30 S.D. Teachers Picked to Go to the Head of the Class

In 1961, Debra Reels-Mothershed entered kindergarten at Johnson Elementary School in Southeast San Diego. In 1988, she is still going to school there, only now she is the head of the class.

“I am now teaching the kids of some of the people I went to school with, in the same classroom,” she said.

For Thomas Rinde it has been 32 long, hard years since he began teaching, but he has survived, thanks in part to the support of his students and his wife.

Rinde and Reels-Mothershed are two of the 30 teachers and counselors in the San Diego Unified School District who were honored for their contributions to local education by the Corporation for Excellence in Public Education (EXCEL) on Monday.

Each received a plaque in front of the standing-room-only crowd of friends and family members at the San Diego Marriott.

‘Nice to Hear About It’

“I feel honored that I was nominated and chosen,” said Reels-Mothershed, who has been a mentor teacher for six of her eight years as a teacher. (A mentor teacher assumes additional classroom duties and also serves as a resource for other teachers.) “I do think I am doing a good job as a teacher, but it’s nice to hear about it.

“There has been a lot of bad publicity about how bad education is and the problems teachers are facing. Here are teachers who work hard and love their jobs. These awards are good because they encourage teachers.”

Her mother, Kenoxi Reels, seated beside her, said that the award is particularly special because her daughter was being honored for teaching at a school in the community where she grew up.

“She is a product of the community working in the community,” said Reels, who has been a teacher’s aide at Martin Luther King for 13 years. “She is a role model, teaching where she is needed the most.”

Rinde, who plans to retire next year after 15 years as a teacher and 17 as a counselor, said, “I just love being around” the students. “They are fun because they are so alive.”

Rinde, a counselor at Roosevelt Junior High School, said, “Some days you come to work and you don’t feel like doing the job. But the kids have always seemed to pick me up and help me make it through the day. They are full of energy.”

But he was especially pleased to see his former student, Reels-Mothershed, receive the same award.

Reels-Mothershed had Rinde as her seventh-grade algebra teacher and counselor and said, “He was a great teacher. He was one of the good ones.”

EXCEL, a nonprofit group, was established in 1984 by school board member Kay Davis to promote, honor and reward excellence in San Diego’s public schools.

Awards Made in Spring

The top 30 teachers are honored every spring and are picked by students, parents, fellow teachers and EXCEL board members. More than 600 nominations were received this year. There are 116,000 students in the San Diego Unified School District.

“We have selected them as people who represent the best of their profession as teachers and counselors,” said Rod Tompkins, president of EXCEL, who is also senior executive vice president and chief administrate officer at Great American First Savings Bank.

“In selecting the award recipients, we were looking for those who make a dramatic positive impact with the kids they have,” Tompkins said. “They do it in a lot of different ways. We don’t judge on the ways they do it, we judge on the results.”

Ten other teachers also were honored at the reception.

“The 10 special honorees had extraordinary qualities,” Tompkins said. “It was very difficult not to include them, but we were limited to 30, so the extra 10 were invited and their names put on the program.”

Paul S. Arballo, a kindergarten teacher at Sherman Elementary School, said he was glad that he decided against a career in medicine.

“I decided against being a doctor because I thought I would be going to school for 20 years,” Arballo said. “Well, I have been going to school for 15 years in education. Just think, I could have been a doctor by now, but I have no regrets.

“It makes you happy to get an award like this. It starts with energy and a love for the children,” he said.

Arballo, who has been a teacher for 11 years, said it is his love for teaching and children that makes him put in up to 20 extra hours a week.

“I work with a great staff and administration. You feel like putting in that extra hour or going that extra mile because you work in such a positive environment.”

Oscar G. Graybill, a graduate of San Diego State University and 14-year teaching veteran, said, “This is really an exciting and challenging occupation. It is satisfying to work with children.”

He added: “We have earned these awards. The teacher is what makes up the education.”