Teacher Appreciation Week, Golden Apple awards and a trip to Post High
Teacher Appreciation Week, Golden Apple awards and a trip to Post High

Happy Friday, everyone! Teachers, I hope you are having a wonderful teacher appreciation week! 

Congratulations to all of our ACPS Golden Apple Awards winners and to all winners across our Charlottesville and Albemarle area! The 42 golden apple winners represent the best of the thousands of teachers in our community. And what a tribute to our educators for the Golden Apple committee to receive more than 1,100 nominations this year. ACPS teachers, your  community loves you, as well they should.

 

I am very grateful to our students and staff at Post High School for a terrific visit on Monday. I sat in on two classes where staff were working on important life skills for all of us to master. In one class, students were planning a camping trip and contemplating different items needed, how much they would cost, whether they have enough money on hand, and how much change they would receive. In another space, students were working on calendars, estimating days until particular events. At one point, Ms. Jobe pointed out upcoming Mother’s Day this Sunday, which turned into a lively discussion. They also projected days into the future when they would be taking a field trip to the downtown mall! I enjoyed meeting students and talking with them about their plans for the day. 

A shout out to all the Post High staff: Dianne Gobbie, Sarah Barker, Davlisha Curry, Rebecca Tichner, Sherry Blane, Michelle Dowell, Lindsay Jobe, Candy Taberner, Bill Briesemeister, and Haley Keefover. Thank you for your great work, and thank you for having me to visit! 

Speaking of great work, I also want to thank the AHS cafeteria for allowing me to visit and work in the kitchen for a few hours on Tuesday. Plus, I had a great student lunch: a delicious chicken burrito. The students crowded the lunch line where the freshly prepared meal was served. Cafeteria Manager Jenn Czarnecki and her team, Pamela Lockhart, Sylvia Jones, Wendy Chaffee, Faye Sullivan, Joyce Kinney, and Cyndy Caughron, were making lunches based on student choices, and I could see the appreciation on students’ faces as they interacted with the staff. Ms. Czarnecki asked that I give a special shout out to their building services support, John Pasanen, who has made several improvements to their kitchen space. 

 

Here are some media links for you! 

The 21st annual Golden Apple Awards were held on Tuesday.  A total of 27 division educators were honored as well as nine teachers from the city and six from private schools in the county or city. The ceremony was live-streamed and you can view the event using this link:

Golden Apple Awards 

A new non-profit organization, Families Helping Families, visited our schools this week to thank our teachers for their incredible service.  Here's a NBC-29 story on the these visits and our own video tribute to our teachers:

 Albemarle County Nonprofit Giving Back to Teachers All Week

 ACPS Teacher Appreciation

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.  Students at Western Albemarle have been creative in their support for one another as described in this news coverage and in our own video report:

Service Dogs Assisting Students Through Exams

Mental Health Awareness Month

One of our School Board members, Ellen Osborne, who represents the Scottsville Magisterial District, recently appeared on TV to talk about our newly-formed Public School Foundation and its ability to strengthen our relationships with community partners:

NBC 29 Community Conversation

 

Upcoming Observances