Category Archives: Education

Biden names Dr. Miguel Cardona as new Secretary of Education

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President-Elect Joe Biden has chosen his new Secretary of Education. The nominee is Dr. Miguel Cardona, a professional educator from Connecticut.  (Photo credit: Associated Press)

President-Elect Joe Biden has named his new Secretary of Education. The nominee is Dr. Miguel Cardona, a professional educator from Connecticut. During his campaign, Biden had pledged to select a schoolteacher to serve as his education secretary. Dr. Cardona fits the category, starting his career nearly two decades ago as an elementary school teacher in Connecticut before becoming a principal. Since August, 2019, he has served as his state’s top education official.

Dr. Cardona is a product of public schools. In fact, when he started school, a kid from the projects in Meriden, Connecticut, he was unable to speak English. But succeeding in school was important to young Miguel. He graduated from Wilcox Technical High School. In 1997, he earned his Bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University. He completed his Master’s degree in Bilingual/Bicultural Education, and he also completed a program in Administrator Preparation, his Doctorate in Education, and a certificate in the Executive Leadership Program.

Dr. Cardona has worked as a dedicated public school teacher, an administrator, and the parent of students in public schools. In 1998, he inaugurated his career as an educator when he accepted a position as a fourth grade teacher. By the time he was 28, Dr. Cardona became the youngest principal in the state before working his way up the ladder to Assistant Superintendent of the district. In August, 2019, just months before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in March, Dr. Cardona was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont to the position of Connecticut State Commissioner of Education.

When the state’s schools shifted to remote learning, Dr. Cardona scrambled to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the state so they could study from home. Since then, he has increasingly worked toward the safe reopening of his state’s schools. Now his priority will be returning students back to school safely nationwide.

“He will help us address systemic inequities, tackle the mental health crisis in our education system, give educators a well-deserved raise, ease the burden of education debt, and secure high-quality. universal pre-K for every three and four year old in the country,” declared Biden.

To read more, see this article published online by CNN.

Amanda Harris named South Dakota’s 2020 Teacher of the Year

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Congratulations to Amanda Harris, a fourth grade teacher at Endeavor Elementary in the Harrisburg School District in South Dakota. She has been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: South Dakota State University

Congratulations to Amanda Harris, a fourth grade teacher at Endeavor Elementary in the Harrisburg School District in South Dakota. She has been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 2007 from South Dakota State University, Amanda accepted a position as a third grade teacher with Sioux Falls Catholic Schools. She taught there for two years. She has taught in the Harrisburg School District since 2013.

The honored educator enjoys her work with fourth graders. “Their autonomy draws me in. I love their independence, but they still need that scaffolding on the side,” Amanda says. “I love being able to set them up for success and give them the tools they need and watch them go,” she continued.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Amanda has established several after school clubs at her school, including a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) club and stop-motion movie-making club. She also helped inaugurate a theater company on her campus.

In addition, Amanda has served on curriculum committees in her district, and regularly presents at educator conferences. Harris is a previous recipient of a South Dakota Education Association/National Education Association Educational Innovation Grant.

“The South Dakota Teacher of the Year program is all about celebrating the vital work of educators and their impact on the lives of students,” expressed Ben Jones, South Dakota Secretary of Education.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 2007 from South Dakota State University, Amanda accepted a position as a third grade teacher with Sioux Falls Catholic Schools. She taught there for two years. She has taught in the Harrisburg School District since 2013.

To read more about Amanda, see this story about her published on the website of South Dakota State University.

Alternative school educator Mike Padron succumbs to Covid

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Alternative school educator Mike Padron of Rockford, Illinois, succumbed to Covid on Nov. 19, 2020. He was just 38 years old. Photo credit: Rockford Register Star

With great sadness we report the loss of yet another educator to Covid. Mike Padron, a teacher in Rockford, Illinois, succumbed to the disease on November 19, 2020. He was just 38 years old.

Mike taught at Language Arts at Summit Academy, the alternative school for the Boone-Winnebago Regional School District. Mike’s widow Nikki Padron, who is an elementary school teacher, asserted that her husband dedicated his career to helping Rockford’s “most delicate students.” She said he held his students to the highest standard and championed their progress.

