San Marcos, Ramona, SD Teachers Honored

Teachers from San Marcos, Ramona and San Diego were named San Diego County “teachers of the year” Saturday in a ceremony attended by a crowd of 1,500 at the Civic Theatre and televised live by four area cable systems.

Carol Scurlock of Knobb Hill Elementary School in San Marcos, Dolli Marcos Asaro of Montgomery Junior High School in San Diego and Adrienne Moreland of Mt. Woodson Elementary School in Ramona each received $1,000, a new television, a video cassette recorder and a crystal apple.

The winners will now be entered in the statewide Teacher of the Year competition. The seven runners-up received $500, a new television and a VCR. Four of the county’s cable TV companies sponsored the event for the second year in a row. Comedian Gabe Kaplan, who starred in the television series, “Welcome Back, Kotter,” served as emcee.

The three winners have a combined total of 80 years in the teaching profession, organizers said.

Asaro is chairwoman of the English as a Second Language department at Montgomery. She has specialized in teaching English to Asian students since the fall of Saigon 17 years ago.

“Mrs. Asaro is an advocate for children in the fullest sense of the word,” wrote Montgomery Principal Cipre Powell in a letter recommending Asaro for Teacher of the Year. “She cares deeply about their goals and aspirations and works diligently to assist them to achieve them. The expectations she has for them are high, and they work hard to meet them. She instills in students the desire to succeed.”

Asaro, a 32-year veteran of the teaching profession, graduated from San Diego State University in 1959 and received her master’s degree from United States International University in 1976.

Moreland has taught for 12 years, the past seven at Mt. Woodson Elementary School. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of San Diego.

Moreland said her recipe for teaching is “heavily laden with high expectations, smothered in accountability and garnished with plenty of positiveness.”

“What motivates me as a teacher is the constant search to match these elements with students’ learning styles,” Moreland said. “Too little or too much of any one element can thwart learning. This constant search keeps me balancing the role of teacher as facilitator, investigator and learner.”

Scurlock, a teacher for 22 years, was instrumental in bringing the “Here’s Looking at You, 2000” drug education program to the San Marcos Unified School District and in training teachers in its use.

“The relationship between a student and a teacher is a special one that cannot be duplicated in any other profession,” Scurlock said. “A teacher who believes that all students are capable of learning, and through guidance and encouragement challenges every child, will be successful and has the power to change the world.”

Scurlock earned her bachelor’s degree from Cal State Los Angeles and her master’s degree from SDSU.