Joe Dicaprio and Melanie Bennett

Mel Bennett has been in the district for over 15 years as an elementary school counselor. Mel not only meets with all of the student who are on her daily caseload, but also reaches out or opens her door up to any child that would like to talk with her. Mrs. Bennett loves to take the kids on lunch breaks, trips and surprises them with small token of her appreciation for their self-control and perseverance in class.

Mrs. Bennett is not only our school social worker, but she has spread her love and caring nature around the Hamilton community. She is constantly going to apts or shopping for many of our families and no only during the holidays. Mel ha gone above and beyond with her hard work and dedication for our attendance initiatives, making many house calls and phone calls throughout the week.

Mrs. Bennett heads up and organizes our weekly backpack program and will very often collect food for our local parishes and food pantries. The children and families just adore Mrs. Bennett and everything she has to offer as she is truly selfless.

Tricia Bennett and Chad Sitts

Mrs. Bennett works tirelessly to ensure all students have the opportunity to feel successful while in her 3rd grade classroom. It is evident by just walking into Mrs. Bennett's room that she works hard to employ student voice and ensure that her students feel a sense of pride and belonging while in her room. This is truly evident by the work that Mrs. Bennett has put into work with a student and family that came to Howe from another building. This student had a history of elopement due to not being able to trust those around him, as well as not finding a sense of belonging. Through the tireless efforts of Mrs. Bennett and others, the student no longer elopes from her room and now can be seen working with Mrs. Bennett and the class on gap filling instead of running through the building. The dedication in tis one example is what Mrs. Bennett shows to every student and family that walks through her door and the doors of Howe Elementary.

Mary Jo Homenick and Desmond O'Connor

Mrs. Homenick is the first teacher in the door in the morning and often the last to leave. She is dedicated to the academic and social emotional growth of her students and even spends every lunch and recess with them. Visit her classroom and you will see active students engaged in passionate instruction in a beautifully crafted learning environment.

Kristin Munrett and Asha Evans

Asha supports children where they are at both academically and emotionally. she has co-crated a peer mentoring program called Big & Little Bros and Sis'. She facilitates weekly meetings with this group where students support and encourage each other to come to school and try their best.

Asha has brought the Princess in Me program to MLK where young ladies meet weekly to build relationships, work on their own self-esteem, and become positive role models. This carries over into the classrooms where students have the confidence to take academic risks and grow.

Asha has had a major impact on the way the staff supports children who are dysregulated and/or need an adult to assist them with a problem. this has helped get students what they need in an efficient manner then back to class learning as quickly as possible. Asha pushes into classrooms and teaches, assists, and supports teachers and students with the SEL curriculum.

Asha created MLK's mascot, Luther the Lion, and dresses as Luther to amp up the school spirit during our monthly Academic Awards assemblies.

Mrs. Evans goes above and beyond to support students, staff and families. She epitomizes the Community School mindset bringing in community members as Arts in Ed coordinator as well as organizing and hosting Adult Mentors from GE. She ensure the performers not only enhance the curriculum but they are also representatives of the students in our building. She is a true champion of students and graduate success

Dr. Patrick Jean-Pierre and Kheeshwattie Narine

Kheeshwattie Narine is dedicated. She gives 100% and beyond all the time. She is the educator every teacher, parent, and student needs. A beautiful human being that cultivates love and genius every day.

Jennifer is a dedicated 4th grade teacher at Pleasant Valley who holds high expectations for all of her students. She is calm and creates an inclusive environment in her classroom. Each year she crates a classroom where students feel safe physically, socially, and emotionally and can focus on instruction. Jen attends professional development sessions in order to improve her practice. She engages in data meetings and is willing to execute short and long-term improvement cycles in her classroom.

Tonya Delamater and Michelle Battaglia

Michelle is on the ARBLT, is a leader in intervention and enrichment services and demonstrates consistent pursuit to improving our student outcomes as well as hearing their voice.

Elicia Ashley-Williams and Kerri Messler

Elicia Ashley Williams (AKA Mrs. Williams) works tirelessly to ensure that her students, regardless of face, economic level, and ability find success and thrive physically, socially, and emotionally. She engages in our PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycles with an open mind and willingness to push er first graders to achieve mastery. Ms. Williams embraces change, questions and wonders how best to meet her students' needs, and advocates for her students while uplifting her colleagues and their work. She is a quiet change agent that will continuously reflect and adjust to ensure she is meeting the needs of ALL of her students. She has fully embraced Restorative Circles as a tier I practice and her first grade community of scholars reflects this genuine connection every day.

