Newsletter 2020 Issue 5

VSBA Recognition Awards

The VSBA has three recognition programs that school boards and school board members may apply for each year. Please review the below information for a description of each award and a link to the nomination forms.

To be considered by the judges, the official nomination form and supporting materials for each of the award programs must be received by July 17, 2020.

To learn more about each of these awards, and for the nomination forms, please visit the links below.

What is your pie-in-the-sky vision for education?

I would love to see all new school facilities with the most up-to-date technology available to all students. I would like to see schools serve three meals a day to all students free of charge. Also, I would like to see teachers have access to all the curriculum and desires for their instruction.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as a school board member?

I listen to the people in my district and endeavor to handle their concerns. We have put in new bleachers at Tazewell High School.  Also, in the best interest of the elementary students, two schools that were 2 miles apart were designated as Primary and Intermediate.

What is your advice for new school board members?

I would advise new board members to attend all the VSBA trainings they can, network with other board members in the state, be involved in their community, learn the budget, and be open and available to listen to their students, teachers, parents, and community members.

Was there a teacher or administrator that had a lasting effect on your life?

My first administrator, Mr. Claude Reedy, was an awesome inspiration to me. Mr. Reedy shared his knowledge and guidance from his many years of experience and taught me the importance of building relationships with your students and their parents. He gave me the freedom to use "out-of-the box" instructional techniques with my students and helped me gain the confidence I needed to become the best teacher and administrator I could.

What do you feel is the best benefit of being a member of the VSBA?

The VSBA offers many training opportunities to help learn about developing a budget and the many aspects of being a strong school board member. They also give constant updates on "hot topics" and legal aspects of the school system. The VSBA staff is always very open,friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable of any topics in the school system and offer you help and guidance as a board member. The networking with other board members is beneficial.

How do you define advocacy?

Advocacy is the act of speaking on the behalf of or in support of another person or group of people. School Boards are advocates of their students, teachers, and school staff.

What made you want to get involved in advocacy?

I wanted to bring about positive support and changes to the school system. I love my community and the people in my county. I wanted to share my knowledge of 35 years in education and show support to the schools, teachers, students, staff, and community.

Advocacy can be intimidating to some people. What advice do you have for them on ways to gradually become more engaged in advocacy?

Listening and questioning skills are very important, along with decision making skills and inter-personal communication skills.  The need to work collaboratively with others is also a great need. Self-evaluation of these skills and work on them one at a time to master them.

What is the most challenging aspect of advocacy and how do you work to overcome it?

Issues can be identified that need advocacy; however, it is more difficult to develop solutions, build support for the issue to be solved, and then bring about the change that needs to come to solve the identified issue.

In rural Southside Virginia, Kenbridge Elementary School (KES) is unique in many ways. One thing that stands out here is a pervading sense that students have a voice, and they are heard by teachers and administrators. KES also has a student population in which almost 30% of the students have English as their second language and Spanish as their first language. 

Ricky Ramirez-Morales, a fifth-grade student, wanted to help his teachers and the staff at KES gain Spanish language skills to help them better communicate with Spanish speaking families. He decided to offer to stay after-school to teach a Spanish class to the staff. When he approached the staff at KES, they were overjoyed at the idea of the students staying after one day a week to teach Spanish to the teachers and staff. He proposed that he and 3 other Spanish speaking students would act as the teachers for the after-school program. Ricky, the mastermind behind all of this, is one of the most self-motivated students you will find anywhere. He is also one of the driving forces behind the newly-formed student council at KES.

After getting approvals and parental permission, everything was set up for classes to start on Tuesday, November 5, 2019. There are four Spanish speaking students who serve as Spanish teachers, Ricky Ramirez-Morales, Dina Ramirez-Diaz, Leandro Ramirez-Macario, and Damaris Tomas-Perez. These students are remarkable in so many ways. Each of them is in good academic standing, acts regularly as a translator for adults and children, and is always willing to help KES staff and their peers. Two of these students, being elected by their peers and recommended by their teachers, also serve as members of the KES Student Council. For the after-school Spanish program, they have come up with lesson plans, including flashcards and games. They also use Kahoot as a fun way to quiz the class participants and manage a Google Classroom with ongoing assignments and resources. KES staff has been amazed at the seriousness, professionalism, and integrity with which they address teaching a class full of adults. They are inspiring, and often model teaching strategies used by some of their most influential teachers. 

In the creation of their assignments and essential curriculum development, the Spanish teachers (KES students) focused on words and phrases that would be important in KES staff’s frequent communication with Spanish speaking families. For example, they modeled telephone call interactions and covered important phrases that would allow KES staff to communicate that a student at school was sick and needed to be picked up. Because many of the younger Spanish speaking students at KES come understanding very little English, they provided staff with ways to tell students to walk instead of run, to not play in the bathroom, and many other direction-type of phrases to help with behavior management. They were thoughtful in their design and implementation of instruction, being considerate of the day to day communication needs of the KES staff members. KES staff attendance in the afterschool program has ranged from 10-15 participants at most meetings and even more on specific dates. This has been an engaging and beneficial experience for the students who became teachers as well as the KES staff who became students.

Kenbridge Elementary School is one of two elementary schools in the Lunenburg County Public Schools.

VSBA Affiliate Member Profiles

In each Issue of the VSBA Newsletter, we will feature three VSBA Affiliate Members.

Thank you for your support of the VSBA and Virginia's public education system.

Visit https://www.vsba.org/resources/affiliates/affiliate_member_program/ for a complete list of VSBA's Affiliate Members.