Rose Tree Media’s SYA Teacher, Betsy Spardel, Wins Teacher of the Year Award

MEDIA, PA – Rose Tree Media School District is proud to announce that Betsy Spardel, a social studies and English teacher at the Rose Tree Media Simon Youth Academy, has been named 2016 Teacher of the Year by Simon Youth Foundation (SYF), a national leader in alternative education.

SYF gives the Teacher of the Year award annually to a high-performing educator in its network of 29 academies across the country. These academies help students who were once at-risk of dropping out of high school return and get their diploma.

In her four years at Simon Youth Academy at Rose Tree Media, Mrs. Spardel has played an integral role in helping her school achieve and maintain a 100 percent graduation rate. In addition to her skilled academic instruction, she uses a holistic approach to ensure that her students’ needs—social, emotional, intellectual and physical—are being met.

“Mrs. Spardel works closely with our students and families with such grace and kindness. Her gift of relating to her students is just that... a gift," said Rose Tree Media Simon Youth Academy Principal Christine Seeley.

“Mrs. Spardel is the teacher we all wish we had in high school, and the one who has reached students who might otherwise have been lost forever,” Dr. J. Michael Durnil, president and CEO of SYF. “She is not only changing lives every day when she comes to work—she’s saving them.”

Mrs. Spardel received a crystal plaque and a check for $1,500.

Nestled in its own small section of the Penncrest High School building, Rose Tree Media SYA provides students at risk of dropping out of high school an individualized, self-paced program that enables them to meet the graduation requirements needed to receive their high school diplomas.

CAPTION: L-R: Tim Clark, Vice President of Programs for Simon Youth Foundation , Betsy Spardel, Simon Youth Foundation Teacher of the Year, J. Michael Durnil, President and CEO of Simon Youth Foundation

ABOUT SIMON YOUTH FOUNDATION

Since 1998, SYF has graduated more than 14,000 students who would have otherwise dropped out. In addition to Simon Youth Academies, SYF maintains a scholarship program that awards more than $1 million a year to students pursuing post-secondary education.

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