Valley View's Debbie Fox is VFW Teacher of the Year

Jonas Salk Elementary School (Bolingbrook) teacher Debbie Fox receives the Voice of Democracy Teacher of the Year Award from Robert Adame, Commander of Bolingbrook Post 5917, VFW. Submitted by Valley View School District.

Jonas Salk Elementary School 2nd Grade Challenge teacher Debbie Fox has been named Teacher of the Year by the Bolingbrook Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Fox, who received her “Voice of Democracy” award during special ceremonies in New Lenox, was recognized for her efforts to educate her students about citizenship and government.

“I was very surprised. It was an honor,” said Fox, who is retiring in June after teaching at five different VVSD schools, including the past 10 years at Jonas Salk. “It’s always nice to be recognized for things you’ve done.”

Among those things is an annual class trip to Bolingbrook Village Hall to meet with Mayor Roger Claar and take a tour of village facilities. It’s all part of the communities portion of the social studies curriculum.

“We teach about branches of government. It’s not really part of our general 2nd grade curriculum, but I make sure it’s part of the gifted curriculum,” Fox said. “We make a little booklet to teach them about the different branches of government so they know who our governor is, who our mayor is, who our president is and about our Congress.”

In addition, every year her students break into groups and pretend they are members of a city council in a town that has just been hit by a tornado.

“Fifty of their town’s families have lost their homes and they have to come up with something to help those families,” Fox said. “Most of them come up with some pretty solid solutions.”

Veteran’s Day is also special for Mrs. Fox who sends home forms for students to fill out with information on family members who have served in the military.

“I’ve had a form come back about someone who was in the Civil War. Some of them tell us about medals they’ve received. It’s really interesting,” she said. “We even have a place for people who served other countries like Mexico, the Philippines, whatever.”

As a local winner, Fox could is eligible for the VFW statewide “Voice of Democracy” competition.