KP School Committee Exploring Staff Recognition

The King Philip School Committee heard, at their meeting Monday, about possible ways to recognize district staff.

Superintendent Elizabeth Zielinski said the matter was raised at a previous committee meeting.

"A subcommittee got together to talk about it, and there were some good ideas," she said. "One idea was a parking space."

Zielinski, though, said that teachers at KP usually park near the entrances they use and, as such, a designated parking space would not be the benefit it seemed.

"There was the idea of a teacher of the year award," she said. "Someone had the idea of nominating one teacher or one middle school and one high school teacher."

Committee members, though, wondered how it could deliberate on such an award while keeping the recipient a secret, as the committee could not enter executive session to do so.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Joseph Botaish, present for the meeting, said the town has a separate committee to decide its volunteer of the year award. He said volunteers were nominated by the town.

Zielinski also suggested recognizing staff members who had continued their education. She proposed that they be noted at school committee meetings.

"If people work hard and earn their next degree, it would be nice recognition," she said. "Sometimes, balancing work, family and education is a challenge."