teaching strategies. In the past year he has been active in the development of Hylton's International Studies and Languages program. Bailey helped Lycee Carnot in Lyon, France, develop an English language course in world civilization and was sent to Germany to interview government educational leaders to aid the creation of a curriculum on modern Germany to be used throughout Virginia.

Joseph Brown, Performance Award

Joe Brown, day custodian at Godwin Middle School, will also receive the Performance Award. In nominating Brown for this award, John Miller, assistant principal at Godwin said, "Mr. Brown is the most selfless contributor of time and energy ever encountered by this official. Known throughout the school and the community as uncommonly helpful and unselfishly available to any person, be it student or adult, be it staff or visitor, he actively seeks out methods to make a personal contribution to the successful completion of any endeavor." Brown greets arriving staff and makes himself available to immediately provide a varied array of services ranging from the transport of large bulky items to unlocking interior and exterior doors. No assistance is denied as this true professional scours the entire campus for opportunities to improve the educational and administrative environments, Miller said.

Carmaleta Combs, Performance Award

Carmaleta Combs, English teacher and department chairman at C.D. Hylton High School, has been an educator for thirty-two years, twenty-three in Prince William County. She taught English, social studies and reading at Woodbridge Middle School; was department chairperson and English teacher at Gar-Field High School and has been department chairperson and English teacher at Hylton since it opened. According to Hylton Principal Wayne Mallard, "to my knowledge, no other teacher gives more, or as much as Mrs. Combs does to her students and to her school. Prior to the beginning of every school year, Mrs. Combs personally calls every parent/guardian to introduce herself and to open lines of communication for a productive year...She is an innovative teacher who, even after 32 years of teaching, demonstrates a high degree of motivation in experimenting with a variety of new strategies and assessment options....Obviously, Mrs. Combs' commitment to quality education for students; her ability to stay abreast, utilize, and share the most positive of strategies; and her strong leadership ability, as well as her absolute loyalty and dedication, qualify her for the Performance Award."

Sharon Ford, Performance Award

Sharon Ford, fourth grade teacher at Leesylvania Elementary School, was nominated for the Performance Award by the parents of one of her students. "It is clear that [Ford] is a truly outstanding teacher, dedicated to her profession and the success of her students," said Craig Peterson. Peterson praised Ford for identifying learning problems in his fourth grader that had not been recognized earlier. Also, he said, she gave extra time to the girl, not only during her fourth grade year, but tutoring her during the summer. During fifth grade, Ford worked with the child three days a week after school and again tutored her during the summer months. "I think it is important to note that [my child] is not the only student who Mrs. Ford has tutored during the summer," Peterson said. "Mrs. Ford has made it a regular practice to give up her time for students she feels could benefit from additional assistance....Among all the teachers that I have met so far in your school system, none come close to comparing to her professional abilities and commitment to students. Many others would do well to model themselves after her," he said.

Suzanne Johnson, Performance Award

Suzanne Johnson, seventh grade language arts teacher at Beville Middle School, will be recognized with the Performance Award. Johnson is co-sponsor of Beville's National Junior Honor Society and co-ordinates the school's June awards ceremony. She is a judge for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Contest, attends her students' games and concerts and was a co-writer of the Gifted Education Language Arts curriculum. She has served on division-wide committees for textbook adoption, summer reading lists and new schools. She is chairman of Beville's Language Arts department and at last year's Christmas party taught her colleagues line dancing. In nominating Johnson, former Beville ESOL teacher Kathleen Mahoney expresses a desire to clone this talented professional. "Beville could keep this caring, skilled teacher; this marvelous mentor for both beginning and experienced faculty members; this most decent and unassuming individual who strives constantly to improve the morale of her colleagues. And then we could give the second Suzanne away to a school desperately in need of her smile and her skills!

Alyson Lawyer, Performance Award

According to her colleague and nominator Faranak Drake, the name of Alyson Lawyer, second grade teacher at Loch Lomond Elementary School, is synonymous with "Excellence in Education." A sixteen-year veteran of the school division, Lawyer has spent the last two at Loch Lomond. "Alyson is a gifted educator," Drake says. "Her sixteen years of experience have given her the ability to assess her students' strengths and weaknesses on any new subject right away. She creates a wonderful and rich learning environment in her classroom. With 22 students, she manages to give each and every child the individual attention, workload and encouragement which they deserve. Last year, Lawyer became the first elementary schoolteacher in the county to actively involve her students in Project GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment). Each day her students observe cloud formations and report the data to GLOBE. The data is used by scientists around the world at organizations such as NOAA and NASA. Recently her students completed a PowerPoint presentation on their study of Egypt. "She is clearly the type of teacher who goes beyond the required objects and encourages her students to participate in activities which help them learn in a more exciting manner," Drake says.

