A Tribute to Educators, Support Staff and Volunteers

Each year Cochise County has an awards dinner celebrating teachers around Cochise County. Douglas Unified always has three teachers up for awards because we are one of the biggest districts in the county.   We have an elementary teacher, a middle school teacher, and a high school teacher submitted as nominees.    My first year as superintendent, I felt that we should honor the teachers who were nominated from each school at a reception.  In addition, I thought it would be nice to honor an administrator.  So we had a very nice evening honoring these wonderful people.  

Last year, we added a support staff employee and parent volunteer from each school for our Douglas ceremony.  It was a very nice reception held at the Douglas Visitor's Center.  One of our academic coaches, Ken Cormier, did all of the work for the reception and everything was great.

What I didn't think about was all of the support staff who are at the District level.  So this year, we added an employee from food services, district, maintenance, transportation, etc.  Ken and his crew really out did themselves.  Ken had a catered dinner at the Knights of Columbus Hall last Thursday to honor all of these wonderful people who do so much for the students in our District.  

What an incredible evening it was!!!  I was so proud to be a part of this ceremony for so many reasons.   There are so many dedicated employees here in Douglas who truly want what is best for our kids.  And they do this without the compensation that they deserve.

Our Governing Board President, Mike Ortega, gave out the awards. Two of our Board Members helped us in congratulating the honorees.  They were Patty Lopez and Natalio Sabal. 

Ken had local merchants donate gift certificates.  They ranged from $25 Walmart cards to a free oil change.   He is an amazing person and he gets his entire family to help with this event.  What a great human being he is!!  I am  privileged to work with him.

This quote is a familiar one, but I think a powerful one.  It sums up our evening last week.  So many people in attendance that night embody what this quote states.

One hundred years from now,
It won't matter what car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in,
How much I had in my bank account,
Nor what my clothes looked like,
But, the world may be a little better
Because I was important in the life of a child.