The school district’s top teachers and educational support professionals were honored May 13 in a ceremony at the Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School in Bridgewater. Each of the district’s nine schools celebrated one teacher of the year and one educational support professional of the year during the breakfast program. The event was held for the first time in the VoTech’s Trade Wins cafe, which is staffed by students. In prior years, the awards were given out during a special Board of Education meeting. In addition to the building principals, on hand to speak during the ceremony were schools Superintendent John Ravally, Mayor Phillip Kramer, school board vice president Nancy LaCorte, John Felix and Ardaman Singh from the PTO/PTSO Presidents Council, Interim Executive Somerset County Superintendent Juan Torres, Franklin Township Education Association president Lorri Mountainland, and Albert Fico, Hillcrest School principal and Franklin Township Administrators’ Association president. Ravally said the honorees were to be congratulated because they helped their students “reach their academic potential." “You are why we have a long list of what we’re doing right,” LaCorte told the teachers. “Thank you for doing what you do every day, thank you for giving us a long list of what’s great about Franklin." The honorees “are a microcosm of the teachers we have in Franklin Township,” Felix said. “We have a great public school system here with fantastic teachers." The teaching profession “doesn’t get the credit it deserves,” Kramer told the crowd. But on this day, he said, “we come together to honor a special group of teachers who epitomize what teaching is about." “You are the best of the best” he said. “You now owe something to the system by turning to your fellow teachers and making them as great as you are." Saying that the best teachers create “magic” in their classrooms, Torres said the day’s ceremony was “about the people who are standing in front of their students and creating those magic moments." “Get inside the child’s mind, get inside the child’s heart and make the magic,” he said. The teacher’s awards, Fico said, are “an illustrious honor that is well-deserved." “It’s wonderful when we can come together in Franklin Township and recognize the excellence among us,” Mountainland said. “The work you do is really inspired, and helps to build a better tomorrow." The awardees were (Teacher/Support Professional): Franklin High School: Cheryl Iaione/Kimberly Fromme Franklin Middle School: Miriam Berotte-Francis/Elizabeth Scafidi Sampson G. Smith School: Amy Miele/Elizabeth Quinn Conerly Road School: Maxine Robinson/Monireh Kharazi Elizabeth Avenue School: Gloria McGeary-Campbell/Jacqueline DeFilippis Franklin Park School: Deborah Walczyk/Alison Voss Hillcrest School: Angela Hilse/Lee Chiarello MacAfee Road School: Laura Franzi/Elizabeth Tallmadge Pine Grove Manor School: Angela Pape/Lynn Schussel
The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