Ann Leazer, Performance Award

Ann Leazer, school psychologist at Bennett Elementary and Marsteller Middle schools, will receive the Performance Award. As a school psychologist, her duties include testing, consulting, collaborating and decision-making as a member of each school's Child Study Committee. According to her nominators Sharon Fogarty, administrative assistant at Bennett and John Hince, assistant principal of Marsteller, "Mrs. Leazer is an excellent problem solver, always generating strategies and offering resources which are available to us. She provides staff with collegial support, assisting in the development of an effective behavioral plan or in suggesting appropriate accommodations to enable the student to build on success....Ann Leazer's personality or style is direct yet gentle, never failing to speak the truth and always offering suggestions for help. Her sense of humor can reduce tension and convey a genuine caring attitude. She has the ability to clarify significant issues and stay focused even in the most stressful of times...In the one day we are each lucky enough to have her in our building, she performs exceptional assessment and analysis, offers valid and worthwhile suggestions to teachers and parents and always offers to pitch in during emergencies or special events."

Bonnie Little, Performance Award

According to her colleague (and fellow Performance Award recipient) Suzanne Johnson, Bonnie Little, seventh grade language arts teacher at Beville Middle School, wears many hats. She is a team leader, honor society sponsor, Awards Night co-coordinator and school climate member. She sometimes bakes cakes for the custodians, proofs papers for colleagues, assists new teachers and more. "Bonnie is very successful with her students. She reaches many students that other teachers and parents label as difficult. Bonnie's demeanor in the classroom, and her personalized treatment of each individual child, gives her students motivation to succeed," Johnson says. "Bonnie carefully oversees all aspects of the students' work to make sure basic objectives are successfully addressed. She encourages students to think on a higher level; to apply their basic knowledge. She is consistent in her communication to students and parents regarding her classroom expectations," Johnson says. A cooperating teacher/clinical faculty member at George Mason University, Little has served as a team and department chair and was recently named Dale City Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Lillian Orlich, Performance Award

Lillian Orlich, guidance counselor at Osbourn Park High School, was recently recognized for completing 45 years of service to the school division. She is widely known to be the first person to arrive at the school in the morning, as early as 5:00 a.m., answers the phone, calls students, and often meets with parents on the way to work. She is the resident expert on scholarships and publishes The Money Tree, a weekly newsletter for college-bound seniors, as well as conducting financial aid workshops and organizing the school's college night. A school division institution, Orlich currently counsels the grandchildren of some earlier students.

Supply Services Department, Performance Award

The Supply Services Department is responsible for the operation of the warehouse that stores stock valued at over $900,000 and a store that processes over 20,000 supply requisitions for supplies valued at over $2 million annually. Over 1,500 requests for pick-up and distribution throughout the division (and often outside the division) are successfully responded to each year. In addition, the department maintains a courier service that travels a hundred miles a day and a mailroom that has an annual budget of over $100,000. Two members of the staff are responsible for the records of more than 80,000 pieces of furniture and equipment valued at nearly $60 million. These functions have been accomplished with no increase in personnel over the past seven years and a minimal increase in budget. Among other projects, the Supply Services Department has outfitted thirteen schools since 1990, collected materials from schools and offices to conduct semi-annual auctions, moved offices at the Independent Hill Complex, and, in the case of Bennett Elementary School, moved an entire school to a new building. Less routine projects carried out in a routine way have included carrying tons of driftwood to the Potomac Mills Mall for a school division-sponsored art program, transporting materials for graduations, wrestling tournaments and art shows, and collecting food donated in a recent food drive. All this and more while consistently earning high marks in customer satisfaction surveys.

Bus Driver Training Team Performance Award

The Transportation Department's Bus Driver Training Team provides classroom and on-road training for new school bus drivers and bus attendants. They also provide training for continuing employees who must maintain their certification and offer inservice training to drivers on new types of school buses and bus-related systems. During the past two years, the trainers have provided classroom training for 152 new drivers/attendants and 392 inservice drivers/attendants for a total of 4,764 hours. An additional 3,175 hours of on-road training was completed, certifying 102 commercial drivers. The trainers comply with standards set by the State Board of Education, the school division, the Department of Motor Vehicles (Commercial Drivers License, third party testing), the American Red Cross and the National Safety Council.