Newport-Mesa teacher heading to New Zealand for research through Fulbright award
When special-education teacher Brian Ristow and his family traveled to New Zealand two years ago, he saw that elementary school students weren’t wearing shoes to class.
They wore shoes on the school bus and at home, he said, but not during school hours.
Ristow, who has taught in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District for seven years, also noticed how students at New Zealand’s secondary schools were making a choice to wear shoes to class.
“It seemed to be the norm,” said Ristow, who teaches students with moderate to severe disabilities from across the district at TeWinkle Intermediate School in Costa Mesa.
“There was a sense of students driving the education and them being part of the decision-making … like a natural, organic flow of child development,” he said.
That observation sparked Ristow’s research proposal on student-led learning for the 2016 Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, a highly competitive honor sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that enables teachers to examine educational practices abroad and share that knowledge in their home communities.
Last spring, while watching the sun set during a camping trip with family and friends at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Ristow got a message that he had been awarded the Fulbright.
“Going abroad and just putting yourself out there to learn and grow … I think it’s almost invaluable,” said Ristow’s wife, Brooke, a substitute teacher in Newport-Mesa. “Everyone should be able to do that.”
The award allows the Ristows and their three children to travel to New Zealand from February to June this year during his research.
The Fulbright program will cover expenses such as airfare, housing, materials for Ristow’s project and health insurance for him, but it does not cover health insurance for his dependents.
Ristow will be taking unpaid leave from Newport-Mesa for the trip, meaning he couldn’t continue receiving health benefits without covering the costs the district would typically pay.
According to district spokeswoman Annette Franco, the district is following the collective bargaining agreement with the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, which states that “during a period of unpaid leave … unit members may continue to participate in health and welfare benefits offered by the district, at no cost to the district.”
But the teachers union went to bat for Ristow, according to federation President Britt Dowdy.
“NMFT had advocated for Brian to be on a paid status or to receive some form of compensation to help offset the benefits cost while he is overseas,” Dowdy said. “NMFT believes that this prestigious honor that Brian has received will come back and benefit students of Newport-Mesa significantly.”
Ristow said his colleagues encouraged the family to create a crowdfunding campaign at Gofundme.com to offset the expenses. As of Thursday afternoon, the campaign had raised $1,380 toward its $7,500 goal.
A fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday at Sgt. Pepperoni’s Pizza Store in Newport Beach also will benefit the campaign.
“He’s a fantastic teacher, always bringing innovative approaches with kids,” said Tim McFadden, a choir and band instructor at TeWinkle Intermediate. “I feel like for a professional to be seeking such high honors and for the district to not support him would dissuade others from going for this award. That’s sending the wrong message.”
Ristow, who in 2015 was named Newport-Mesa’s Secondary Teacher of the Year and an Orange County Teacher of the Year semifinalist, said: “We love Newport-Mesa; it’s just an unfortunate predicament that we’re in. We’re still really blessed and fortunate to do this.”
Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
