Last Friday I attended the awards ceremony for the Arizona Association of School Psychologists' Awards ceremony. One of my wonderful friends and colleagues from my time as a principal in Gilbert received this award. When I found out that she was being nominated, I wanted to write a letter in her support. And the reason was, I felt she was most deserving and I had received this award in 2005 and it meant more to me than any award I have ever received. Here is the letter I wrote:
September 20, 2017
To Whom It May Concern:
It is not only a pleasure but a
privilege for me to write this letter of support for Jean Woods for the Arizona
Administrator of the Year to be awarded by the Arizona Association of School
Psychologists.
I am writing this letter as the
President of the Gilbert Governing Board.
However, I would like to give you a little background about myself
before I explain to you why I feel that Jean is so deserving of this award.
My career has been as an educator
for 46 years. I started out as a special
education teacher in 1971. I taught special education, then regular ed
where I had many students on IEP’s. I then spent 21 years as the principal of
Gilbert Elementary School. After that I
was the Superintendent of Douglas Unified School District from 2010-2015 when
I retired. I moved back to Gilbert and ran for the
Board last November and won. I was
elected GPS Board President In January.
I am telling you this because I have had a very long career in education.
During my tenure as principal of
Gilbert Elementary School for 21 years, I was privileged to have many of the
District special education programs on my campus. I absolutely loved working with the
children and parents during that time.
In 2005, I was awarded the Arizona School Psychologist Administrator of
the Year award. I have received a
number of awards during my time as an educator. I will always believe it was because of the
incredible teachers, staff, children and parents I had the privilege to work
with during those years. However, this award was the absolute
highlight of my career and has meant more to me than any other award I was ever
given. And that is because I believe
that working with special education students
is a blessing in so many ways.
During my many years in GPS, I
have known Jean as a teacher and we were colleagues as principals. I always had the utmost respect for the work
that she did at so many levels. When I
became a board member, I saw the incredible work that Jean has been doing at
her school. I would have never known
that if I had not had this role.
I have had the opportunity to
visit with Jean on several occasions and discuss with her the importance of her
role with all students. I absolutely
love her passion for working with students who aren’t always successful in
school and her willingness to understand why.
She truly cares about all children and does everything in her power to
make sure that all children have access to all services and everything a junior
high has to offer.
I know from our many
conversations how much Jean cares about the success of all students and how
much she does to insure that each and every student has the opportunity to be
successful.
Jean values the input of her
school psychologists and supports them totally. I know this to be a fact because we have had
conversations about it. She understands
that all students need social, physical, and mental health support and she is
always there to make sure that this happens.
Her school community, because of
her leadership, is extremely inclusive of all children and her students and
parents support the diversity of needs.
She is continually striving to
make sure that all of her students not only get their academic needs met, but
also their social/ emotional needs met.
She understands that a child cannot learn unless their basic human needs
are taken care of.
Jean is a role model to other
principals. In my interactions with
district principals, I have found that Jean is so well respected. What I admire the most about her, is that
she never draws attention to herself.
She just goes to school every day and does the very best she can do for
all of her students.
During my campaign for GPS Board,
I got to know a number of Desert Ridge parents. Most of them have students who do well
academically. What impressed me the
most was that these parents love that Jean includes all students. These parents appreciate that she is an
advocate for all children. I heard over
and over again that she includes each and every child. That doesn’t always happen with parents of
children who are high achievers.
Sometimes these parents can be critical of special needs programs and
children. But the fact that Jean has instilled
in her community acceptance and inclusiveness of all students speaks volumes in
my opinion.
I absolutely believe that Jean is
more than worthy of this incredible honor.
I hope that your association will bestow this award to her. I will say it again, to me, this is the
greatest award I ever received and I can’t think of anyone more deserving than
Jean Woods.
I give her my highest
recommendation. Please feel free to call
me at 520 368 2700 should you need any more information. Jean truly cares about all children and she
gives 110% for each and every student at Desert Ridge.. I can’t think of a
better administrator anywhere who deserves this honor more than Jean.
Thank you for your time in
reading this. I know that Jean will make
your association proud at so many levels.
Respectfully,
Sheila Rogers
GPS Governing Board President
46 Years as an Educator
What touched me the most was Jean's acceptance speech. She acknowledged all of the administrators, parents and her family who was there. But she ended it with what I had said to her and how much it meant to her.
I loved getting this award because it speaks to working with ALL children of ALL abilities. And there is no one more deserving than Jean. She is so humble and just does her job.
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