eSchool Media is happy to announce the three winners of the eSchool Information Okay-12 Hero Awards: Dr. Ann Hughes, Director of Scholar Intervention for Sanger ISD in Texas; Kim Leblanc, Chief Expertise Officer for Calcasieu Parish Faculty Board in Louisiana; and Daniel Olivas, Community Analyst at Austin Unbiased Faculty District in Texas.
Winners have been chosen for his or her dedication to schooling throughout and within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, their creativity and innovation in serving to all college students proceed studying whereas making certain college students felt protected, empowered, and engaged.
The Okay-12 Hero Awards Program, sponsored this 12 months by JAR Techniques and SAP Concur, acknowledges the devoted efforts of schooling professionals throughout Okay-12 departments, together with IT, curriculum, instruction and administration.
Nominations have been judged by a panel of schooling specialists, together with Laura Ascione, eSchool Information editorial director, Kevin Hogan, eSchool Information editor-at-large, and Eileen Belastock, CETL, Belastock Consulting.
Right here’s a have a look at every winner:
Dr. Ann Hughes, Director of Scholar Intervention, Sanger ISD, nominated by Ripple Results
Ann’s college students battle with myriad challenges, together with points equivalent to melancholy, hyperactivity problems, and anger. Troubled college students continuously come to Linda Tutt from different districts within the state as a final resort. In brief, Ann’s program is the final hope to get these children heading in the right direction.
Ann has restricted assets, each from a funding and personnel perspective. Nevertheless, she meets these challenges holistically and creatively. She stops college students every day to interact in significant conversations about their lives. She faucets into applications like Ripple Results for Teenagers, which has modules that tackle a variety of points together with psychological well being, private trauma, and educational challenges. Ann has designated particular person rooms all through campus devoted to giving college students house to regroup. There’s a Motion Room to work off extra power and a Chill Out Room for rest. Music, yoga, and dance are different key parts she incorporates to achieve her college students.
To fill the gaps in funding and personnel assets, Ann has spearheaded neighborhood partnerships with native church buildings and charities, which give counseling assist not accessible in school. These collaborations have resulted in college students honing their agriculture abilities at neighborhood gardens and studying the best way to run a enterprise by way of a nonprofit grocery retailer.
Kim Leblanc, Chief Expertise Officer, Calcasieu Parish Faculty Board, nominated by Bluum
Typical knowledge would say that economically-disadvantaged faculties throughout the nation would wish to assume twice earlier than making a significant funding in know-how. Nevertheless, not all districts in that predicament have a know-how director like Kim Leblanc. Calcasieu Parish Faculty Board serves 29,500 college students throughout 60 faculties. It’s a one hundred pc CEP district, which signifies that each scholar is eligible without cost lunch primarily based on the financial poverty knowledge submitted to the federal authorities.
Laura Ascione is the Editorial Director at eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the College of Maryland’s prestigious Philip Merrill Faculty of Journalism.
