District 205 Educators, Volunteers Honored With State Board Award

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 was well represented at the Illinois State Board of Education’s annual Those Who Excel Awards Banquet, held on Oct. 28 in Bloomington-Normal. The district said six individual educators and one team received Awards of Merit and Awards of Recognition.

Jane Bailey, Principal at Conrad Fischer Elementary School, received an Award of Merit in the School Administrator category. Bailey was nominated by Elmhurst Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Moyer. Fischer Elementary features a highly diverse student population and experiences challenges as it relates to English Language students and poverty. According to the district, Bailey works tirelessly for her students and their families. She redesigned Title 1 summer school to ensure a STEM focus and has pushed to ensure access for her students to gifted programming.

Julie Deely and Margaret Rask, co-chairs of the Churchville Charge Amazing Race event, received the Award of Merit in the Team category. They were nominated by Gina Sandler Collons, an English teacher at Churchville Middle School. The Churchville Charge Amazing Race team consisted of parents of Churchville students. The district said together, they raised over $11,000 for Churchville Middle School last year through the planning and execution of this event. This event follows the Amazing Race style, sending teams of four all over Elmhurst on a scavenger hunt-type adventure. The event generated buzz around town, attracted corporate sponsors and raised money for the Churchville PTA, which, in turn, uses the funds to support Churchville students and teachers.

Donna Dewar, the librarian at Conrad Fischer Elementary School, received an Award of Merit in the Student Support Personnel category. Dewar was nominated by Sharon Emmi-Iovinelli, Instructional Coach at Fischer Elementary. The district said Dewar is described as the “core of Fischer school.” She is constantly striving to inspire a love for reading in every child. She has developed a bookmobile program, started summer reading incentives and opens the library to students during the summertime. Dewar works tirelessly, nights, weekends and throughout the summer, to make sure students and teachers have the resources that they need.

Sharon Emmi-Iovinelli, an instructional coach at Conrad Fischer Elementary School, received an Award of Merit in the Classroom Teacher category. She was nominated by Fischer Principal Jane Bailey. According to the district, Emmi-Iovinelli was an English Language teacher at Churchville Middle School for two years before taking on her current position at Fischer. Emmi-Iovinelli advocates for the needs of diverse learners and finds appropriate Spanish materials so that students can learn at high levels. She is a life-long learner, and continually finds results of new research and studies to implement in Fischer’s classrooms.

Dianne Schiltz, educational assistant at Bryan Middle School, received an Award of Recognition in the Educational Service Personnel category. Schiltz was nominated by Bobby Fisher, an Instructional Special Education Teacher at Bryan. Schiltz works with students with behavior concerns or learning disabilities. According to her nomination, she is flexible, warm and welcoming, and goes above and beyond for her students. She develops relationships with each student and ensures each one has the support they need to keep up with the academic rigor of the school day.

Karen Stezowski, a District 205 parent and long-time PTA volunteer, received the Award of Merit in the Community Volunteer category. She was nominated by Linda Fehrenbacher, Principal of Sandburg Middle School. Stezowski has served as PTA President for Edison Elementary and Sandburg Middle School, spending countless hours researching, planning and implementing programs to help all students. The district said she developed the National Geographic Traveling Map program, arranged for a NASA astronaut to Skype with Sandburg students and led Career Day for Sandburg students.

Finally, Cindy Villalobos, a bilingual math teacher at Churchville Middle School, received an Award of Recognition in the Early Career Educator category. She was nominated by Gina Pogue Reeder, Principal of Churchville Middle School. The district said Villalobos is only in her second year of teaching, but has already established herself as a school leader. She advocates for biliteracy and STEM education for Latino students. Her students have limited English proficiency and a wide variety of math skills. While she works diligently with them in the classroom, her efforts outside the classroom are what make her an exceptional teacher. She is passionate about exposing her students to higher education and career planning opportunities and takes them to York to learn about future activities and coursework.

The D205 Board of Education honored all the award recipients at its Nov. 14 meeting, thanking them for their service and for representing District 205 in the Those Who Excel recognition program.

Photo provided by District 205.