Teachers

Five Washington County Public Schools teachers were recognized Tuesday night for earning National Board Certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The certification is the highest credential for teaching and is a rigorous program that can take three years to achieve, Interim Schools Superintendent Stan Schaub said. The five teachers were presented Golden Apple Awards during Tuesday night’s school board meeting at the central office off Commonwealth Avenue.

The Chambersburg Area School Board met with its teachers' union for about two hours Wednesday night, but still could not come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement. The district and the Chambersburg Area Education Association released a joint statement after the meeting that said both sides have "reached tentative agreements on all issues with the exception of salary and benefits, and progress was made on these issues as well. " The sides have released joint statements previously, but still failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.

How is a teacher supposed to hold kids' attention in these days of slapdash diversions and limited attention spans? Why, you dress up in a banana costume, of course. At least that's one of what we suspect are many ways Boonsboro second-grade teacher Christina Hammer-Atkins is able to keep her audience riveted. For her efforts, Hammer-Atkins was named Washington County Teacher of the Year this week, which, big picture, is probably one of the most important awards a county can give.

I don't know how it's done now, but when I was entering fourth grade in my New Jersey elementary school, we didn't find out which teacher's class we'd be in until the first day of school. The student body assembled in the auditorium/gymnasium/lunchroom. The situation was a bit stressful in any school year, but especially so in that one. There were a couple of fourth-grade teachers, but everybody wanted Miss Primavera. (A little girl whose name was not in Miss P's roll book was so disappointed that she went to the girls' room, climbed out the window and ran home.)

Waynesboro Area School District teachers have scheduled a rally Tuesday night before the regularly scheduled school board meeting. The teachers union, Waynesboro Area Education Association, and school board have been negotiating a teachers' contract since January 2010. The teachers will rally at 6:40 p.m. “to express our frustration that the process has taken so long and that the board refuses to meet with us unless we give in to their demands,” according to a WAEA statement.

The personal work of art teachers from Washington County Public Schools will be on display from Friday to March 1 at the Washington County Arts Council, 14 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown. “The Art Educators of Washington County” show will open with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday. More than 30 teachers will be participating in the show, displaying works ranging from paintings to sculptures.

Kaplan University-Hagerstown and Washington County Public Schools recently signed an alliance agreement offering a 30 percent tuition reduction on graduate certificates and master's degree programs in education, including Master of Science in Education and Master of Science in Education in Instructional Technology. Eligible teachers pursuing degrees unrelated to education will receive a 10 percent tuition reduction, according to a news release from Kaplan. “We are excited to partner with Washington County Public Schools to provide a flexible option for classroom teachers looking to further their education and advance their careers, while providing face-to-face, locally based support services,” Chris Motz, president of Kaplan University-Hagerstown, said in the release.

Put 1,100 teenagers in one room and what do you get? Energy, enthusiasm and excitement! Put 110 teachers in one room and what do you get? Suggestions, instructions and commands. Last weekend I attended the Capital District Key Club convention in Baltimore with a great group of area youth. We heard motivational speakers, learned about service projects, attended workshops, considered candidates' platforms and elected new district leaders. It was as close to a political convention — minus the politics — that these kids will get at this age. The weekend was educational and fun, if not just a tad bit exhausting.

In observation of September as National Emergency Preparedness Month, the Washington County Emergency Management Office is partnering with Washington County Public Schools to distribute tote bags filled with preparedness materials and resources for elementary school teachers. Schools receiving the materials are Cascade, Conococheague, Fountaindale, Fountain Rock, Funkstown, Greenbrier, Hickory and Winter Street. The information teachers are receiving will serve a dual purpose.

For three hours Monday, taxpayers grilled the Tuscarora School Board in sometimes heated debate about why some expenditures were considered when nine teachers faced job cuts. A number of taxpayers spoke out against the need for laptop computers for high school freshmen when teachers are facing the budget ax in order to balance the district budget. “Why do we need to provide every student with a laptop when we’re talking about cutting teaching positions?” asked James Buchanan High School 11th-grader Kevin McIntyre.

