SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, TX—Tonight, SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Independent SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ District and SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Partners in Education paid tribute to teaching excellence at Salute, an annual event recognizing exceptional teachers and staff members throughout the district. Among the top honors presented were AISD Principal of the Year, AISD Teacher of the Year and AISD Classified Staff Member of the Year.
Donna Houser, AISD Principal of the Year, served as an educator in her home state of New Mexico before beginning her career at AISD as the assistant principal at Bowie High SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ in 2001. Three years later, Houser was named the principal at Murchison Middle SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. In 2007, she became the principal at Anderson High SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. During her time at Anderson, the school has been named to Newsweek's and the Washington Post's Top High SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½s in America, recognized by the Texas Business and Education Coalition as one of the Top 20 High SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½s in Texas and named as a Top Ten High SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ in Texas by Children at Risk.
Matt Earhart, AISD Teacher of the Year, teaches five sections of Advancement via Individual Determination and one section of Contemporary Issues at Anderson High SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. During the fall of 2008, Earhart requested to take over the uncertified and dilapidated AVID program. He started from scratch, recruiting a class of incoming freshmen from a feeder middle school, and nearly four years later, the Anderson AVID program has 122 students and plans to expand to 150 students next year.
Matt will serve as the district's nominee for the Texas Teacher of the Year award.
Diana Luna de Valladares, AISD Classified Staff Member of the Year, began her career with AISD in 2008 as a substitute food production specialist. She earned the positions of food production specialist, assistant head custodian and head custodian. Luna de Valladares has worked at Paredes Middle SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, Gorzycki Middle SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, Walnut Creek Elementary and Cunningham Elementary SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. During her time with AISD, she improved the cleaning areas and assignments to better meet the campuses' cleaning needs.
"If our students are the heart of our school system, then educators – teacher, principals and the staff who support them – are the soul," Meria Carstarphen, SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ ISD Superintendent, said. "We salute our top talent in AISD and honor hundreds of our district's finest."
event highlights on our Facebook page. the Superintendent's blog.