Date:  June 27, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
  703-791-8720

 Several Prince William County employees have been recognized for various awards and programs during the past several weeks.

Barry Rosenberg, Principal of Swans Creek Elementary School, was elected to a second term as the Virginia State Representative to the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).  His three-year term begins on July 1, 2003.  Rosenberg has previously served on the Board as Northern Zone Director.  The NAESP State Representative is the official liaison and spokesperson between the Virginia affiliate and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

 Linda Hange, administrative assistant at Penn Elementary School for the past two years, will serve as the Summer School Principal for the site-based program.  She previously was the LD inclusion teacher at Penn and Neabsco elementary schools.

Rachel Wood, foreign language elementary Spanish teacher at Tyler Elementary School, won a Washington Post and Embassy of Spain International Teaching Fellowship that provides a scholarship to study for a month this summer in Spain.  Wood was one of nine fellows selected nationally in a very competitive process.  She will focus her studies on children’s literature that she will incorporate into her elementary Spanish teaching.

Alice Mergler, language arts teacher at Parkside Middle, received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Manassas Optimist Club.  Principal Marie Bowe-Quick nominated her.
Betty Covington, Principal at Dumfries Elementary, was named the “Educator of the Year” at the annual Boys and Girls Club Dinner.  This was the first year of what is to become an annual award named in honor of Covington.  She was also named “Principal of the Year” by Reading Is Fundamental of Northern Virginia, and “Distinguished Woman of the Year” by the Woodbridge Soroptomist Club.

Meg Holt, Coordinator of the Center for International Studies and Languages at C.D. Hylton High School, is one of six national recipients of the Italian Culture and Language Fellowship awarded by the Washington Post, the Embassy of Italy, and the National Italian American Foundation.  The fellowship includes a 13-day summer program organized by the Embassy of Italy-Education Office at three of Italy’s universities with lectures on Italian language and culture as well as participation in cultural events.

The Drama Club of Enterprise Elementary School, under the direction of Mark Shiring, fifth grade teacher, traveled to the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., to perform William Shakespeare's “Taming of the Shrew” on May 14.  Less than eight schools throughout the region are invited each year.  Enterprise has been invited for the past ten years.
Kimberly Butaitis, fourth grade teacher at Enterprise Elementary School, will serve as Summer School Principal for the site-based program.  Butaitis has taught fourth grade at Enterprise for two years and previously taught in Westmoreland County for eight years.

Raymond Correllus, guidance counselor at Montclair Elementary School, will serve as
Summer School Principal for the site-based program.  Correllus joined Montclair in 1997.  He was an autism teacher for three years before becoming the school’s guidance counselor.
The Potomac News/Manassas Journal Messenger’s readers voted Bonnie Gallagher, second grade teacher at Bennett Elementary School, as their “Favorite Teacher” and Osbourn Park High School as the “Best Public School” in the paper’s May 2003 “The Best of Prince William.”
Universal Technical Institute (UTI), the nation’s largest provider of post-secondary automotive education, has recognized the Automotive Technology Program at Osbourn Park High School as one of this area’s best.  Doug Burgess, automotive program instructor at Osbourn Park High School, as well as Principal Tim Healey, accepted an Automotive Program Excellence Award on May 29 from UTI officials in a special ceremony held at the school.  Universal Technical Institute recognizes select high school automotive programs around the country with the award to signify outstanding support by local school administrators for vocational education.  Dr. Kathleen Kunze, Supervisor of Career and Technical Education, supervises this program.

The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) has presented an Outstanding Agency Accreditation Achievement Award to the school division’s Purchasing Department.  The award is based on procedures and the dollar value of the business, among other factors.  Under the direction of Willie Frazier, Supervisor, the Purchasing Department processes procurements between $100 and $300 million in goods and services annually.

 Stonewall Jackson High School’s S.A.D.D. (Students Against Destructive Decisions) won $500 to continue their fight against underage drinking and impaired driving from the 
Washington Regional Alcohol Program, sponsored by GEICO.  The group’s sponsor is Susan Allen, Student Assistance Program Specialist.

Valerie Hillyer, librarian at Stonewall Jackson High School, was invited to serve on the Virginia Young Readers High School committee sponsored by University of Virginia.

Lynn Furman, Supervisor of Quality Control, has been appointed by Arden Bement, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to the 2003 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  The Award, created by public law in 1987, is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive.  As an examiner, Furman is responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Malcolm Baldrige Award.  The board is composed of about 400 leading experts selected from industry, government, professional and trade organizations, and education and health care organizations.  All members of the Board must take part in a preparation course based on the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and the scoring and evaluation processes for the Baldrige Award.

The National Contract Management Association has awarded Willie Frazier, Supervisor of the Purchasing Department, a lifetime recertification as a Certified Professional Contract Manager.