Ayako Shiga, Washington County Teacher of the Year and member of the Boonsboro High School faculty, spoke to the Rotary Club of Long Meadows on April 22. Shiga, who teaches Japanese, is a native of Tokyo. During her speech she explained that as a high school student she competed and qualified for a spot in the Rotary Youth Exchange student program. The Rotary program brought her to the United States and she enjoyed the experience to the degree that she decided to make the U.S. her new home.

“How does one go about arranging a green burial in this county? My husband and I would like that option when we die. Cremation is against our religion, and we are opposed to embalming, metal caskets and concrete vaults for environmental reasons. All we want when we die is a simple wood coffin and burial in the earth, so our bodies can return to Mother Nature properly - none of this eternal preservation business. ... Anyone have any information on the subject?” - Boonsboro “I am an independent, but was Democrat for many years.

Michael “Mike” Gouker of Hagerstown has known since his early years that art would be a part of his life. “Art was the thing growing up that I could do the best. It was my interest. I told my sixth-grade teacher I wanted to teach art,” Gouker said. The retired art teacher and professional artist has been honing his craft since childhood and keeps looking for new venues for exposure. About three years ago, Gouker submitted a drawing of a sunburst to CBS “Sunday Morning” hosted by Charles Osgood.

One of two men charged in Monday's armed robbery of the Washington County Teachers Federal Credit Union on Virginia Avenue robbed it three years earlier, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Circuit Court records. Cruz Daniel Maldonado, 21, of 398 Bryan Place in Hagerstown, pleaded guilty in January 2011 to the April 19, 2010, robbery of the credit union, Washington County Circuit Court records show. Judge W. Kennedy Boone III, now retired, sentenced him to 15 years in prison, but suspended 10 years, court records say. Maldonado was released from prison in November, according to Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

As a teacher, I have had to deal with parents who feel their children have been slighted in some way. It is my goal to treat every concern as if it is legitimate. Sometimes parents just need someone to vent to, and a teacher seems like a logical choice. Think about it. Few people spend more time with a child or a teen than the teachers who instruct him or her on a daily basis. There are perhaps some days that I spend more time with my students than their parents do. Hopefully, I am getting to know these young people and can sense if something is wrong.

The term “globalization,” as it is currently understood, has not been around all that long. Today, we don't flinch if our X-rays are read, real time, by a doctor in India. But a decade ago it would have been the stuff of fiction. It is fitting in several ways that Japanese language teacher Ayako Shiga was named Washington County Teacher of the Year for 2013-14. The Boonsboro teacher was honored Wednesday during a ceremony at Fountain Head Country Club before an audience of 170 people.

Martinsburg South Middle School teacher Jeremy Anne Knight's attempt to avoid taking up the family profession only led her back into the fold. “I came from a family of teachers, so I thought I was sure of the one thing I wasn't going to do,” said Knight, who was recently named the 2013 middle school Mathematics Teacher of the Year by the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Knight, 47, said she had to join the U.S. Army to figure out that teaching was in fact her professional calling in life after all. “I ran away from it,” said Knight, who grew up on Long Island, N.Y. At the University of Virginia, she was in the Army ROTC Cavalier Battalion and enlisted as an officer upon graduating with a degree in English.

Grants to teachers in Franklin County public schools will be awarded to encourage the innovative use of technology in kindergarten through 12th grade. The Greater Chambersburg Chamber Foundation, an affiliate of the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce, is offering the Innovative Technology Challenge Grants to educators in all six school districts. The deadline for applications is June 28. Applicants will be evaluated based on three key criteria: innovation, value added to curriculum and advanced academics.

Ayako Shiga, the Japanese language teacher at Boonsboro High School, was named Washington County Public Schools' 2013-14 Teacher of the Year on Wednesday night. “I truly feel honored to accept this award on behalf of all the teachers - hard-working, wonderful teachers of Washington County Public Schools. Thank you very much,” Shiga told the crowd of about 170 people at the Fountain Head Country Club. Shiga, 35, of Chambersburg, Pa., was one of five finalists for the award, which is sponsored by the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

A teacher at Highland View Academy in Hagerstown is among 27 science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, educators who were selected for the 2013-14 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program, according to the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education. Ophelia Barizo will serve at the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering, Emerging Frontiers in Research Innovation Division, under the guidance of Rosemarie Wesson. Selected educators will serve in Washington, D.C., for 11 months, beginning Sept.