In the Spotlight : Walnut Teacher Draws Awards--and Controversy

Educators from around the country are watching this suburban community of 29,300, where an enterprising social studies teacher named Alan Haskvitz recently beat out thousands of other instructors to win two prestigious national teaching awards and $34,000 in money and prizes.

Last month, Reader’s Digest named Haskvitz one of its 10 national “Heroes in Education,” an award that carries a $15,000 prize, $10,000 of which goes to the school and $5,000 to the teacher.

Now, Learning magazine has named the 48-year-old teacher the recipient of its “Professional Best” leadership award. The honor comes with a new Oldsmobile worth $19,000.

Haskvitz, an intense, bearded man with a knack for promoting himself and jousting with administrators, is gratified by his recent fame.

Despite the national recognition and money he has brought to Suzanne Middle School, the Walnut school district has repeatedly turned down his application to become a mentor teacher, a program through which outstanding teachers share their techniques with other teachers.

The irony of this isn’t lost on Haskvitz, who sometimes feels like a prophet unrecognized in his own land.

“It upsets me,” said the eighth-grade teacher, sitting during a class break with his hands neatly folded on his desk. “I sure would like to share.”

District officials say the mentor teacher projects submitted by Haskvitz were turned down because they weren’t competitive.

“The committee based its decision on the needs of the district and the needs of teachers and . . . Al’s project fell into the cracks,” said Yvonne Sevilla, Walnut’s coordinator of staff development.

Conversely, the committee turned down Haskvitz’s proposal to teach teachers the new social studies guidelines set forth by the state. Another rejected proposal was to evaluate the California Assessment Program social studies tests and lead teacher workshops on how to help students earn higher scores.

One way Haskvitz raises his own student test scores is by making abstract ideas tangible to 13- and 14-year-olds.

“As a teacher, you get paid the same amount of money if you give kids handouts and textbooks,” Haskvitz said. “But I try to have kids solve problems that are real. I don’t want them to memorize George Washington’s name and dates, but to relate what he did and how he overcame problems to become successful in life.”

Earlier this year, for instance, he assigned students to write to Manuel Noriega as the deposed Panamanian dictator sat in a maximum security Florida prison cell awaiting trial on drug trafficking and conspiracy charges. The object, Haskvitz said, was to get “both sides of the story” regarding the U.S. invasion of Panama.

To everyone’s surprise, Noriega responded, sending back a one-page, handwritten letter in Spanish that sent the press swooping down on the campus. Haskvitz said school administrators responded by chiding him for disturbing the peace and failing to keep them informed of his actions.

Haskvitz and his pupils had better luck with a proposed anti-litter law, which they wrote and then persuaded a local legislator to sponsor in the California Legislature. Last week, the measure passed the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

The eighth-graders also distributed 5,000 water conservation kits in Walnut, which should save 23 million gallons of water this year, he said.

In his five years at Suzanne Middle School, Haskvitz has also assigned students to simplify arcane polling instructions so that voters can understand them and to construct board games that can be played alongside history lessons.

“Look at this,” Haskvitz said proudly, pulling down a sophisticated game called “Colonies R Us.” It calls for players to answer questions about settlers and Indians as they roll dice and move tokens across a map of the American frontier.

As word about Haskvitz’s awards spreads, teachers at other San Gabriel Valley schools have begun dropping in on him.

Marty Smith, assistant superintendent of education services at the West Covina Unified School District, said teachers at Edgewood Middle School have visited Suzanne Middle School to observe Haskvitz’s teaching methods.

“Mr. Haskvitz has been quite innovative, and he relates very well with the children,” said a West Covina parent who works with curriculum development at Edgewood.

And Haskvitz never passes up an opportunity to garner opportunities for his students. Haskvitz was introduced to several admirals during a banquet at the Wilshire Country Club, to which he had been invited as a result of having won the Freedom Foundation’s George Washington Award. The result: He wrangled an invitation for his students to tour the battleship Missouri.

Haskvitz, who grew up in Ontario and earned a master’s degree in arts from Cal State Los Angeles, did further graduate work at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada. He was vice principal of Quest School, a Toronto school for gifted and talented students, before returning to Southern California.

Today, Haskvitz also instructs new teachers part time at Cal State San Bernardino. It is a task he enjoys almost as much as his eighth grade.

“A lot of teachers have good ideas and would like to share things that work with other teachers, but they’re never given the opportunity,” Haskvitz said, echoing a gripe voiced by many other teachers. “Teachers have good answers. But no one ever asks them, so they stay in their rooms.”

For the Learning magazine award, Haskvitz was evaluated by a team from Michigan State University College of Education, which flew to Walnut and sat in on his classes. Team members also spoke to current and former students, interviewed community members and talked to Walnut administrators, who will soon see their eighth-grade teacher tooling around Walnut in his brand new car.

“The winning gives me faith that what I’m doing is correct,” Haskvitz said with a grin.