Terrance Sloan and Kristen Olochnowicz

Kristen has been putting together monthly celebrations for students of the month, cased on academic and social/emotional goals. Mrs. Olchnowicz every day is advocating for students to achieve their best and to meet their goals. In her role in AIS, she works closely with the student and their teacher to ensure students make academic growth by getting the support they need. Also, she helps students find their voice in choir and will be building a drama program from the ground based on student requests to have a one act play. She is an amazing educator and colleague who champions student success in our school community.

Rob Flanders and Meg Jordan

Joining Yates School this past summer, Megan immediately worked with all staff to train and support the use of trauma-sensitive strategies. She worked to infuse curriculum into all classrooms so students could feel safe physically, socially, and emotionally so that they can attend to learning.

Learning every student by name, Megan has supported each student at Yates to understand the pathways toward high school graduation. Her kind and caring demeanor serves as a model to all staff and students. The students and staff are influenced every day by the positive and professional interaction with Mrs. Jordan. she embodies our mantra: Choose Kind.

Karmen McEvoy and Wilfred Barratt

Will is a great asset to Central Park Middle School. He is a long-time dedicated employee of Schenectady City School District. Will contributes to the district and school community. I have worked in the school district for 28 years and have worked with several custodian over my tenure, but Will stands out from all the others. Will is passionate about his job and Central Park Middle School. He goes above and beyond to make sure the building is always ready for our students and staff. Will is the head custodian at Central Park Middle School. He is not just a custodian. He is part of the community.

Mr. Barratt goes above and beyond what is expected of him daily. Mr. Barratt arrives early and stays late just about every day. Willis proactive, always lookg for ways to improve and enhance Central Park. He wants to make the building a place where or kids want to be and take pride. Last spring will bought flowers and planted them in front of the building. He took his own time to maintain them, coming in on the weekends to water and check on them. When we had water coming into several classrooms due to flooding, he would come back at night to check on the classroom. He also came in several times during the weekend just to make sure the classroom was alright and that there was no flooding. Mr. Barratt is very mindful about the appearance of CPMS. I am honored to have him as a custodian.

Tony Farina and Kathleen Pickett

Ms. Pickett is an 18-year veteran of Schenectady City School District. She is currently teaching Math 7 and Math 7 Accelerated at Oneida Middle School. She mentored, supervised student teachers, and coached colleagues in different teaching strategies to reach all children. Her door is always open for her students as she makes strong connections with them. Her students feel safe physically, socially, and emotionally in her classroom. This allows them to learn and to improve their sense of belonging. She integrates students' interests into her lessons which makes math class interesting and fun. She consistently strives to improve as evident by her improving proficiency rate. Ms. Pickett is a role model for her colleagues and her students. This is the reason why I am selecting Kathleen Pickett for the Student and Graduate Success award.

Nicole Biette and Sarah Karl

Sarah Karl's team, the Eagles, has piloted a program for their team called, "Do Work, Do Well." They created this program and run it during their assigned support period. Students are scheduled to meet with them and engage in goal-setting to improve their academic outcomes. It is a large undertaking that includes all of the best practices relation to increasing graduation rates: partnering with students, partnering with families, short and long-term goal setting, providing students with a single point of contact for academics. etc.

Meghann Novak, Dennis Green and Bethany Dexter

Meghann Novak and Bethany Dexter come as a pair and they run our SD-Flex room which used to be our mental health room. The support they provide for our students both educationally, emotionally, and socially have allowed many of our most trauma impacted students and those that struggle historically, a pathway to a Regents diploma. their passion and compassion allow them to engage positively with students while providng rigor academically with support.

Gregory Fields and Cassandra Williams

Cassandra Williams goes above and beyond her job description to develop relationships with both parents and students to encourage that the families focus on the student success and graduation. She provides basic information about requirements and resources along with anecdotes about her parenting experiences before referring parents and students to the appropriate staff member. Families trust her; thus they seek out her advice.

Susan Steciak and Jesse Roylance

Sue has been at Washington Irving Educational Center since 2016 when the OASIS anxiety program was created. Prior to this program, students identified with severe anxiety were almost completely unsuccessful in all of their courses, Regents exams and had a 0% graduation rate. Mrs. Steciak helped create and maintain an environment where students feel connected to their classroom family, embrace the therapeutic programming with the social worker, and has championed and resulted in almost 100% student graduation rate. The testimonials from parents would bring tears to your eyes for not only are her students successful in their academics, their social and emotional growth has also dramatically improved.