Mike was favorite among his colleagues and students, remembers Scott Bloomquist, the Regional Superintendent of the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education. “Mr. Padron worked hard every day to connect with students and parents, doing all he could to meet their needs. He will forever be remembered as an educator who put students first,” Bloomquist declared.

Mike was born on April 19, 1982. After Mike Padron graduated from Boylan Catholic High School, he earned his degree at Rockford University. He launched his career as an educator at Rockford’s Kennedy Middle School. At the time of his passing, he was teaching Language Arts at Summit Academy. In 2014, MIke was nominated for a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.

To read more about Mike Padron, see this obituary at legacy.com.

Schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer: Pioneer of the Texas Panhandle

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Schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer became known as a pioneer of the Texas Panhandle. Photo credit: Texas State Historical Associatoin

I enjoy sharing stories of intrepid educators who courageously braved the dangers faced by our early pioneers. One of these was schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer, who has often been called a pioneer of the Texas Panhandle.

Mary Ann, who was frequently called Molly, was born September 12, 1839, in Madison County, Tennessee. Her family included prominent lawyers and government officials. When she was just a teenager, her family relocated to Weatherford, Texas. There her parents died, and the young woman was forced to raise her five brothers on her own.

Mary Ann was just a young woman when the Civil War broke out, and the elder two of her brothers enlisted in the Confederate Army. To help support the three younger brothers, Mary Ann accepted a position as a schoolmarm in the local school.

In 1870, the young schoolmarm married Charles Goodnight, a Texas rancher and cattle-driver. After first settling in Colorado, the couple established their Texas Pandhandle ranch, at first living in a sod dugout while Charles built their log house. On the ranch, Mary Ann became a nurse, homemaker, and substitute mother to the cowboys who worked for her husband. She taught them to read, patched their clothes, and hosted parties to entertain them. Over the years that followed, Mary Ann rescued and raised orphaned buffaloes. She helped establish the Goodnight buffalo herd, which became well-known all over the world. Some of her buffalo were crossbred with range cattle to produce a new breed, the “cattalo.” The breed is now known as “buffalo.”

Over time, many more settlers established homes in the Panhandle, building churches, schools, and other organizations. To help educate these newcomers, Mary Ann helped establish Goodnight College in 1898. The college was open until 1917, but closed with the opening of West Texas State Normal College in Canyon, Texas, and Clarendon College in nearby Clarendon, Texas.

Mary Ann (Molly) Dyer passed away on April 11, 1926, in Armstrong County, Texas. She was 86 years old. Her headstone reads “One who spent her whole life in the service of others.” In 1991, this Chalkboard Champion was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

To read more about this amazing teacher and pioneer, see Love Untamed: Romances of the Old West by Jo Ann Chartier and Chris Enss. The volume can be found on amazon.

Educator and community activist Cheryl Chow of Washington State

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Physical Education teacher and community activist Cheryl Chow of Seattle, Washington. Photo credit: The Seattle Times

Many dedicated and talented educators make substantial contributions to their local communities. One of these educators is Cheryl Mayre Chow, a PE teacher from Washington State.

Cheryl was born in Seattle, Washington, on May 24, 1946, the daughter of Chinese restaurant owners Ping and Ruby Chow. As a young teenager, Cheryl graduated from Franklin High School, and then enrolled at Western Washington University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Teaching. Later she earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Management from Seattle University.

Upon her graduation from college, the neophyte educator became a physical education teacher. As a teacher, she was known for her toughness, high standards, and tenacious advocacy for children. Eventually she became a principal of first Sharples Junior High (renamed Aki Kurose Junior High) and then Garfield High.

Cheryl’s devotion to young people is very evident. Among her many achievements, she served as the Assistant Director for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington, a girls’ basketball coach for the city parks and recreation department, and she also directed the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team. “Everything that Cheryl did, she worked to instill leadership among the girls and kind of mentor them for their adult lives,” remembers friend Lorena Eng. In addition to this work, Cheryl helped to form an outreach program for teens involved in Asian street gangs.

Cheryl also served as the President of the Seattle School Board and worked at the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In addition, she served two terms on her local city council.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away from a central nervous system lymphoma on March 29, 2013, at the age of 66. She is interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle. To read more about Cheryl Chow, see this obituary at The Seattle Times.